Oh my gosh, IAAPA was fantastic! For those of you not in the industry, the
IAAPA Expo is the biggest trade show in the amusement and attraction industry. As you can imagine it is a lot more fun than your average trade show. This year I gave two talks, participated in two round tables and attended the
Family Entertainment Center Committee meeting. Scott gave two talks as well. Jeff gave a presentation in the Technology Showcase and basically “represented” at all the cool parties. Mark made sure all of our IT worked in the booth and basically kept me sane. Kumi did an awesome job for her first year talking to customers and looking adorable every day. I think she was surprised at how hard the whole trade show experience is physically.
We saw tons of old friends and got to meet face to face with a lot of clients that we usually only get to communicate with via phone and email, which was great. So nice to see real people for a change! It is also funny how people move around in this industry. It is like pro football. The players are the same, they just change uniforms.
There is such a wonderful international flavor to the show. Amusement is a worldwide industry and this is where the world meets. Mark, Jeff and I all attended the
Blooloop party given by two of our favorite Brits, Charlie and Rachel Read.
We ended the week with a rousing game of miniature golf at
Hollywood Drive-In Mini Golf at Universal City Walk using the new
mini golf scorecard app we created for them. It is hands down the coolest mini golf course anywhere ever! We all agreed that we liked the “Invaders from Planet Putt” course the best.
With the IAAPA Expo behind us, it’s time to get back to work until we head back to do it all again next year!
