LIVE from Transworld's Halloween & Attractions Show 2024

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Live from Saint Louis. This is
green tagged at theme Park in thirty We

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are here at the tear dig.
They're tearing down the trans as we speak,

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as we are recording this very episode, they are taking down the Transworld

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Halloween, Christmas and Immersive Experience show
right behind us and below us. So

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shame you can't see it. Yes, yes, we went out through all

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the trouble of arranging this glorious studio. We thought it was a great place

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and the right alove tour. But
then we realize that, you know,

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you can't see it because they It's
okay, it's okay. I didn't want

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to stand for thirty minutes so you
could see that's okay. Yeah, well

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it's okay. We can barely stand
at all right now. So the purpose

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of this show is to kind of
talk a little bit about what it is

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or why you should attend shows like
this, whether it is this trans World

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show or whether it is any other
you know, trade show in the industry.

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Really it doesn't have to be Halloween
themed or Christmas themed or any of

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those things. But I think one
of the first things we have to recognize

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is when you go to a show
of this magnitude and of this size by

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the time it's over, because we
are recording this, like I said,

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just as the show is being torn
down, by the time you get to

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the end, you're exhausted. And
it's a running joke because I usually say

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you can hear it in my voice
because I've been talking over Halloween animations and

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you know, trying to do trying
to do business on a very busy and

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loud trade show floor, having people
come up randomly and you know, and

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say hello, and it's yeah.
And then Philip, you've been you've been

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doing content creation for not only the
show but also for the network. Correct

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you can see how you can see
or hear how exhausted Philip is. I'm

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done. Yeah. I was one
of the co chairs and producing for the

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Oscars event and then working for the
show, and then also trying to do

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coverage of my own, and it
didn't work out because I like Scott's plan

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better, which is to show up
and let opportunities happen. And I was

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like, I already had too much
of a schedule before I showed up,

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and then it just got worse because
is what happens is you know you're going

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to this booth to get this testimonial
for you know, the show commercial or

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whatnot. And of course there are
all the people Ben Armstrong and Michael,

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all these people who are different.
You know, they have to wait.

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But then while you're waiting, then
other people will find you and it just

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becomes well, yeah, the people
worth getting interviews with. Yeah, everybody

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wants to get interviews with and they're
very busy, and then you see other

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people and you don't move five feet
and exactly exactly, well, yeah,

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the whole idea of not planning.
So there's there's multiple ways to do this.

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Philip is the is the is the
planner. But again you also had

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specific stuff that you had to get
accomplished here. Yeah. My approach actually

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came from a very dear friend of
mine, and I know there are many

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listeners who knew her, a woman
by the name of Robbi La Prie.

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Robbie would be I'm going to be
on the show floor from here to here,

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and then after that we'll see what
happens and we'll just let the whatever

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whatever may happen, happens. And
that way, it doesn't push anything out

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of the way, it doesn't,
you know, it doesn't create the domino

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effect of you know, I'm gonna
screw up my whole schedule, but there

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is so much to be done at
a show of this size. And I'll

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be honest, this is this is
probably the largest trans World show I can

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remember. I don't know what the
data is or what the numbers are,

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but the Halloween section was gigantic this
year. The number of people here was

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huge, and so, you know, congratulations to the trans World folks for

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getting for putting together this massive behemoth. And it's not just the trade show

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floor, of course, there's all
these other events that take place surrounding surrounding

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the trade show. And it's because
of all those that we get so incredibly

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wiped and exhausted. Yeah, it's
this year. I agree. The show

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itself feels larger, and there feel
and there's also seems like there's more people.

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And I know that it is physically
larger because last year it didn't fit.

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It didn't fill the entire organized center, you know, I mean there

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was like a few areas that were
kind of you know, roped off or

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you know, and here this year, the Christmas section goes all the way

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to the end. There's the drone
folks that were for any Adiyappa who are

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doing drone shows in the Convention Center
at the back corner. And speaking of

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the mixers as well, you know, they do mixers for each segment.

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So you have your Christmas mixers,
you have her. So there's the big,

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big Halloween party, the big Halloween
party. Yeah, so there's the

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big things, the City Museum,
which is kind of mixed of everybody,

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but then you had your interactive there
was a whole interactive game, you know.

