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Reply To: CAC & Mark

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Anonymous
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Professor wrote:
I have been innundated by email and phone calls that basically echo those sentiments. Warren said he heard the same thing repeatedly in Las Vegas too.

Yeah — I talked with quite a few affiliate managers about this, and not one had anything positive to say about Marc or the conference. Everyone was pissed at Marc. The general consensus seemed to be that this would be the last (or the 2nd to last) CAC event ever (with Amsterdam being “the” last one).

Marc is not sorry for his comments at all; in fact, he stands by everything he said. He went on and on about this at the conference, telling everyone there that they had “guts” for attending, and that the industry needed more people like us. He kept referring to this one image, where the U.S. troops erected a flag in Japan. Pic: xxhttp://www.uiowa.edu/policult/politicalphotos/iwo_jima.html

I didn’t quite understand the analogy, and I didn’t see how it could be applied to all of the non-U.S. affiliates in the room. Apparently we are the soldiers, and we conquered… something.

Quote:
While we aren’t particularly interested in creating conferences where people are bored to death by one talking head after another we will be expanding our affiliate “breaks” to meet the needs of the industry.
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We will be adding a CAP Fall Fiesta in Mexico next year around the time of G2E and CAC and a European Break in London that will compliment ICE. That will bring us to three breaks throughout the year and I think that is more then enough for us to ponder.

Cool! :bigsmile:

Quote:
* We produce these breaks as a means of promoting networking and growth of our industry, we dont tack on exorbitant mark ups on our social events. When a certified partner sponsors an event those funds are used to give you the best function possible not to pad our pockets. As a result YOU get better events and the certified partner gets the maximum bang for thier buck.

* We dont charge attendence for affiliates. If you are a CAP member you are invited and encouraged to attend. We dont put up barriers to attendence, we WANT you here!

These are excellent points, and I think this is the better model — compared to Marc’s model where he gouges everyone $500-600 just to get in the door.

Quote:
It’s important to note that our events are NOT meant to replace any existing conference. They are affiliate networking events and will be structured to reflect that emphasis. We will have the excitement of top notch social events like we have every year at CAP Spring Break, plus one day of educational seminars and round table discussions. Since our certified partners really enjoy having a designated place where you can find them to broker new deals we will add on a display hall for a day and half where they can have booths or hospitality areas.

Very cool. Truthfully, I actually want your events to replace the CAC. I do believe that, if you offer a CAP Fall Fiesta around the same time as CAC2007, the vast majority of people will go to the Fall Fiesta, and very few will attend the CAC. That is what I’ll do. I much preferred the Spring Break atmosphere to the CAC atmosphere. Sure, Vegas is fun, but I would rather have more “quiet” events where I can speak with affiliate managers and other affiliates. The casino cruise in Miami was an excellent example. I like to “talk” to people — I don’t like to shout.

I’m excited about these new CAP breaks — smart idea to expand like this. I think people will “speak with their feet” when the time comes…. CAC will die (rightfully so), and the CAP Breaks will become a huge success.