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IAAPA 2003 - 2nd Largest in History!
Excellent final attendance figures confirm what many long time industry insiders were privately predicting after only a few days of witnessing the frenzy of commercial activity at the IAAPA Orlando 2003 Convention and Trade Show. IAAPA's 85th show was the second largest in association history.
All told, 30,062* expectant attendees made the trip to the beautiful new North/South building of the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) to wade through a world of new, cool, and even revolutionary products, many of which were being exhibited for the first time. Additionally, attendees made good use of professional management seminars, training sessions, and multiple workshops conducted from November 17-22 in the OCCC.
"I must say, we went into this year's show with some optimism," said outgoing IAAPA Chairman John Collins. "But we couldn't have predicted this would be one of our greatest shows ever."
Many of this year's exhibitors agreed with the Chairman's assessment.
"Incredible show, tons of leads...our best show ever," said Global VR's John Hill. "We sold 400 to 500 "Drivers," our simulated arcade game. This is our ninth year and we'll definitely be back."
Richard Long with Benchmark Games, Inc. agreed, saying that this year's group of attendees were not "tire-kickers."
"There is nothing like IAAPA's trade show," said Sally Corp. Chairman & CEO John Wood, whose company has been attending this show for 25 years. "IAAPA - to me - is Christmas."
Buyers came from 87* countries to view the products and services of 1,253* exhibitors in 530,955* net square feet of exhibit space. Of those buyers, 79.1%* were U.S. and 20.9%* were international.
This year's show also offered more than 50 well-attended educational sessions, including IAAPA's Attractions Management School and facility tours of SeaWorld Orlando, the Disney Institute, Universal Islands of Adventure, Discovery Cove, and the Walt Disney World Resort.
Special ticketed events were popular as well: the General Managers and Owners breakfast, featuring industry legend Buzz Price, on Thursday, November 20, greeted 266 guests; the International Reception on Wednesday, November 19, hosted 518 attendees; and the Thursday Night Social at Universal Studios welcomed a party of 3,013.
The show's activities benefiting Give Kids The World (GKTW) were also extremely well received, collectively raising $54,000 for the Village. These activities included 117 players in the GKTW charity golf tournament and 75 guests at the IAAPA Ladies Lunch & Fashion Presentation.
* Figures are the best available at the time of release.
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