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So it's like each group has their
own mixers. And then the show

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floor is also massive, so it's
there's it's a lot, yeah, and

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that's and then there's that's and that's
just the officially sanctioned things. Then you've

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just got a bunch of people haunters
showing up and hanging out at the at

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the Marriotto Hotel lobby. So uh
yeah, yeah, so it's it's ah,

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there's there's there's always something to do
if you have the energy to do

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it. So yeah, I would
strongly recommend trying to pace yourself as much

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as possible, only because you're not
going to be able to So if you

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at least set out trying to do
that, you might come a little bit

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closer. I don't know. I
don't know. But the other things that

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we get from shows like this,
and I know that Philip and I are

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coming from different slightly different standpoints here
because we come to these shows for slightly

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different reasons. But one of the
primary things for me is networking. It's

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a great opportunity for me to catch
up with clients that I've had in the

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past, for me to help clients
that I'm currently working with to see what

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the show is all about. And
maybe because of my knowledge of certain vendors

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or we see something together that they
really like, I get a better understanding

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of what they're looking for and what
they want to purchase, so we can

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work that into the creative and then
of course there's always the possibility that they'll

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meet somebody who wants to work with
me in the future. So it's kind

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of a it's kind of a great
networking opportunity. And I will say even

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more so than Ayappa I think.
I think this show it is easier to

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network because people will talk to you
almost instantly, I mean, and they'll

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and they'll start a conversation just because
they see that you have your your lanyard

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on or or you know you're looking
at you're both looking at the same prop

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I think it specifically, it feels
like there's more relatability here, absolutely,

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because Ayapa, it is a very
wide range. You don't know if they're

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a museum or an fec or if
they're a consultant or a fabricator or a

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designer or Blue Sky or is so
many. But I think here there are

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all of those folks as well.
But you all know that you are somehow

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involved in Christmas or Halloween. Yeah, there's a lens. There's a lens

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that you've already so you can already
kind of you can kind of use that

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as a way to to you know, make it a little bit more approachable

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for people. And yeah, the
networking, I wish I planned networking out

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more. I think I think Scott's
approach of doing that is better. And

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you know a lot of people plan
out dinners or plan to see their clients

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right in some way or another,
and I think that I think a little

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bit of that is good. You
know, I do networking by happenstance and

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and you know, and and you
know, just I do have clients my

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all my clients were here, and
then it's that thing where it's it's like

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forced imforcantly, I'm on my way
to shoot a thing, and then you'll

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see somebody who is like, I
want to have you come out and do

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stuff at our haunt this year,
and you'll like pull you aside and we'll

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try and have that conversation. But
it'd be it'd have been better to have,

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I think, have it a little
bit more organized, rather than me

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just you know, catching them as
I'm walking to something else. Sure,

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sure, So do you think do
you think that I think I'm I think

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the answer to this is pretty obvious. But do you feel as though,

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in order to get all the stuff
you wanted to get accomplished in this show,

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that you actually were over committed before
you even arrived? Yeah? Yeah,

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yeah, I think it's a weird
thing. So I actually I talked

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to a few people about this concept
where you know, some people I've only

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seen here at the show ever,
right, but you've seen them for two

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or three years, but it kind
of feels like you know them. And

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I was like, we really don't
don't know each other. Actually we've only

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met twice, you know it,
But it's that weird thing where I think

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so many people leave so much up
to trans World and that they're like,

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oh, well, we'll catch you
a trend. You know, there's always

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trans like it's kind of like that
thing, and and I'm like, well,

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you know, I think maybe we
should try and do a little bit

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more before, a little bit more
after. Yeahutely. Well, And to

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be honest, you know, I've
been coming to the show for over twenty

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years, and there are people that
I only know from the twenty I've met

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them twenty times. Yeah, at
this show, at the show. Yeah,

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so yeah, I totally hear that. I Also, the other conversation

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that we have quite often with many
people here is you realize we live really

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close to one another. Why don't
we see each other outside of this show.

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I had that conversation at least twice
that I know the the top of

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my head. Yeah, yeah,
and we don't. The one thing I

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will say though, that has been
great, and I know Philip and I

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both experienced this is how many of
our listeners actually came up to us and

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said, God, I love the
show and we're really happy that you keep

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doing it, And so I know
that we want to really thank you guys

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for coming up and saying hello and
talking about the show and saying how much

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you enjoy it, because what that
does is it allows us to and then

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you'll tell us what you like about
it, so it helps us kind of

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make sure we're staying on we're staying
true to why we do this show.

