“G2E is poised to grow with our major events in Las Vegas and Asia”

What is the balance of this 2011?
G2E this year exceeded my expectations because our customers were very happy.  Customer feedback and the post show surveys were extremely positive about the new venue, the new floorplan and the show in general. The venue offers so many amenities that weren’t available before so it was a good experience.  Stand distribution was also favorable, many of our smaller and medium size exhibitors had extremely good traffic based on the new layout. Additionally, the floor was much easier to navigate so finding exhibitors was easier for our attendees.

Our conference sessions were very well-attended and since we did away with the 8am sessions our conference attendees were happy. The most well-attended sessions were in the areas you might expect – I-gaming, Social Media and Native American topics.  Also we were very happy with the new Latin American Program because our attendance from Latin America looks like it increased about 20% over last year!  The market in Latin America is very strong and we know our exhibitors want to see buyers.  So, we will continue with our programs in 2012 and hope to continue to increase our attendance from the region.

How was the general gaming industry in a year with an economic crisis that affected many markets?
The gaming industry was up and down all year long; some months revenue exceeded the previous year and some months declined vs. last year.  PWC estimates revenue in the gaming industry will grow 3.5% in 2011.

What are the company's plans for 2012? What novelties are you preparing?
Planning for G2E 2012 is well under way and things are coming together quite nicely. Our show floor is already 15,000 sq. ft. larger than it was at this time last year which is a great early indication of the current state of the business. The floor plan will feature the same general layout as 2011 with several enhancements.

One particular feature will be the return of our Latin American lounge where we hosted a popular networking reception in 2011. This year we’re adding a pavilion to the mix for Latin American based suppliers to further business development amongst that segment of our audience. We’re doing something similar with our Native American based suppliers and offering a new pavilion for Native American based companies as well.

On the conference side, we’ll be holding our first conference advisory board meeting of the year in mid January which is where many of the general themes begin to take shape for the program. Although it’s a bit early to predict the outcome, we do expect to heavily focus on content that will help casino operators around the world stay abreast of current issues to better compete in the increasingly competitive marketplace. In particular we’ll again offer our popular iGaming Congress and Social Media Boot Camp, with a heavy focus on marketing and technology across the core program.

How will be the 2012 for the gaming industry in general? Will it be similar to 2011? Do you think that we will see a growth in the activity?
We are optimistic the gaming industry will see some growth in the Americas in 2012 (PWC estimates 4.7% growth in the US) as well as the world wide market, and G2E is poised to grow with it with major events in Las Vegas and Asia.  With the emergence of some new markets and growth in geographic segments we will see this translate to the manufactures and the operators.  Las Vegas saw some growth in 2011 and Asia Pacific is still booming.  The much anticipated elephant in the room, online gaming is the US market, is still looming with legalization on the horizon.