It was an amazing week in Las Vegas for the AMOA and Fun Expos. There were a number of surprises for me personally. First and foremost, people were the biggest surprise.
Just days prior to the show I visited with manufacturers who were openly joking that this trade show, through no fault of its own, was about to be the bust of the new millennium. But people got on airplanes and made the trip to Las Vegas less than a month after our country's worst terrorist attack ever, disproving that prediction!
The buzz was that Las Vegas was a ghost town and that every convention through 2002 had cancelled. The reality, we're told, is that only two conventions had cancelled. One of these started just a few days after the terrorist attacks when airplanes were still grounded. The rest of the shows had gone on. The occupancy rate at the hotels had plummeted initially, but within three weeks had rebounded to within one or two percentage points of normal business. Glasgow and Son's convention managers contend that convention attendance was in the 8,000-person range, a decline of some 7% over last year's convention. Clearly, this was a success story in this economy and turbulent times. We would have taken that number on the first tee and headed straight for the clubhouse.
More importantly, I heard from numerous manufacturers that this wasn't a show where Mom and Dad and the children visited the booth, ate the candy, climbed all over the equipment just to leave with whatever free product was available, only to hear Dad say to the manufacturer, "I'll call you when I get home-we're headed to the Roller Coaster at the Stratosphere." No, this was a show of buyers. This is a shrinking, consolidating industry. This is an industry where you could conceivably have a good show with a dozen attendees, as long at it was the right dozen attendees who each buy millions of dollars of equipment annually for their companies. Attendees were spending time in the booths, making deals and taking orders from the companies that are leading us into a new era with new technology. I'm sure not all exhibitors echo these sentiments, but enough did for the AMOA/Fun Expo planners to feel very good about their show.
The show layout was very easy to navigate. The main street down the middle made the separation of AMOA and Fun Expo clear, yet convenient. I am in the middle of a major FFC project so I went to the show with a shopping list. The FFC products I needed weren't being shown. Now it appears I must go to the dreaded IAAPA to find what I need. The IAAPA is a nice show; it's just that 90% of what I walk past is irrelevant to what I do. I like cotton candy and roller coasters as much as the next operator does, but
I learned a few other things in Las Vegas. I learned that you actually read these articles that we operators turned-frustrated-authors pen each month. I was called to task for my recent tone in discussing the current condition of the industry. Other than a very few specifically segmented companies in our industry, my observation has been that the general health of the industry was not good. I had written that the traditional street operator, trying to make a profit in today's industry, has it tougher than ever. Early in the week, I was approached by one of my industry friends who quietly told me that really, wink-wink, the street operator has never done so well. He suggested that I needed new sources for taking the pulse of the industry as I was off base. He didn't want to announce the prosperity on billboards just yet, but then again he didn't want to see me embarrass myself any further either. Oh, it's that funny money thing again from those fast games, I thought. No, not at all, he said. And his comments started to make more sense as I heard even more "I've never made so much money" comments at the show.
The online tournament games are the primary products that are generating the revenue. Now that the high-priced driving video simulator offerings are scant to say the least, you aren't trying to keep up with the Jones' and their new title-a-week program. Keep the existing inventory in good shape, take good care of it and rotate your games regularly, and the profits come in. Furthermore, the "easy money" operating guys have come and gone. Competition among local operators is not near as fierce as it once was. The survivors are the good business managers who have weathered the storm and survived with a good core route. The commission structures are driven more by good business economics and less by egos that want business at any price.
Customers are still playing pool on tables that are kept in good condition that were paid for years ago. Dart leagues are not what they once were, but still viable. The jukebox industry is more competitive than ever with great offerings. The downloading jukebox industry is still finding it's way through the industry maze. It is clearly the future. You can get into a debate with jukebox operators when you try to put a timeline on that "future of the industry" comment, although few debate that it isn't the future of the music industry. There are some very successful operators that still have a few 45-rpm jukes out there, so don't expect everyone to rush into the downloading technology just yet. The licensing of the music on these units is the major hurdle, according to what I hear from many jukebox operators. Hopefully this manufacturing segment of the industry is unifying and trying to standardize the licensing process and requirements. Each jukebox manufacturer doing their own proprietary-licensing thing is not likely to succeed.
The first operator who set me straight was really all I needed to hear from to change my views. But in unprecedented fashion, I was approached by no less than three others who went out of their way to share similar opinions of the "gibberish" that I was penning. Three doesn't sound like much, but in Nielson rating terms, that probably represents three hundred opinions. You see an article in this, or any other, magazine will get you a response if you hit on a topic that is an emotional bulls-eye, or if you say something really stupid. We don't get much feedback except when we miss a deadline, or say something that doesn't exude industry intellect.
So, let's make no mistake where myself and others in this magazine come
up with the topics and opinions we present to you on a monthly basis. We
make it up. Our crystal balls are no better than yours; we're just crazy
enough to state our opinions in print and send them to you every month.
I stand totally corrected, and I couldn't be happier.