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And apparently it's working at least for
those of you who are brave enough to

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come up and talk to us.
And I really appreciate that. But I've

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had it happen you several times,
and I love it. I thoroughly encourage

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it. So if you ever see
me, I won't speak for Philip because

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he's usually cared a camera and trying
to get some footage or something. Please

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stop me, though I do enjoy
that, but just to keep your sanity.

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It's like, yeah, something I
on that that I want to mention

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to I think, if anything,
this thing has gotten worse this year.

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But it's like, I think that
the best thing is to, you know,

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come to the show, but leave
you know, opportunity room from but

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do what you can ahead of time
so that you're not relying on trying to

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get so much done during the show. Because it's too much. And also

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then you're gonna miss the networking and
the stuff that's that's you can only get

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here. So for example, if
you know what you're gonna buy, buy

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it before you get to the show
and then pick it up here or you

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know, say hi to them whatever, but but then use the show time

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to find those really new innovative things
that you wouldn't have known about. But

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you know, if you know you're
gonna buy an immoral mask and you're gonna

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do these whatever, and you know
you're gonna do it, then order it

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before. And I think that's a
big thing I've noticed. It's gotten worse

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this year, where like the tried
and true vendors, you know, the

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ones that you know we're going to
deliver and that you've worked with before and

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then you know what to expect from
those folks have sold out almost before the

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show opened because they had so much
that came in the first day or they

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came in they're well set up.
And they've also they've also done you know

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with with premiere access or VIP access
people actually get into and I don't know

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why they did this last year because
I wasn't here last year, but there

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are people who have the Premiere Access
or the VIP access, which is an

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up charge gets them into the onto
the show floor, sometimes two hours earlier,

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two hours earlier each day. So
for the first three days there's a

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fight. Saturday, it's two hours
earlier. Yeah, And the first day

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I talked to several vendors and I
said, how do you like this?

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And they said, this is great
because they had already justified financially being here

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because they had already sold a significant
amount of the of the stuff that they

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had brought. Even if it was
like display items, they would, you

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know, sell them within that first
two hours. So if you're looking to

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if you haven't purchased pre per just
like Phillip says, and you're looking to

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you want to see it first,
or touch it first, or talk to

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the vendor first, or whatever,
make sure that you invest in that premiere

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access if you know you're gonna if
you're coming here to buy, because that

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is certainly one of the reasons to
come to a show like this is to

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is to buy on site, and
it gives you the opportunity to not only

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buy on site, but also to
see material that you've seen in a catalog

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or online or in some YouTube video
of somebody else. You can actually be

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there, talk to the vendor and
touch the product, see the product,

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see what it really looks like.
It's in its full regalia. But if

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you're going to do that, I
strongly recommend getting that that premiere that that

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premiere access because it gets you in
early, and stuff, as Philip says,

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stuff sells out really really quickly.
Yeah, and I would agree.

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I mean that that's from talking to
the visitors and the exit, talking to

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everybody. That is one of the
largest benefits specifically to a thing like this

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versus like an iyapa, is that
this is like the products that you you

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really kind of you need to know
what that body looks like. You know,

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you need to know what the mass
feels like. You need to these

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The Halloween is so such a tactile
and such a you know, different experience

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that you need to you need to
know, And I think that's that's really

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what people are looking for. But
you know, I guess I'm just saying,

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you know, you kind of already
know to expect the quality of those

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folks distortions. You know that disortion
is not going to give you something bad

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you know that you're not gonna get
something bad from immortal. I mean,

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just know these things. So I'm
like, use the time to go to

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the things you're not sure about and
verify completely, and also find new people

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because well, I mean, we
this is the thing we talk about to

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but just like there's only so much
that can possibly be new by the nature

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of the business, correct, you
know, because if you're it's kind of

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like you've already if you're already going
to do a Halloween thing in a way,

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you know, you know it's going
to be within certain parameters, and

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then there's no there's only so much
you can do with a mask, right

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unless you're like attaching a bunch of
stuff. I mean, so within reason,

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you kind of already know what to
expect. So I think giving yourself

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some time to see if there's anything
truly original and to seek out those those

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novel items, because those novel items
are going to be the thing, especially

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if you already have a established attraction. You know, It's like people need

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different things. Your new folks need
to go to the established vendors to get

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the infrastucture. But people that have
established attractions, they need something novel to

