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Eamon Connor, manager of new product development
If there is a downside to going to a big trade show and convention like IAAPA’s, it is that there is
usually too much going on at once. All those exhibitors, all those parties and receptions, and all those seminars. Where do you start? How do you stop?
For example, take IAAPA’s seminar program. It has long been regarded as a major part of the trade show experience. This year IAAPA had more than 100 hours of free workshop programming including seminars, roundtable discussions, and presentations.
|In addition, the Attractions Management School provided another 56 hours of paid programming, and behind-the-scenes tours to the world’s finest theme parks were offered each day. Many of these sessions ran concurrently, and unless you and your team split up you would have missed many of the fine workshops and speakers.
So what can you do? How do you get the biggest bang for your registration buck, and what can you bring back from the show to help your team for the coming season?
Here are four take-aways from the trade show education program that you can use for the rest of the year.
Bookstore Bonanza
For the first time in its history IAAPA offered a full-scale bookstore at the trade show. More than 250 book titles, covering many topics related to the attractions, leisure, hospitality, and guest services industry, were offered.
In addition the store carried books on leadership, management, human resources and personnel-related issues. Some of these titles will be available in the new IAAPA Product and Services Catalog and on the IAAPA web site.
Harrison “Buzz” Price’s new book, Walt’s Revolution: By the Numbers, was prominently featured and sold very well. Did you get your copy or bring one back for your team?
Audio Tapes
Almost all of the workshops were recorded. So catching a session that you missed is a snap. Individual audio tapes or a complete CD-Rom of all the sessions can be purchased from IAAPA’s vendor, Conference Copy, Inc.
The tapes and CDs are great resources and a good way to bring a little of the flavor of the trade show back to your management team. They are terrific for sharing ideas and spreading the wealth of knowledge that the IAAPA show offers.
Use the tapes/CDs as learning tools so you can maximize their benefit. Instead of handing them out to your managers with a “listen to this when you get a chance” attitude, develop a short lesson plan to aid their learning.
The following tips should help you get started on building a lesson plan for your training program:
• Listen to the tapes/CDs on your own and make notes on the content.
• Get copies of the handouts if they are available.
• Give tapes/CDs to your employees to listen to as they are leaving for the day. People are more likely to listen to them on the way home or on the way back to work.
• Set a date to “debrief” the tapes with a group of managers.
• Brainstorm ideas that each employee took from the tapes and use at your facility as applicable.
The top-selling audio tapes to date are Putting Money in Your Pocket (Tape 4), Inventory Management (Tape 9), and Planning in Uncertain Times (Tape 21).
Handouts
Most of the workshop sessions included handouts: either MS Word documents or PowerPoint presentations. IAAPA has posted these handouts (where they were made available to us) on the web site at www.iaapa.org/training.html. Go to “Workshop Schedule and Handouts.”
This will take you to the members only section of the web site. You will need your ID number (your IAAPA member number) and your password (by default it is your last name, but you can change that if you want). The handouts are in html format and are listed consecutively.
Web Casts
In addition to audiotapes and downloadable handouts, IAAPA will also be web casting some of the 2004 workshop sessions, including Right Brain/Left Brain: How Marketing and Operations Achieve Success Together, Group Sales and Partnership Marketing, and Tapping into the Baby Boomer Market to Meet Your Recruitment Needs.
To order workshop tapes and CD-Roms, contact Conference Copy at phone: 570/775-0580, fax: 570/775-9671, or visit www.conferencemediagroup.com. See the order form on pages 73 and 74 of the January print version of FUNWORLD for a complete list of available titles.
