Boxoffice® Pro - October 2013

GENEVA
CONVENTION
ShowMidwest
Marketing and promotions and public safety top this year’s Geneva Convention agenda
by Annlee Ellingson
n The Geneva Convention was just a little over
a month away when BoxOffice caught up with
co-chairmen George Rouman and John Scaletta
on the road to yet another meeting. The timing
was fortuitous, though, as the pair’s enthusiasm
was building for the annual convention and
sold-out tradeshow, which will take place Oct.
8-10 at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
In the past, Geneva has tapped the Disney
Institute for its seminars, but the event has
pretty much exhausted the Mouse House’s professional
development arm, so this year Rouman
and Scaletta have developed their own seminars
centering on two major themes: marketing and
promotions and public safety.
“Showmanship is a little bit of a lost art, and
so we’re just trying to get people thinking about
that again to hopefully create some fun energy
within our theaters,” Rouman says.
To that end, the educational aspect of the
convention will get going Wednesday morning
with a seminar called “Attracting New Audiences
with Creative Programming” led by Cineplex
Entertainment’s VP of alternative programming
Brad LaDouceur.
“We were trying to avoid using the word
‘alternative content,’” Scaletta says. “We just
didn’t want people walking into this going, ‘Oh,
boy, not alternative content again.’ We have a
great speaker who’s going to be talking to people
about how to really think outside the box and
think a little bit bigger when it comes to alternative
content.”
Along those lines, BoxOffice’s conference later
that day will discuss how to target audiences
with big data with David Bohnsack from GMR
Marketing, John Ross from Pepsico, and Timothy
Dodd from Movio. The next day, there will
be a “From Green Light to Theatrical Release”
presentation by a studio marketing rep and an
introduction to Disney’s Second Screen Live!
app, which encourages moviegoers to bring their
iPads to the theater for an interactive experience
with a classic film. In addition, Geneva has two
movie screenings and exhibitor relations forums
scheduled throughout the week.
The second major theme of the convention
has to do with public safety. “In our industry, as
with any industry, really, we’re always concerned
about safety and security and emergency situations,”
Rouman explains.
Geneva has invited local police chiefs
Michael Steffes from Rhinelander, Wisconsin,
and John Edwards from Oak Creek, Wisconsin,
to discuss how to handle emergency situations
from difficult customers to tornados.
“We’re going to talk about all these different
potential situations, how to handle different
situations, but at the end of the day, the message
is to go back to your community, contact your
local law-enforcement official, and find out
what the best course of action is for you in your
community,” Rouman says.
Steffes will also participate in a seminar
with Daniel Maggart from Vantiv about how
to prevent fraud and theft from internal and
external sources.
In addition, NATO’s Kathy Conroy and Brigitte
Buehlman will be on hand to update attendees
on recent industry developments including
the theatrical release window; cinema technology
including 3D, HFR, immersive audio, laser projection,
and satellite delivery; ratings and trailer
compatibility; movie theft; and government
affairs like admission taxes, captioning and video
description, and credit-card issues.
Before getting down to business, though, the
event kicks off on Tuesday with the annual Variety—The
Children’s Charity Golf Classic and
Walk with Will sponsored by the Will Rogers
Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.
Walk with Will builds awareness about
“being active in life,” Scaletta says. “Get out
and doing something. You’re on this beautiful
resort, so they take a nice long walk through the
resort.”
14 BoxOffice ® Pro The Business of Movies OCTOBER 2013