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get attention, and I want to
say that one of the things that I

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think is most novel or when you
when we say novel, it doesn't necessarily

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mean I just want to point this
out. It doesn't necessarily mean that it

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looks different. But there may have
been an upgrade or an improvement to make

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it feel better, to make it
more durable, to make it more wearable,

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like, for example, with masks. I know that with silicone masks,

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for example, there are so I
can remember the very first time a

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silicone mask vendor appeared at Transworld,
and everybody thought it was the coolest thing

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in the world because Latex just silicone
does so much more than what Latex could

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ever hope to do, and they
were just bombarded. But what I've seen

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now is with more and more silicone
mask vendors or silicone prop producers, the

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real innovation to me is how wearable
they are, how comfortable they are.

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And so being here, you know
you've got your tried and true and you

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know that that XYZ company is going
to provide a great quality products. You

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can pre order that. But while
you're here, it also gives you the

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opportunity to see if either that company
or other companies around them have found a

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way to make them more comfortable,
more wearable for a longer period of time.

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They're all going to look great.
You just have to next look at

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the next level then and that,
and that you can really only do in

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person. You know, you can't
you can't try on a mask online.

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So it gives you the opportunity to
get that accomplished. I love the fact

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that, you know, we do
get to see new products, but new

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products means different things to different people. You know, as you say,

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if you if you're brand new,
a new product is everything. It's everything

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on the floor if you've got an
extension, if you've been working at it

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for many, many years. The
first thing I do when I walk the

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floor is I just walk really quick. I just walk up and down each

249
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aisle, and I can tell what's
new because it strikes me as wait,

250
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I've never seen that before. Yeah, I really like that as a method.

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It's I didn't get a chance to
do that until the actually the last

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day I just did that. I
did my fast walk today because I had

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a shot list previously I had to
work through. But I like the idea

254
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of going a show like this or
there's so much any Iopa as well.

255
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You know, yeah, you're oh, I do the same thing there.

256
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You need to go very fast and
whatever catches your attention, it's good because

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it's the same thing as a guest, right who's being completely bombarded. And

258
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so for me, you know,
some of the things that caught my attention

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this year, even though they weren't
necessarily like new like you said, but

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they you know is I'm always impressed
by the Stilty Studios costumes because you know,

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they're the colors, the novelty of
it, and that is something that

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makes you take a second look even
when you're running. Sure, and that's

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important because that's gonna do great in
a park or do great in an attraction

264
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anywhere, you know. In the
Grub, the Silicon Grub from the Started

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Effect Silicon Grub, I tell you
the Silicon Grub. The thing I liked

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about that is they actually uh sort
of introduced that in social media prior to

267
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the show, and they basically invited
you that was there. That was their

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uh Krispy Kreme hamburger. I don't
know, that was the that was like

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so completely weird that you had to
come see. And so they pre announced

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it on social media, and then
when you came to their booth, it

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was sitting up front center and everybody
who had seen it online walked up,

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including me, walked up, picked
it up, cradled it like a baby,

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held it and was like, this
is so cool. So it gave

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them not only the advantage to do
a pre order because they had already pre

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announced it, but also those people
who were teetering gave them the opportunity to

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hold it. And by the way, it's a great prop it's really cool.

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Give them the opportunity to hold it, see it, play with it,

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and it was immediately a conversation starter, so they could turn around and

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let people know about other products that
they had to offer, So that was

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cool. The other thing, over
and above the whole buying and selling and

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the whole networking side, the thing
that I really really like about this particular

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event is the recognition of excellence.
And since Philip worked so very hard on

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producing the Oscar Awards for on a
Attraction Association and was lucky enough to be

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the the MC for them, it
was really really cool to see a packed

285
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ballroom. I don't think that's an
overstatement. There was. It was standing

286
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room only. The actually had to
pull chairs from an adjacent ballroom to get

287
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people additional seating to recognize the best
of the best. And it was from

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from my perspective, it was really
watching a bunch of people see their peers

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do well and applaud it, which
was super cool. And you know,

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of course Ben Armstrong receiving the Lifetime
Achievement Award is huge. Anybody who knows

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Ben Special Director's Award going to to
Nick and Beverly Pappus's as the cheerleaders are.

