FUNWORLD Update: Hurricane Watch on the Gulf Coast, the Good and the Bad

Last year I wrote a cover story about how the casino and resort industry along the Mississippi Gulf Coast had helped rebuild that community after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Though I only spent a week in the sweltering summer heat of the seaside tourist spot, the people I met there and their community will always be with me. Such was the impact of seeing both the incredible destruction and the equally incredible willpower of the people to rebuild.

The flipside of that coin occurs every time a new storm is bearing down on the Gulf Coast; I immediately think of the people and places I visited down there, hoping and praying they'll come through the next one OK. Thankfully, it seems they have this time around.

The past few weeks have been full of hurricane-related news here in the U.S., as storms Gustav and Ike, respectively, barreled up through the Gulf of Mexico and slammed into the southeast quarter of the country. Now that the dust—and water—has settled from those two storms, I touched base with a couple of my contacts from the area, and they said, in general, the Mississippi Gulf Coast fared pretty well:

"Gustav was a nuisance and, yes, the winds caused further pruning of our trees. But, we’re a tough, strong, upbeat bunch down here," said Marcia Crawford of the Harrison County Development Commission, based in Gulfport, Mississippi.

"Gustav and Ike were little more than annoyances to most of the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said Janice Jones of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Personally, Gustav trimmed mostly dead limbs from trees on my property and felled one tree that Katrina killed. It was a good cleansing for my family."

Jones went on to say there was some damage to buildings on West Ship Island, a tourist site about an hour's boat ride out in the gulf (see my story for details), but trips out to the island are hopefully going to resume next week. "Other than that, our attractions, golf courses, casinos, and fishing waters are open," Jones said.

It's not all good news, though. If you saw yesterday's IAAPA News Flash, the top story quoted IAAPA member Gulf Islands Waterpark officials saying business has definitely been affected at the Gulf Coast's only waterpark by the storms.

Unfortunately, as is almost always the case in these situations, one region's mercy is another's disaster. At the same time I breathed a sigh of relief over the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I had to hold my breath for my contacts on and near the Texas coast, which was absolutely drilled by Hurricane Ike. I was in Houston about a year and a half ago for a cover story on Landry's Restaurants, which is based in the city and owns and operates member facility Kemah Boardwalk, with its mix of restaurants and amusement rides (including last year's "Boardwalk Bullet" wooden coaster), on the nearby Gulf Coast. Understandably, I haven't heard back from my Landry's contact in Houston, but if you want to see what happened to Kemah Boardwalk, click here for a local news report (thanks to Screamscape for finding the link).

The five-minute piece features an interview with Kemah Boardwalk GM Tim Anderson, whom I met briefly during my trip last year. Standing amidst piles of broken glass and other rubble, he says he's been at Kemah for 10 years and has never seen anything like the fury of Ike (reports say Kemah was hit with a 17-foot surge of water). One glance at the video easily demonstrates the havoc wreaked on what was, just last week, a beautiful waterside development (one of the biggest tourist attractions in Texas, according to Anderson). About three minutes in, Anderson and the reporter move over where the group of small amusement rides are located, and they are just mangled.

"We started from nothing before, we've got a lot of work to do, but we can build this business back to what it was—and possibly make it even better," Anderson tells the reporter. "Some of it is not as bad as it looks."

The interview was conducted Sunday, and at that time Anderson said Landry's hadn't established any kind of timeline for reconstruction. I speak for all of us here at IAAPA in wishing them the best in their recovery efforts.

Safety in the Attractions Industry

Safety is the number-one priority in the attractions industry. One of the things IAAPA does to promote ride safety is participate in the ASTM Committee F24 to create safety standards for amusement rides.

The committee is a consensus-based standards setting body and is open to anyone who is interested in ride safety. Industry members, manufacturers, interest groups and government officials participate in the process and in order for the standard to be adopted, everyone must agree. This ensures the system stays fair and standards are written that benefit everyone.

The next ASTM Committee F24 meeting will be held Oct. 9-11 at the Sheraton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel in San Diego, California. If you are already an ASTM member, you can register on the ASTM web site. If you would like to become a member, you can sign up on the ASTM site, as well. There is a $75 annual fee for an individual membership, but that fee allows you to attend meetings and vote on standards and also allows you to download the standards or order them in hard copy. Generally, a copy of the standards costs $159, so becoming a member is a much better value.

