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The amusement park industry will gather from September 18 to 20 at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris for the 2013 edition of the Euro Attractions Show (EAS), the unmissable event of the year for European professionals of our business sector.
As every year, the EAS will be the scene of a comprehensive program of conferences and networking events throughout the week, the whole being prepared by the Education subcommittee of IAAPA Europe, the trade show organizer. NewsParcs wanted to learn more about the preparations for the tenth edition with Jakob Wahl, IAAPA Europe Programme Manager.
“The Programme Manager is the liaison and facilitator for the Education Subcommittee,” explains Jakob Wahl. “His role is to assist with the review of the offered seminars and to look at past seminars to ensure that there is no repetition He may suggest some topics he knows are of interest to members, and gives a holistic overview of how the seminar programme should fit into the entire EAS. He also does the administrative work by outlining the schedule of the seminar and assists with other organizational aspects. He is also the main contact person for the speakers and moderators regarding questions and overall preparations.”
The selection of topics is done in several steps, the first being collaborative with a call for suggestions sent earlier in the year by IAAPA Europe to its members as well as on its website and social networks. All ideas are then evaluated during a brainstorming meeting of the subcommittee that also brings its own proposals. “At the end of a very long meeting, there is a collective number of ideas which are then further worked on by the various committee members,” continues Jakob Wahl. “In the following conference call, each member outlines their sessions before the group finally decides which sessions make it into the programme and which don’t. In addition, speaker selection is based on the topics and who in the industry may have the most experience on a certain topic.”
For EAS 2013, the sub-committee has chosen to put on the agenda 9 topics to be discussed by leading professionals around the trends and latest developments in the attractions industry. The whole being focused particularly on the European market for an obvious reason that Jakob Wahl points out: “There are many fantastic projects and trends all over the world, but it doesn’t help any of the operators here in Europe to learn about best practices, which cater to a complete different audience than we have here in Europe; or which might be based on different conditions. We want hands-on presentations, valid for all kinds of attractions and not only amusement parks, where the senior and middle manager can listen to and say afterward: “Wow, that’s cool, why don’t we try this in our attraction!”.”
Highlights of the conference programme
On wednesday, September 18, the conference program will begin in the morning with a session organized around a panel of exhibitors who will present their new products and technologies, a good way to start the show for buyers wanting to keep abreast on the latest developments in their field. The afternoon will begin with a session that will focus on the question of how to measure the impact of new attractions and create the buzz to generate success? This session will explore both the theoretical and practical aspects of investments in new attractions with Michael Collins (Leisure Development Partners), Pieter Cornelis (Fontys), Robert Owen (Blackpool Pleasure Beach) and Bart Dohmen (BRC Imagination Arts).
The latter will be followed by a session called: ''Social Media 2.0: How to use a smart phone smartly!'' where operators of amusement parks will learn how to use social media wisely. Negative aspects of the smartphones and crisis management on social media will be discussed by Matthias Schilling (Europa-Park), Fernando Aldecoa (Port Aventura) and Julia Vasilis (Liseberg). Then it will be the turn of the session on sustainable economies with this question: How environmentally friendly operations can be profitable. Attendees will learn how to save significant amounts of money throughout daily operations while enhancing their sustainability (energy savings, waste management, etc.) in the presence of representatives of Disneyland Paris and Tivoli.
The day will end with the popular CEO Talk session, an hour of debate, discussions, stories and anecdotes around the experiences of four CEO: Bart de Boer (Efteling), Miikka Seppala (Särkänniemi), Amanda Thompson (Blackpool Pleasure Beach) and Nicolas de Villiers (Puy du Fou).
The five conferences of Thursday, September 19 will address a wide range of topics. Starting with a presentation on lodging and resort development in the attractions business by Yael Coifman (Leisure Development Partners), Stephane da Cunha (Zoo de la Flèche) as well as François Fassier and Sandra Picard (Compagnie des Alpes). Then, the "Let Me Entertain You" session will approach the topic of seasonal entertainment and special events in the presence of Rascal Hüppe (Compagnie des Alpes), Fernando Aldecoa (PortAventura), John Ruisch (Jora Entertainment) and Sylvie Stepanovic (Walibi Belgium).