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The Canon what was his last name, I know him Beasley? Yeah,

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Canon Beasley with the Make a Wish
Foundation got a special award. It

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was it was really heartfelt. It
was real, really supportive. And it's

295
00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:06.039
interesting because people always asks out what
do you think, and I'm like,

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my opinion really is invalid because I'm
standing on stage with a microphone. I'm

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not in the I'm not in the
crowd. But what really nailed it home

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for me because I thought it was
a really good supportive room. But what

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really nailed at home for me was
I had an attendee from Denmark come up

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to me after after the show at
one of the bars gathering people and just

301
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said I wanted to I just want
to say how impressed I was as to

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how heart felt the oscars were and
how how it wasn't just a bunch of

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people saying patting each other on the
back, saying, you know, okay,

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vendor, you did a nice job, and you did a nice job,

305
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and of course you get it.
He said, basically, in other

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award shows he's walked in knowing exactly
who was going to win, just based

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00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:55.440
on you know, the politics or
the environment or whatever. But he said,

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00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:59.200
this one really felt genuine and felt
very supportive and very emotional, and

309
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I was like, okay, cool, that's kind of what we set out

310
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to do. So yeah, so
that worked really well. The other thing

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we thought was important working into the
awards, keeping it emotional, keeping it

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honest about that. But I think
that's more. I think that's also part

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of the culture of the Haunt culture, you know as well, because it

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is and actually Ben's speech was incredible. It should actually be if you have

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a chance, because I know it
exists on video. Yeah, and I'll

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00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:29.680
be making a version of it.
You know it exists on video if you

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00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.400
have the chance to find it,
because it was it was. It was

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00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:34.440
incredible. It really wasn't a little
bit. And I really liked how,

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you know, because I had told, well, Scott and I had conversations,

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I would already pretty tired by then, and you know, because you

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know, Scott's always like, oh, the instertry is great, and I'm

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like sitting there like, you know, I'm tired. I have but you

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know, I think you know Ben's
speaking as to how, no matter what

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you do, if you were in
that room, you are a maker.

325
00:21:56.920 --> 00:22:00.160
You are an artist. You have
a passion to create a thing that you

326
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don't understand. You'd like, you
don't. You didn't ask for this passion.

327
00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:07.359
You don't understand this passion. It
just is a thing that you have

328
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to deal with and you just accepted
and you and you do it. And

329
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He's like, the people understand are
here, right, And I'm like,

330
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I one hundred percent agree with that
because that's why I haven't slept in four

331
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days. And I don't make a
haunt. No, you just make videos

332
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:25.039
about hants, yeah, and many, many many videos about hants. It.

333
00:22:25.559 --> 00:22:27.720
So I loved that portion of it. I thought that that connected with

334
00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:32.720
the audience very well. I also, you know, when working with the

335
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board to produce the awards. We
really wanted to make sure that we started

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to give a voice to the next
generation. And I think the scholarship folks

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00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:45.799
having videos in it, which hasn't
always been the case. You never even

338
00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:49.960
used to know who won the scholarships, but seeing their faces is important.

339
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.319
Also. That's why Canon was important
because he is the next generation of Haunts

340
00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:02.960
and also encouraging young businesses, know
having making sure like dedicating an award to

341
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:07.599
a first year Haunt, dedicated an
award to a vendor that is under five

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00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:12.559
years that it's it's we're trying to
put weave these into the awards so that

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you have a good balance of folks
that have been operating successfully over twenty years

344
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and then and even longer in Ben's
case, and then people that are just

345
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starting out because they may not make
I mean know, like you can't wait

346
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until the end to give them encouragement. That's that's like right. So I

347
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:37.400
thought that I think the balance was
good, agreed, and I'm glad to

348
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we did it and I think that
and I think that actually contributed to,

349
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uh, the emotional sincerity, yeah, because you know, people were it

350
00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.359
wasn't just the same good old boys
and girls getting the same old awards and

351
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.440
blah blah blah blah blah. You
know, so like the newer, the

352
00:23:52.440 --> 00:23:57.720
newer products like Terara Roulette and and
the and the new the new vendor Savage

353
00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:03.599
slic Savage Silicon, Savage Silicon's was
really cute because he had it written out,

354
00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:07.599
yes, and you know he's so
nervous, and he was arrists and

355
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:11.000
not all the you know it's haunters
right like not most of them did not

356
00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:12.000
write anything. They just kind of
like talked, kind of winged it,

357
00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:15.440
you know, they kind of winged
it. But even Ben. So it's

358
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:18.960
funny Ben Ben's speech. Ben's speech
was written out. But of course,

359
00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:22.720
if you know Ben Armstrong, you
know that he has a background in television

360
00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.079
production. So he's been he's read
from teleprompters for many, many years.