For more information on standards development, you can download the ASTM Handbook of Standardization for free, or just contact us at gr@IAAPA.org.

Give Kids The World: A Testimonial

IAAPA is a big supporter of Give Kids The World in Kissimmee, Florida (just outside Orlando). The charity brings children with terminal illnesses and their families to Central Florida for a respite from the trials and challenges of their lives, and allowing them to spend a week enjoying all our industry has to offer. The good and kind folks at GKTW receive letters of thanks and appreciation all the time for their work, and sometimes they share them with us as a way to show all of you out there who have helped the Village in the past that your efforts are definitely worthwhile. We're running these letters from time to time here on the blog. This one landed in my inbox last week:

Dear GKTW,

I am enclosing a donation in honor of our daughter, Maggie. We were privileged to be guests at your incredible Village Valentine's week of 2008. We were reluctant to take this trip as we never ventured too far from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. We are very glad we did! Your staff and volunteers treated us like they've known us for years. It was a very comfortable setting. Our three children had a wonderful time and especially enjoyed the merry-go-round numerous times every day. Breakfast in the Gingerbread House was also a big hit! My husband and I actually found ourselves relaxing and having a joyous time with our children—something we hadn't felt in two years.

Maggie felt great the entire week—she had the most energy of all of us! Our precious Maggie passed away last week and we received this [$300] from a friend to help care for her. We think it is only appropriate to pass it on to you so you can help another family have a wonderful experience. Thank you again; we have such warm and loving memories from this trip. Please always remember Maggie with a smile.

Sincerely,
Maggie's family

Update from IAAPA Europe

Earlier this year IAAPA hired Andreas Andersen to lead the association's European operations. In an effort to continually communicate with our European members, this is Andreas' first of what we here at "In the Queue" hope will be many updates from his office in Brussels:

What a week! Things are moving at high speed these days, and I have to run fast to keep up with everything happening.

First of all, EAS 2008-Munich is approaching, with less than a month to go. It is the first show I have had (a small) part in planning, and every day is a new learning experience. And while all the operational issues of EAS 2008 take up a good deal of my time, EAS Director of Operations Karen Staley and I are also working on the 2009 show. It is sometimes a little hectic, but altogether a lot of fun.

Munich will be great. The show is really coming together now. I am especially happy with the education program (even though it is really the EAS education committee and not me, who should be proud). The lineup of speakers is absolutely fantastic; the seminars have been planned within three distinctive tracks—safety, strategy, and profit—which should make it easy for all attendees to find the educational opportunities they want. Co-locating EAS with one of the biggest entertainment events in the world—the Munich Oktoberfest—will complement EAS perfectly. But it also means hotel rooms go fast. “Book, book, book!” is what we tell everybody.

And while EAS-Munich is approaching, I’ve also spent a lot of time working on the membership services for IAAPA Europe: improving the web site, addressing the right issues in Brussels, working on better European statistics, etc. Sometimes it is hard not being able to do everything at once, but every day we take a little step toward our goal of one strong voice in Europe. We’ll get there—no doubt about that!

Three F&B Questions with Hersheypark's John Lawn

Earlier this year, FUNWORLD staffers and the various committees we work with decided to start informal interviews about timely topics that affect all members. Our first interviewee is John Lawn, assistant general manager at Hersheypark and chair of the IAAPA Food and Beverage Committee.

Certainly, a main concern this year has been how a sluggish economy has impacted operating costs in areas such as transportation, merchandise, and food. Lawn provides insight into how to cut costs, work with vendors, and provide excellent guest services in these tighter times. As you plan your exhibitor visitation strategy for EAS 2008-Munich, and IAAPA Attractions Expo 2008, we hope this interview will also help you as you explore new vendors, pricing, and products.


FUNWORLD: How have the price increases of food and raw materials affected your business as a whole?
John Lawn: After significant consideration we have passed along some of the increased expenses to our guests through increased retail pricing, and have found that our "standard" guest spending patterns have not been effected. Our more cost-conscious guests, including our season pass holders, seem to be taking greater advantage of our existing "cost-saving" opportunities, including: utilizing our picnic area outside of our main gates; requesting complimentary ice water from our concession stands; and participating in our $0.99 souvenir mug refill program.

FW: What types of strategies are you implementing to combat the effects?
JL: We continue to work with our suppliers to limit cost increases through "win-wins." This would include evaluating non-branded products; evaluating shipping alternatives, including multi-vendor coordination of deliveries; reducing delivery frequency; eliminating items with low turnover; etc.