The next session will discuss the very interesting topic of storytelling – a key aspect in building a successful immersive experience for guests along with theming, architecture, design, and entertainment – by a panel of speakers including Thierry Rétif (Puy du Fou), Andreas Sievering (Fort Fun), Luc Béhar-Bannelier (Disneyland Paris) and Dominique Hummel (Futuroscope). Finally, the day will end with a session on how to increase in-park spending. Tim Batstone (HB Leisure), Wouter Dekkers (Movie Park) Adolfo Llorente (SMART Futura) and Ralf Stumpf (Europa-Park) will examine successful operations in games, food, and retail and will offer tips on how to implement them in attendees' facilities.
In parallel with these conferences, the agenda of the EAS 2013 will offer attendees three specialized seminars that are traditionally held every year. The Water Park Forum will bring waterpark operators to the indoor facility of Aquaboulevard in Paris on Thursday afternoon for a site visit and a series of presentations. The operators of family entertainment centers and indoor playgrounds will gather on their side the Friday for a day of seminars during the FEC/ Indoor Playground Day. Finally, EAS will present for the first time a unique education programme for technical experts (and those interested) during the one-day IAAPA Safety Institute at Disneyland Paris. Participants will discuss the latest developments in attractions industry safety and experience on-site the activities of Europe’s most-attended theme park.
Networking events and EAS tours
The EAS programme also includes several networking events whose aim is to promote friendly meetings between professionals. Among them, the Opening Reception will be the main highlight of the week: more than 1,000 people are expected at the Musée des arts forains (Museum of Fairground Art) on Wednesday 18 for an evening full of entertainment. The next morning, the CEO of Euro Disney SAS Philippe Gas will keynote a presentation about Disneyland Paris as part of the Leadership Breakfast. Finally, IAAPA Europe will host for the first time the Young Professional Forum, an opportunity for young professionals under 35 to discuss with prominent theme park industry leaders on both the past and future of the sector.
Two guided tours are also scheduled on Thursday 19th, behind the scenes of the two major theme parks in the region namely Parc Astérix and Disneyland Paris. Finally, the post-EAS travel will invite interested attendees to explore Puy du Fou and Futuroscope the weekend following the trade show (September 21-22). “There are always so many fantastic parks which we would like to show to our international delegates. Unfortunately time is limited which doesn’t allow for long travels so we usually focus on an area, where we have 2-3 great attractions. We think that with Puy du Fou and Futuroscope for this year’s tour we have selected 2 world-class parks, which are definitely worth a trip,” concludes Jakob Wahl.
More than 8,000 participants and more than 380 exhibitors (see the floor plan) from 80 countries are expected on the EAS show floor. IAAPA Europe even announced at the beginning of the summer the opening of a second exhibition hall to meet the demand of the exhibiting companies. Most of the big names in the industry like many small French companies will be attending.
In practice
The 9 conferences are free to the IAAPA members with a registration at the Euro Attractions Show in the limit of seats available. Non-members will have to pay an extra €50 (excl. VAT). The seminars, special events and tours are paying for all attendees and require a separate ticket that IAAPA strongly advises to buy in advance to take advantage of cheaper rates. It is also advisable not to wait for the beginning of the trade show to book the paying events as they can be sold out quickly.
Please visit the official website of the event for all the useful information (opening hours, itinerary, housing, etc.).
EAS sponsors : BRC Imagination Arts, Forrec, JN Entertainment & Leisure Consultancy, MACK Rides, Omniticket, S&S-Sansei Technologies et Vekoma Rides Manufacturing.
--Editor's note--
NewsParcs is one of the partnering publications of EAS 2013. We will do a full coverage of the week and look at the latest trends and developments of our industry. If you represent a supplier and would like to meet us, please contact our editor François Mayné (contact@newsparcs.com)
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NewsParcs will do a full coverage of the IAAPA Attractions Expo 2013 in Orlando to have a look at the latest trends and developments of the global theme park industry.
As every year, the EAS will be the scene of a comprehensive program of conferences and networking events throughout the week, the whole being prepared by the Education subcommittee of IAAPA Europe, the trade show organizer. NewsParcs wanted to learn more about the preparations for the tenth edition with Jakob Wahl, IAAPA Europe Programme Manager.