361
00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.519
And he got up there and he
said, I wrote a speech which I'm

362
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.440
going to half read, which is
exactly what he did. He's sort of

363
00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:36.400
kind of he just wanted to make
sure that he got all his his key

364
00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:37.599
points. The one thing I'm sorry, I want to circle back to Ben.

365
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:44.240
The one thing that I found most
interesting about Ben is Jen Taylor actually

366
00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:48.160
did the presentation for him because they've
been friends for many years and they have

367
00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:51.880
supported you know, he's been a
staunch supporter of this, of this show,

368
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.000
the trans World show. And but
she brought up a very interesting point.

369
00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:02.480
She said, he is so unassuming
and so approachable despite the fact that

370
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he has so much knowledge and so
much experience, and so we kind of

371
00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:10.039
did we kind of developed the phrase
he's sort of like the undercurrent of the

372
00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:12.960
Haunted Attractions industry. You don't really
see him, but he keeps everything flowing.

373
00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.720
Yeah, And I think that was
I think it's a perfect reason for

374
00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:21.759
him to get the Lifetime Achievement Award. And at the opposite end, for

375
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:26.119
Savage Silicone, it was it was
the perfect kind of encouragement for that person

376
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:30.079
to realize, Okay, now it's
time to step up. I've been recognized.

377
00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:33.680
It's time to step up. And
at the same time, Nick and

378
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:40.519
Beverly Pappus, who are the the
cheerleaders for the Haunted Attraction industry, to

379
00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:44.119
have them officially recognized, everybody in
the room knw who they were, but

380
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.720
to have them officially recognized by the
Hunted Attraction Association was was just cool.

381
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.519
It was really neat. So that's
another a good job basically, yeah,

382
00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:56.799
it was another. It was another
opportunity to recognize, to recognize excellence.

383
00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:00.799
So I know, we're probably getting
close on time. I don't know.

384
00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:03.519
But one of the other things that
I wanted to bring up, very very

385
00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:08.160
quickly is have three minutes. Oh
good, good, we have about three

386
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:11.799
minutes. One of the other things
I wanted to bring up then, not

387
00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:15.799
so quickly because we have three minutes, is when you come to a show

388
00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:18.240
like this, if you are a
creator, if you are a maker,

389
00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:26.839
come with very open eyes and ears, because you can be inspired not just

390
00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:30.359
on the trade show floor, but
in conversations with the people, with the

391
00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.079
people around you. You know,
I talked to I had a wonderful conversation

392
00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:40.480
with a haunter who came up to
me and said, I based my entire

393
00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:45.000
haunt on I based my approach to
coming up with a haunt on your books.

394
00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:48.319
And then he went on to explain
his business model, and he went

395
00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:52.400
on to explain his expansion plan,
and he went on and I was like,

396
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:56.720
this is great, and he just
like sparked me because I kept saying,

397
00:26:56.759 --> 00:27:00.039
oh, and you could do this
and what if you did that and

398
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:03.640
and we were we became it became
this little mini brainstorming session, which was

399
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:08.680
really really cool. So it's it's
that kind of be prepared to be inspired.

400
00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:11.599
Yeah, and don't get and don't
be don't lock yourself off from it,

401
00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:14.799
don't be like no, no,
I can't talk to you, and

402
00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:17.960
I can't talk to you. You
need to leave time exactly. Yes,

403
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.720
I mean that's why I'm saying.
You know, you can't pack the schedule

404
00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:22.680
and you need to you can't have
so much work to do that you don't

405
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.400
leave time to be inspired exactly exactly, because if you're doing that, you're

406
00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:30.599
only getting you're only getting You're you're
missing out on a really powerful chunk of

407
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.359
what this is all about, which
is why I think it's so important.

408
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:38.519
And I realized some people use the
social element of this to just get hammered,

409
00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:45.240
which you know that happens too,
But but it's also why it's so

410
00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:51.519
important that we maintained those spaces to
have those kind of group gatherings and and

411
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:52.880
those people who have been in the
industry for a while to talk to the

412
00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:56.960
people who haven't been in the industry
for very long. And uh and continue

413
00:27:56.960 --> 00:28:02.599
that inspiration, because I honestly believe
that that is what really draws people back.