We continue to listen to our guests and provide value options wherever applicable. This includes offering smaller portions and lower prices for individual consumption, as well as larger portions that can be shared with a bigger group. We also offer packages that include game coupons, meal tickets, and merchandise in an effort to provide a full experience on any budget.

FW: What are some tips you can share on working with vendors during these more difficult times?
JL: You need to maintain an open and honest dialogue with your vendors to ensure you are working together for the common goal of our guests' satisfaction. Both the retailer and the supplier need the guest to make a sale, so you need to combat the higher prices together.

E-mail and YOU!

Last Thursday, the IAAPA staff headed off to Dave & Buster's in Hanover, MD for our annual staff retreat, SummerFest.

While it sounds like a lot of fun in games, it was educational, too. Before we could enjoy the games on the midway, we participated in two professional development education sessions. The first session focused on proper e-mail etiquette and the second dealt with how to be more globally minded when holding events and working with members from around the world.

Jay Kalathil, IAAPA's web manager, and I presented a session on e-mail etiquette and best practices. We prepared for the session by polling the IAAPA staff for their e-mail pet peeves and compared that to the various research we found on the subject. We learned a lot: How to properly address emails; dos and don'ts with regard to font size and color; how and when to use a signature, plus much more.

Our presentation consisted of a PowerPoint, a few video clips, and activities. At the end of the session we provided the staff with a checklist of items to think about before they send their next e-mail. That checklist is posted below for your review; feel free to use these handy tips for your own training.

We would welcome your comments and additions! Happy reading and e-mailing!

E-mail Checklist

Who should be included?

• Have I thought about who I am sending this e-mail to?
• Am I blind-ccing (or cc-ing) my boss? Am I bcc-ing (or cc-ing) a coworkers boss? If so, what will happen if the recipient finds out? Have I tried to resolve this situation with the recipient first? If not, don’t send the e-mail. Go and talk to them.
• Did I hit 'reply all'? If so, am I glad I did? Does every person on the list
need to see it?

How is my tone?

• Am I angry? If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour, one day, or never.
• If I had to pay 42 cents (of my own money!) to send this e-mail, would I?
• Did I mind my manners and is my e-mail polite?
• Am I giving bad news to someone over e-mail? If so, don’t send it. Talk to your recipient.
• Could whatever I want to be accomplished by sending this e-mail be done better (or FASTER) with a phone call or visit to the person’s office?
• Is there anything in this e-mail I don't want the attorney general, the media, or my boss seeing?

What do I do about attachments?

• Have I attached any files that are very big?
• Did I include an explanation for why I am sending the attachment and the recipient knows what I want them to do with it?
• Did I attach the attachment?

Is my e-mail formatted and written professionally?

• Is any portion of the e-mail in all caps? Is it in black/blue type at a normal size, business appropriate font?
• Is this the first time I e-mailed this person? If so, do I have my contact info at the bottom?
• Am I quoting back the original text in a helpful way?
• Could this e-mail be shorter?
• Did I check to make sure I know the difference between its and it's, your and you’re, there, their, and they’re, among other common grammatical and spelling errors not caught by spell check?
• Does the subject line make it easy to understand what's to come and likely it will get filed properly and replied to?
• Do I respond to e-mail requests in a reasonable amount of time 24-48 hours?
• Did I read the entire e-mail chain before I replied to this e-mail?

What do I do about forwards?

• Am I forwarding someone else's mail? If so, will they be happy when they find out?
• Am I forwarding something about religion, race, or other potentially offensive issue?
• Am I forwarding something about a virus or worldwide charity effort or other potential hoax?

And one final question:

• Can I schedule a meeting using a meeting request instead of sending an e-mail?

'In the Queue': On the Home Page

So this little experiment of ours has been going pretty well since launching last fall (though we welcome any comments on how we can improve—or you can e-mail me). The goal when we started was to post twice a week and, with a few exceptions, we've been hitting that mark pretty well.

Still, we want to make it as easy as possible for our readers to know when there's new content on the blog. Today we've updated IAAPA's official home page with a new "In the Queue" section (it's in the center column) that will be updated every time we post something new. Hopefully this will make it simpler for everyone to keep tabs on the blog without having to click over here in hopes of a new post.

And, as always, thanks again for checking us out. We hope it's been beneficial for you.