Conventions

[Mike Blakesley]

Since long before I was in the theatre biz, there has been a theatre convention in our region every year. When I got involved there was the Montana Association of Theatre Owners, which eventually merged with Idaho and Wyoming. Then Colorado and Utah came onboard. Then we had a manager who almost ran the convention into the ground financially. Then we hired a new regional director/convention manager who is still onboard today and doing a fantastic job, and the organization was reborn as Rocky Mountain NATO. The convention has been very successful, until Covid came along and kicked the bottom out of everything. We went three years without a convention until we had one last year in Salt Lake City and it was a great success. (My wife is on the planning committee and I help out a bit with what I can.)

This year registrations are way off and nobody can figure out why that is. We have a killer lineup of stuff....three screenings, a great day of seminars, a nice new facility (built last year), and a fully sold-out trade show. I'm not sure why the huge dropoff from 2023. Our registration cost is about a third of what it costs to go to CinemaCon. Needless to say, our regional director is in panic mode.

Does anyone here still go to your regional convention? If not, why not?

The worst part of it is, we are already locked into NEXT year's convention. If we cancel it, we will still be on the hook for a lot of the hotel's charges because contracts have been signed. So we will have another one next year regardless of what happens this year, but the handwriting may be on the wall. I know the movie lineup for 2025 and beyond looks really good compared to what we've had this year, so a huge rebound may be in order and all may be right with the world again, but I wonder if conventions are just not really needed anymore?

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I think.to some extent it depends on where it's held. In close to 25 years out there I only went to three of them. Mainly because I was working some place the opposite direction from.where it was being held. You should look into the attendance of other similar cinema conventions to see if this is the new norm, or if it's localized. Plus COVID is back again, although it's not being advertised as such. There are large outbreaks again in some States. Since I'm immunosuppressed, I am up to date on the vaccine. But this new one is a doosey, zapped me out for almost two weeks.

[Mike Blakesley]

We used to get a lot of feedback from studio people etc. telling us they liked our convention because it was always held in rustic mountain-ish locations. The trouble with these spots is, they're hard to get to -- we would get opposite feedback complaining about the difficult travel. Then when the organization grew to the size it is today, using mountain resorts didn't always work because they didn't have big enough facilities for the group.

Lately our conventions have been in Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, Spokane, and Boise. This year we're back in SLC.

It's a nice convention because it's big enough to be "sort of" like CinemaCon (without the celebrities or extreme hustle'n'bustle), but small enough that you can get a good amount of face time with vendors without being pushed aside by the next person in line.

If anyone here would like to attend the convention it's coming right up -- Sept. 10-12 -- and you can visit rmnato.com for all the details.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I was to one in Steamboat Springs, Salt Lake, and Spokane. They are nice shows, and I'd have gone more if I hadn't been so busy... Another suggestion is to poll attendies to see where they'd like to go to the convention. There is a convention center in Jackson, and that's a very popular place. Just make sure to do it slightly off season because traffic there in Summer is like down town Chicago.

[Steve Guttag]

I suspect that the relatively poor year that has been 2024 is influencing people's decisions. It isn't that 2024 hasn't had bright spots but they've been just that...spots...not a consistent flow of respectable/dependable revenue.

The regional convention in my area, the Mid-Atlantic NATO "Show-N-Tell" has yet to return, post C19. It had just moved from Northern VA to Arundel Mills (just south of Baltimore and VERY close to BWI airport with good access by major roads like I-95.

We (Cardinal) always felt obligated to have a table there for the Trade Show and it was well attended. The trade show was just tables and for something like 4-6 hours, total...typically lunch and the trade show were tied together so we, the exhibitors got to get food just before they opened the doors...but that did switch around a bit.

I think a big influence on our trade show was the behavior of the big-chains in the area. There was always a heavy Regal presence. When it was in Northern, VA, they had the hosting theatre too. When they pulled out of it, it really took a hit (I think Regal decided to have their own show or send their managers to Cinema Con in lieu of the local shows). For us smaller guys, I think the regional shows are better as you are talking with people you are likely to be doing business with. At CinemaCon, you have to be one of the bigger outfits to really as you are looking for much larger clients there. The smaller ones are just a bonus to it all but likely don't justify the cost of a booth at CinemaCon. Like your show, the regional shows have a reasonable cost for a table at the show. It works.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I think that professional conventions have been somewhat over the hill for quite a while now, that's not only in this particular niche, but mostly across the board. This trend already started way before C19 hit. While there still are a few conventions growing in size, I've seen most trade shows becoming smaller over the last two decades and some have gone completely extinct.

That being said, there seems to be an uptick in smaller-scale, local, less commercialized conventions in the last few years for all kinds of interest groups. I guess people still want to go out and experience something and those smaller conventions are far easier to reach for a lot of people in that particular neighborhood and don't break the bank while visiting them. Also, they draw more localized businesses, for whom it's far more affordable to exhibit their products and services.

[Mike Blakesley]

For me the convention has always been about "re-invigoration." Getting excited about the business again due to seeing the upcoming product. We always leave the conventions with about $100,000 worth of ideas or desires, which we then have to decide which ones to try to put into practice.

