January-1999

make it work so smoothly?' And that's going
to be moderated by [Loeks Star Theatres president]
Barrie Lawson Lodks and [Haridns Theatres
president andCEO] Dan Haridns, twopeqjle
w ho really run superb theatre operatic«is."
Also in the worics is a digital cinema presentation.
"We're going to attempt to do a side-byside
presentation [with film] so you can
compare the two. The technology is here. I
w ould venture to say that anywhere ftom three
to four years, film, rolling stock, will be a thing
of the past. It will be so archaic, people will say
, 'How did you do it?!'"
In
addition to programming an interesting,
informative agenda, Moritz has also put his
energies into attempting to rectify some of
ShoWest's past problems,
namely overcrowding and
scheduling conflicts. This
\ ear's trade show, with its
record-setting 541 booths,
will have its operating
time expanded to 1 9 hours.
"We're going to open it
earlier-Monday nightand
we're going to have a
champagne preview for
two hours. [The trade
show exhibitors are] going
to get their fair share. I don't think anybody
will be able to say T didn't have enough time
to sell.'"
Mwitz is also unveiling a data collection
system in which each booth will be equipped
with a machine into which visitors can insert
ShoWest-issued ID cards. "At the end of the
show, we will give each trade show exhibitor
a list [complete with contact information] of
all the people who came to their booth. I just
feel I want to do more for the trade show
: exhibitors.
"As far as the crowding, that is a problem.
•
but it's not going to be a problem, we hope. We
just can't do anything about the numbers, because
people want to come. We have approximately
3,400 people in two rooms [for the
events]. One room is the room where we
have the dais; in the second room, people
still see the product reels, they get the same
treatment. The only thing they have to sacrifice
is they have to see the dais on the
videoscreen.
"[The alternative would have been to] cut
[registration] down to what we can accommodate
in the main room. And we just felt that it
wasn't fair to exclude people, to say 'No, you
can't come.' So the way we handled it is,
[since] it's an exhibitor convention, for the
purpose of motion picture exhibitors, exhibitors
have first crack at the main room. We send
out the mailings, and if they get them back
promptly, they're in the main room. If not,
they're in the other room. And that's all you
really can do. However, there is light at the end
of the tunnel! In the year 2000, we're moving
to the Paris hotel. The Paris is the sister hotel
to Bally's. It's right next door. They will have
a common arcade connecting the two. And
they have a room that will seat 4,000 people.
So we will be able to have everybody in one
room. So we're asking everyoie, please bear
with us for one more year! As far as this year,
we're doing programming changes."
The biggest of these px)gramming changes
is that this year the Coca-Cola event and
awards ceremony, which has traditionally
closed the show, has been switched to the first
night. In addition to Cdce, sponsors on board
at press time include Buena Vista, Miramax,
New Line, Universal, Wamer Bros., Iwerks,
MovieFone, Pepsi, Nestle, Reynolds & Reynolds
and the Newsp^Der Publishers Association,
and Moritz promises a memorable event
hosted by 20th Century Fox, thou^ he declines
to give details: "20th Century Fox is
going to give a presentation which is going
to be very, very special. People who are going
''We're trying to put a
lot of excitement hack
into the convention,
make some changes.
We're going to try to
make me convention
more user-friendly,"
to be there [will see]
the hottest product
coming down the
pike. It will probably
be the soughtafter
attraction next
year. I'll just leave it
there."
The return
of
Wamer Bros., who
did not sponsor an
event at last year's
ShoWest, has been
regarded as coup and a sign of faith in the
convention's new leadership and direction.
But Moritz feels there's a simpler explanation.
"Not every year do [distributors] have something
[big to prc)mote]. And there's no guarantee
that I'm going to have the same guys back
in the year 2000. It depends on whether or not
they have something important enough to [go
to the time and expense to host a presentation]
When they do make a presentation, [they get
their money's worth]."
top of everything else Moritz has put
Oninto action since taking his post last
June, he has organized a celebration of
ShoWest's 25th anniversary. "We are preparing
a five-minute film reel retrospective of 25
years ofShoWest, [and at the trade show champagne
preview],
we'll have a special
ceremony, because
we have nine companies
that have
been with us fcff all
of the 25 years as
sponsors. We want
to give them that
recognition-I don't
think you can say
I br NATO t KMTO of CaOfomU/Nnxli
that about many CM^anizations, that they have
that kind of loyalty." And Mcdtz will take
special pleasure in presenting a special onetime
honor, the ShoWest Silver Jubilee
Award, to Jerry Forman, one of the
convention's founders-and Moritz's former
boss at Pacific Theatres.
Also being honored will be Regal tojper
Mike Campbell, who has been named the 1999
ShoWester of the Year. Though the other
awardees had not been announced at press
time, Moritz stressed that he plans to do his
best to give the winners their due.
The Customer Service and Showmanship
awards will be jxesented at the Exhibitw Relations
event. "We are going to give the people
who have won these awards proper recognition,
and really make it a nice aitemoon for
these folks. We're going to treat them as ifthey
were a star throughout the whole convention.
You'll see their pictures in every one of our
slide jxesentations, and when they go home,
they're going to feel, 'Boy, it was really worth
the effort'
"We're trying to put a lot ofexcitement back
into the convention, make some changes.
We're going to do things to try to keep our
members informed. Every moHiiing there will
be an agenda with the day's events on it [distributed
every morning at the breakfasts].
We're going to try to make the cowivention
more user-fiiendly. We're coming up with a
pocket-type calendar that will fit in your
pocket, and when you c^n it up, you have the
whole schedule of everything. And on the
back, we'U have the whole layout of the tradeshow,
plus we'll have a layout of the hotel
showing where all the events are. We're
creating a website [www.showest.org]
where you can get information about the
trade show, and get data on any booth, what
kind of product, the contact, phone numbers
and so forth."
Most of all, Moritz wants to px)vide attendees
with information and an experience
they couldn't get anywhere else. "We're trying
to [schedule] things that are pertinent,
that exhibitors will find interesting, [so that]
they'll go home and say 'I learned something
that I otherwise would not have had access to.
The entertainment was there, but it was a
learning experience.' I don't want to have the
little forums that the regional groups could do
on their own. I want to do things for the guys
out in the field who wouldn't have access-they
would never have access to these international
architect firms or major shopping center [moguls].
Or how do you get in touch with the
general manager of the Loews Plaza in New
York? You nevo- would! Here, we're actually
going to have him and
say, 'How do you do
this?'"
t seems fitting that,
on this special anniversary,
the reins
of exhibition's biggest
convention are in the
assured hands of
somecMie who's been
there fto)m the beginning; irwre importanfly,
the innovations Modtz has orchestrated in the
few months since heading up ShoWest Ixxle
very well for the next 25 years of the convention.
"The one thing I've always tried to tell
my people who have worked for me is 'Eton't
put barricades in fix>nt of yourself. Don't talk
yourself out of an idea. ' Once yoxi gea too much
experience, dien yoxi say 'CMi, it can't be done.'
You talk yourself out of it. Not knowing what
can't be done is pHX)bably the best filing you can
have going."
MM
January, 1999 21