IAAPA 2009 a Major Resource

This is the first fall that I can remember without a Fun Expo. Last year, after the decision was made to permanently move it to the Spring, it was held in the fall and in the Spring as a transition. AMOA, the game operator's show which used to be the strongest for our segment of the business, announced that it is moving to the Spring and combining with AAMA (the game manufacturer's association) for ASI. IALEI, the longstanding FEC association, recently announced that they are dissolving and merging their membership with IAAPA. "Industry" experts talk about consolidation, shrinking, etc.

My take is that we are, and have always been, several industries that overlap. AMOA is primarily a street operators association. That segment has shrunk considerably. AAMA's member manufacturers serve both the street and the FEC (the major difference being street operators are not big in redemption while FEC's must be). IAAPA has evolved from being dominated by the Amusement Parks and Tourist Attractions, to providing a major seat at the table for its FEC members.

So for FEC owners the IAAPA show has become THE place to see the latest and greatest under one roof. Being held in Las Vegas (where room rates are quite attractive) November 16-20, we highly recommend it. If you do attend, come by the Games & Redemption seminar which I'm moderating along with long time operators George Smith, of Family Entertainment Group (a premier national game operator), Michael Getlan, a third generation FEC operator and acclaimed speaker, and Karyn Gitler, former merchandise buyer for Chuck E Cheese and longtime merchandise innovator. We''ll be on Thursday from 3:30-4:45pm and we're cooking up some new stuff to make it interesting. The course description is at http://www.iaapa.org/expos/attractions/attendees/IAAPAAttractionsExpo_FEC.asp
Hope to see you there.