[Lyle Romer]

I think.to some extent it depends on where it's held. In close to 25 years out there I only went to three of them. Mainly because I was working some place the opposite direction from.where it was being held. You should look into the attendance of other similar cinema conventions to see if this is the new norm, or if it's localized. Plus COVID is back again, although it's not being advertised as such. There are large outbreaks again in some States. Since I'm immunosuppressed, I am up to date on the vaccine. But this new one is a doosey, zapped me out for almost two weeks.

COVID never left and will be around for 100s of years. Unfortunately the flu used to be the only common potentially serious respiratory infection. Now we have two. Anybody for whom it effects their decisions on things like attending conventions probably wasn't attending in 2022 or 2023 either. Every flight I've been on in the last few months (I should say the last few years) has been either oversold or has maybe 5 seats unfilled so it doesn't appear to be a reluctance to travel that is effecting people.

[Scott Jentsch]

The Geneva Convention in Wisconsin was cancelled this year, which was quite a surprise. The dates were set and it was well-attended last year (don't have exact numbers, but it seemed to be as many people as in past years). In late May, a notice went out saying that the 2024 convention was cancelled "due to unforseen challenges with room and space availability at our host facility this year". I was disappointed, as it was something to look forward to, and I've made some great connections with people in many aspects of the industry. It also served as a "re-invigoration" as Mike put it. Getting together and talking about the industry and being able to have conversations in person was indeed "invigorating" for me.

I hope that it returns for 2025.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Mike, Have you ever done a survey of attendees to see where they would prefer to go to the convention? Some places are easier to get to than others and some places also have better accommodations food and so on...

[Mike Blakesley]

We’ve asked around but it’s one of those things where everyone has their own favorite. We are in Spokane next year at a classic old hotel (the Davenport) which everybody loved last time we were there. So combining that with next years better movie lineup might help.

[Ryan Gallagher]

COVID never left and will be around for 100s of years. Unfortunately the flu used to be the only common potentially serious respiratory infection. Now we have two. Anybody for whom it effects their decisions on things like attending conventions probably wasn't attending in 2022 or 2023 either. Every flight I've been on in the last few months (I should say the last few years) has been either oversold or has maybe 5 seats unfilled so it doesn't appear to be a reluctance to travel that is effecting people.

True. My personal last bout of covid was contracted during a convention booth rigging call (within 2024). I wasn't even there on an open-floor day.

[Mike Blakesley]

We got back yesterday from the RMNATO convention and it was an outstanding one. Anyone who thinks CinemaCon is "too big" should come to ours next year. It's got all the features you like about CinemaCon without the giant crowds, at about a third of the cost.

We had three major studio screenings: "Transformers One," "Megalopolis," and "The Wild Robot," plus an indie film called "Somewhere in Montana," which had most of its main cast on hand to talk about the movie. The screenings were held at the Megaplex Gateway, which is an Atmos-equipped theater. The sound quality was outstanding on all of them.

Paramount, Warner Bros, Universal, Angel, and Sony all brought product reels -- everyone except Disney and Lionsgate. They all sent exhibitor relations people too. Angel Studios had five people in attendance. We got to see five minutes of Parmount's "Gladiator II" which looks outstanding. Sometimes the studio presentations are just trailers, but this time there was quite a bit of "exclusive content" including some trailer debuts, still-in-production footage, cast comments, and so on. Instead of two hours of content at CinemaCon, the studio presentations here are around 30 minutes each.

The trade show is great because it's smaller in size, but you still get a taste of everything. You can actually spend 15 or 20 minutes talking with a vendor and not feel rushed or crowded. We probably did just about as much vendor talking in the dinners or the receptions as at the trade show.

We had a full day of relevant seminars and got a lot of good new ideas. The big thing in concessions these days seems to be the collectible popcorn containers, which is about the dumbest trend I've seen in quite a while, but you can't argue with success. Vendors like our show because in most cases, they are dealing with an owner or decision maker, as opposed to managers, so their time is well spent. We had much of the same range of vendors you might see at CinemaCon -- even Brunswick Bowling was there. A little bit of everything.

Michael O'Leary (president/CEO of NATO) and Colleen Barstow (chair of the Independent Theatre Owners Committee) were both on hand and gave good talks. They both stayed around all week to visit with people.

We had people from all over our normal region of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Utah, and there were people from the Dakotas, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon, and Canada there too.

We were in Salt Lake City this year, but the 2025 show will be in Spokane, Washington. If you're interested in next year's show, info will be at www.rmnato.com -- you can go there right now to see what you missed this year. 2025 dates are September 23-25.

[Ryan Gallagher]

The big thing in concessions these days seems to be the collectible popcorn containers, which is about the dumbest trend I've seen in quite a while, but you can't argue with success.

OMG those things! We've had several premieres insist on using those or similar collectible box concepts. The problem is most we've encountered come flat packed, and it's an early or long afternoon for some unfortunate souls to prep and pre-fill a huge portion.. cause of course studios want to give them to everyone, rather than just those wo might actually want to eat popcorn or "collect" the thing.

[Frank Cox]

Give away popcorn?

Good lord.

I do a free admission show most years for Santa Claus Day. The first year I had the theatre and did this I thought I would be nice and give away a free popcorn as well.

There was so much popcorn on the floor after the show that I brought my snow shovel in to clean it up. People took a free popcorn because it was free but they didn't really want it so it ended up on the floor. Inches deep.

Lesson learned there. Don't do free popcorn.