"This G2E edition will be our largest in more than five years”

How are you preparing for G2E 2014?
Right now we’re just about three weeks away so the team and I are very busy with all of the finishing touches. It’s always a fun and slightly crazy time of year!

What are your expectations?
Well, I’m pleased to report that this year’s show will be our largest in more than five years. In fact our team has already recruited 8,500 more sq. ft. than last year with many core gaming companies introducing more new games and technologies than ever before, and over 130 new companies joining us for the very first time. We’re expanding rapidly into more non-gaming sectors in our effort to fully support the needs of today’s integrated casino resort. Our F&B areas are enhancing, and we’re pleased to roll out a new Hotel focused component with our friends at the Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association. And we will still offer exhibits and attractions for the Entertainment sector as well. All of these three segments will be organized together and in a new  ballroom adjacent to the main exhibit hall this year. As for attendance, we never release our numbers until they’ve been officially audited by a third party, but I’m pleased to report that attendance is tracking well ahead of last year’s pace to date, which is very exciting.

What will be the novelties?
This year’s edition is being marketed as “The New G2E” because there is so much new content this year, a lot of which is at the direct request of our exhibiting and visiting customers. At Reed Exhibitions we have a very sophisticated research department which helps us analyze all of our event portfolios pre, mid, and post-show to determine the most important trends in our industry and how we can best reflect upon the content. One key change will be a dramatic revamping of our seminar model. We realized coming out of our 2013 edition that with over 150 sessions across 16 tracks (subject areas) we were simply doing too much. Furthermore, with the segmented format of tracks we rarely brought people from separate departments together which is a key objective under our new format. This year we’re doing more plenary style sessions across big topics designed to appeal to multiple industry segments. Additionally, we’ve dramatically changed the pricing model allowing delegates to select individual days and even individual sessions which was not an option in the past.

On the networking front we’re scheduling a number of new strategic “Meet Ups” for people with similar backgrounds to get together casually between hours. On a larger scale we’re pleased to announce that this year’s Welcome Reception will be held at the close of the show on Tuesday, Sept 30 at TAO—one of Las Vegas’ premier nightlife venues.

Finally, from a technology perspective, at Reed Exhibitions we always continue to invest in our event technology and we’re pleased to debut our new geo-location feature for our mobile app which will greatly aid on onsite navigation to help you get exactly where you need to go on our trade show floor.

What can you tell us about the keynote speakers and conferences?
As mentioned a little earlier, this year’s programming will focus mainly on big topics that the entire industry is facing. A few highlights include studies of American gambling/consumer trends, the millennial generation, cyber security, and more. To match those big topics we’re very pleased to welcome some of the biggest names in the industry as speakers this year including Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Jim Murren and many others.

How do you think the global gaming industry is doing this year?
It’s no secret that we’re facing a lot of change in the States right now. Las Vegas is doing quite well, but we’re seeing some consolidation in regional markets, primarily due to increased competition. Pennsylvania and California are contemplating online gaming as mentioned before, and other big States like New York and Massachusetts are expanding into land-based in an already busy Northeast corridor. We’re seeing the same on the manufacturing side with many notable mergers and acquisitions taking place amongst suppliers creating “mega-companies” which is also changing the face of the business.

What do you think will be the main trend this year?
We’re at the cross roads of a great deal of change right now, as we’ve been discussing. Today’s gambler is getting younger and more sophisticated with much different expectations as to how they like to receive information, play games, etc. For example millennial generation customers who are coming of legal gambling age now, have mostly had access to the Internet and mobile devices their entire lives, and for those involved in video gaming, they’re used to a fairly elaborate and interactive style of gaming. These trends are at the very heart of the changes impacting the industry right now, and in turn, they’re the topics of many of our seminars.

What's your opinion of iGaming? How will this evolve and how will it be reflected at the show?
To date we’ve got three States online—Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware—where profits have been modest compared to the original goals set forth for each. Many are watching to see if the populous States of California and Pennsylvania will join these three which would certainly change the game quite a bit as mentioned earlier. Of course a federal bill would be the ultimate game changer for online gambling but at this stage it doesn’t look like that’s in the cards. All of these trends will be discussed at length at G2E, in particular at our popular iGaming Congress.