While business was the main focus at the International Pow Wow, some exhibitors entertained attendees, too, with interactive features ranging from listening stations to baby alligators.
With more than 47,000 appointments between international travel buyers and the nation’s top airlines, hotels, and other vendors scheduled for this year’s International Pow Wow, exhibitors at the Anaheim Convention Center weren’t exactly pressed to lure attendees to their booths. Nevertheless, a handful of them presented convention-floor walkers with more than the traditional tchotchke at the Travel Industry Association of America’s April 21 to 25 show, which came to Anaheim for the first time in its 39-year history.
More than 1,200 buyers from 70 countries converged on the Anaheim Convention Center for the 39th annual International Pow Wow.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s booth featured a digital countdown to the debut of its new $60 million Shuttle Launch Experience ride.
Attendees could handle and snap photos with baby alligators at Gatorland’s booth.
The Hilton Anaheim Hotel hosted a cigar lounge at Club OC/Anaheim, Pow Wow’s closing-night event.
A Club Anaheim/OC banner decorated the stage where Dean Torrence and the Surf City Allstars played.
For suggestive snacks, the Doubletree Guest Suites Seattle Airport/Southcenter turned to the folks at Fruit Deco to emblazon apples—Washington apples, of course—with an edible version of the hotel’s name and logo. The Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau appealed to a different sense, giving individuals an earful about the city—marketed as the “home of the blues” and the “birthplace of rock ’n’ roll”—with an interactive listening station featuring iPods programmed with music from classic native artists like Elvis Presley. A digital countdown at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s booth marked the time left until the debut of its new $60 million Shuttle Launch Experience ride and sparked showgoers’ curiosity, as did the live baby alligators at the Gatorland booth, which garnered a number of walk-in appointments for the Florida park.
The five-day industry event closed with the alfresco Club Anaheim/OC bash, which took over the convention center’s new Arena Courtyard with live performances by Dean Torrence and the Surf City Allstars, and KC & the Sunshine Band. Guests collected sponsor-provided glow-in-the-dark necklaces, flashing pins, and beaded necklaces (a departure from the pamphlets and business cards they had sought in previous days), and checked out a variety of entertainment stations, including casino-style game tables, a cigar lounge, and a wine tasting station.
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