Standing on the show floor among acres and acres of exhibits brought me back to my childhood, and the dream conversations I’d have with my friends and brothers. Playing in the backyard or the basement and all those kid ideas would pop into our heads: Wouldn’t it be cool if you could have a trampoline basketball court? Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a 360° reverse loop track for bikes, like on a rollercoaster? Wouldn’t it be cool if someone invented a water balloon fort?

Well, turns out people way smarter than us were having the same conversations. Because all of those things, and more, were on display at the Attractions Expo. Makes me realize that there’s a lot of ingenuity out there. Because this wasn’t just a showcase of great ideas, it was a showcase of great ideas that had been figured out and engineered to be profitable attractions.

It’s kind of like that kid who used to obsessively burn ants with a magnifying glass then grew up to be a pest exterminator, only these IAAPA people went to top-notch engineering schools and now are dedicated to the fun business.

There were acres and acres of new games and rides and activities and inflatables and if you’ve had fun doing it, odds are, it was there. Plus, a ton of things you’d never think of – but when you do come across them (like the laser maze – coming soon to an attraction near you) you’re sure to have one of those, “Oh wow, cool! Now why didn’t I think of that?” moments.

American (worldwide for that matter) ingenuity is alive and well, that’s for sure. And not to get too political, but it gives me hope for all the troubles we’ve been tackling as a country. Three days at IAAPA Attractions Expo makes me realize the brains are out there. I know if we could just set the politicking and partisanship aside, we can solve anything.

Wouldn’t it be cool if?

Dear Sirs,

At a time when every one of your association’s members is unemployed, we applaud your intense efforts to get them back to work. Add to that trade negotiations, a new CBA and getting the ’11-’12 NFL season on track, and yours is an extraordinary situation indeed – particularly for trade association leadership.

As such, we understand completely if one of the primary reasons for the NFLPA’s certification as a trade association may not be receiving the attention it deserves: organizing conferences and conventions.

As one of the thousands of associations headquartered in Washington, DC, we’re sure the NFLPA understands the value of bringing like-minded individuals together, to share ideas, explore new products and innovations, and discuss industry trends.

But did you realize properly marketed conferences can generate a high percentage of an association’s operating budget? In fact, a large number of associations find between 50% and 75% of their annual operating budgets are derived from hosting conferences and conventions.

Profitable events put less pressure on raising revenue via member dues, and while your members are out of work, a break in their dues could help alleviate any of the financial hardships the lock out may be causing.

For nearly two decades, we’ve been experts in helping some of the country’s largest and most productive trade associations generate operating revenue through successfully marketed events. In fact, we’re the region’s only agency whose primary focus is the marketing of association conferences, events and conventions.

As Creative Director at Fixation, I’d like to offer our services to you. And in these tough times, with unemployment rates still hovering around record levels, I’d like to offer you our creative services free of charge until your members are gainfully employed once again.

Top trade associations and non-profits have relied on Fixation to achieve a diverse set of objectives that include: increasing tradeshow attendance, enhancing issue awareness, promoting special programs, boosting membership, raising funds and much more.

We can help the NFLPA, too. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if we can assist your trade association in any way possible.

Sincerely,

Mike Gallagher
Creative Director
Fixation Marketing
mike@fixation.com

A big thanks to Google for hosting the event. Dan Taylor, Director, Google Display Network and Brian McDevitt, Google’s Director of Mobile Display did an admirable job of answering every question thrown their way – marketing and techie alike.

However, as one who’s been on the delivery end of many a computer-based, multi-media presentation, only to see them go awry when the imbedded video content doesn’t play as desired, I was encouraged (happy?) to see that Google is, in fact, as fallible as the rest of us. That’s right. Both Dan and Brian gave multi-media presentations, broadcast on large screens to an audience of 50+. And wouldn’t you know it – the imbedded video in both presentations failed to play. Even after the uncomfortable re-start-look-for-the-original-video-file exercise we’ve all found ourselves in before, the videos still didn’t play.

Refreshing, isn’t it? Even with all that brainpower, all that technology, all those algorithms, turns out even Google can’t take the human out of the Google.

btw, if you want to see those videos, they’re posted here on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleTV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=eteucIGSaYI