If your company is a member of the American Gaming Association, you’ve probably dealt with Allie Barth at some point over the last four years.
After following chief executive Geoff Freeman to the AGA from the U.S. Travel Association in 2013, Barth began playing a key role in the group’s marketing and industry communication efforts, including Get to Know Gaming and Gaming by the Book, as well as overseeing its member services programs.
As the AGA’s communications team grew over the years, with the additions of Steve Doty and James Connors, and under the leadership of senior vice president Sara Slane, she began to take a more active role in organizing and marketing the Global Gaming Expo – the industry’s premier tradeshow, which is co-owned by the AGA and Reed Exhibitions.
When the need arose last spring for an individual to spearhead all of the AGA’s G2E organizational and communications efforts, she saw the role as a logical extension of what she was already doing.
“My favorite thing about working in an association is making sure that the members have what they need and making sure we’re delivering benefits that are helping them to be better at their jobs. G2E is a big place to do that,” she says.
All about the attendee
While putting on, and continually improving year-over-year, an industry trade show that is attended by more than 30,000 people is a mighty task, Barth boils her approach to the show down to a simple ethos: the success of the show revolves around maximizing attendee experience.
“Just being away from your desk has a high cost,” she explains. “If you’re taking time away from your day job to be at G2E, how can we provide you with the most robust value with the fewest pain points?”
Admittedly, that is far from a routine or straightforward task. As the gaming industry continues to diversify, so does the show’s attendee and stakeholder base, and all of these groups and individuals come with their own set of expectations of what a valuable experience looks like.
“G2E means a lot of different things for different people,” she says, adding that the core focus of much of the event’s preparation is identifying the show’s audience, the needs of that audience and then the best ways to fulfill those needs.
“It’s the audience piece that has been the stickiest one to look at because it’s a show that has the opportunity to deliver such different qualities depending on who you are coming into it,” she continues. “Are regulators coming to the show for a different reason than a VP of slot operations?”
While on the surface, the needs of G2E attendees and exhibitors may appear different on the surface, when boiled down they tend to converge. In essence, it revolves around attracting the right type of attendee. If that happens, the other pieces tend to fall in place.
“We want to make sure that we have the right attendees at the show so that exhibitors can get time with those high-quality attendees that are making buying decisions for their individual properties,” Barth states. “If we’re doing things that attract the right attendee, it tends to be self-fulfilling for all the other audiences.”
So just who exactly is the “right” attendee? AGA looks to Reed Exhibitions – one of the world’s leading event organizers – and its Target Attendee Program to hone in on who exhibitors want to see at the show, attract those individuals and then ensure that they are having a quality experience on the ground.
Always improving
Another core challenge of heading up G2E organizing is finding ways to consistently improve upon the prior year’s show. To help tackle that challenge, Barth has solicited the feedback of members and stakeholders.
“It’s certainly an area where members and industry had expressed some really tangible opportunities for improvement, like gaming leadership and really looking at tapping more into outside experts to speak at G2E to help them become better professionals,” she explains.
This year’s show will feature an expanded lineup of business leadership and motivational speakers for the purpose of giving attendees a set of additional tools to improve their productivity and advance their careers.
Another highlight of G2E 2017 will be the relocation of keynote addresses from the main ballroom to the actual show floor. The idea behind this move is to create more synergy between educational session programming and the activity and exhibitors on the show floor.
The goal is a more cohesive experience that is ultimately easier to walk, easier to navigate and allows for a more efficient use of time. “It can be a bit of a walk, and time is at a premium because there are so many different things you could be seeing or doing or experiencing while you’re at G2E,” Barth says.
“I’m optimistic that more people will be able to experience and hear from these keynotes who will be delivering important messages throughout the course of the show to an even bigger audience.”
Other changes include an expanded Innovation Lab – which was launched last year as an area on the show floor where attendees could hear 10 minute TED Talk-style presentations on all sorts of subject matter.
In the next iteration of the show’s aim to provide increased thought leadership and educational opportunities, a new educational forum called the Integrated Resort of the Future will be launched this year.
While ensuring the total satisfaction of all G2E stakeholders is a challenge, she concludes, that’s not to say that the show doesn’t offer something for everybody.
“It’s hard to be all things to all people, but in many ways that’s what G2E has set out to do.”