414
00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:06.359
Everybody says it's to pick up the
coolest new mask or the coolest new

415
00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:11.000
prop, but honestly, it is
the socialization that brings us all together.

416
00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:14.599
You know. I refer to it
as the gathering of all the tribes.

417
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:18.240
And what's interesting is now that Christmas
is involved. Because when Christmas first started,

418
00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:23.480
the Christmas people and the haunt people
were at opposite ends of the room.

419
00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:26.720
They were at opposite ends of the
opposite ends of the convention center,

420
00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:32.440
divided by a walkway. I mean, you had to keep them. Back

421
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:37.480
in the Chicago days, they were
in almost different convention centers, two different

422
00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:41.880
sides of the same one. But
now I think we're seeing more and more

423
00:28:41.559 --> 00:28:45.799
of that coming together because haunters are
building Christmas events. Christmas events are building

424
00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:49.319
Haunted attractions. I have seen I
did when I went into the cover of

425
00:28:49.319 --> 00:28:52.640
the Christmas Center. I saw a
lot of Haunters that were just asking questions

426
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.920
to get to just figure stuff out. And I think that's important having the

427
00:28:56.920 --> 00:29:00.440
people in front of it and you
can ask the question to get that when

428
00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:07.079
you're saying about inspiration. I had
a chance to talk chat with the Wicked

429
00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:14.200
Maker folks actually who attended the oscares, and they told me that they were

430
00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:19.759
had an inspiration to make a video
based off of some of the stuff they

431
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:25.119
heard in the presentation. That's great. And they even asked if they could

432
00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.759
see portions of the script to kind
of get to, you know, have

433
00:29:27.880 --> 00:29:32.079
some of those details and get that
whole thing. And that's exactly I mean,

434
00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:34.000
that's exactly like you don't even know
where it's coming from, right,

435
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:37.000
and you don't know if it's going
to come from conversation or if you're at

436
00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:41.759
this at an event like this where
you're hearing about all the haunts and what

437
00:29:41.799 --> 00:29:45.599
everyone is doing, and then that
gives you inspiration to create a thing or

438
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:48.279
make a video, you know.
That's exactly it. And the other thing

439
00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:51.960
that I think is important that we
haven't mentioned yet, and I want to

440
00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:53.880
make sure because it is a very
important part of this convention, uh,

441
00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:59.480
and so many of them, and
that is the education side. There are

442
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:03.000
many seven I I forgot all about
that too well, because again I was

443
00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:07.240
here to do a seminar. I
taught a seminar on the Christmas side,

444
00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:11.200
and I attended a couple of seminars
and talk to people about seminars, but

445
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:15.839
the idea of being able to talk
to people who've done the work, and

446
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:21.160
maybe people who have done work comparable
to yours. You can go to a

447
00:30:21.160 --> 00:30:25.519
seminar, I think for two or
three basic reasons. One is I know

448
00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:29.039
nothing about this, but I want
to. One is I know something about

449
00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:33.319
this and I need validation. And
finally is I know a whole bunch about

450
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:36.920
this, but I want to make
sure that that I I am not missing

451
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:40.599
anything new, right, It could
be any of those three. And the

452
00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:42.799
coolest thing about any of the sessions
is every single time you get a chance

453
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:47.160
to talk to the presenter afterwards,
usually out in the lobby. And then

454
00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.640
I had several people come up to
me afterwards throughout the rest of the show

455
00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:55.319
to just kind of come up and
say hello, and you know, here's

456
00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:57.880
what I got from your class,
and here's what I'm continuing to get from

457
00:30:57.880 --> 00:31:03.160
the rest of this show. Well, because Philip is about to doze off

458
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:07.079
right now. Yeah, he is
exhausted, and eventually we both have a

459
00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:11.359
plane to catch. It just keeps
getting delayed, but our time is up

460
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.480
so from the trans World Halloween and
Christmas show here in Saint Louis, Missouri,

461
00:31:17.039 --> 00:31:19.359
on behalf of Philip Bernandez with Gantam
Lighting and the Hunted Attraction Network and

462
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.279
myself Scott Swinson from Scott Swinson Creative
Development. This has been green Tag Theme

463
00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:27.440
Park in thirty and we will see
you at the next trade show or just

464
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:30.920
next week when we do another show, Sea