In summary, ICE North America was a good show – not a great one, but for a first-time effort I came away with some great insights and a better understanding of the future of gaming.
I loved:
The focus of ICE North America: The primary focus of both the conference and the exhibits was gaming technology – sports betting yes, but also eSports, affiliate technology, and (as much as possible in the United States) iGaming.
Officials and producers of ICE North America cut the ribbon the conference.
I tend to give these topics short shrift at the larger shows due to my overall lack of interest (and background) and, let’s face it, checking out new slot machines is a lot sexier than comparing new iPayment options. At ICE North America I learned a great deal about the future of the industry in the 21st century, both in this country and worldwide.
ICE VOX NA: Buck Wargo and I attended several of the conference panels, and found almost all of them very well-organized and informative. As with ICE London, the conferences were grouped into small interactive adjoining areas that allowed considerable intermingling and added synergy between the presenters and attendees. But ICE North America added one important upgrade – everyone got ear sets. At ICE London there was a problem that the noise from one panel would drift into another. Not an issue at ICE North America – plus this increasingly deaf publisher could hear every word of the presentations.
Show organization and operation: As usual, Clarion Gaming did a great job in getting everyone registered. Plus, there were two small-but-smart touches I appreciated: a $14 lunch coupon included in our registration packets, which covered all the lunch options available on the floor, plus name tags that were printed on both sides. Facilitates networking!
I liked:
The evening networking events: I am not a fan of large networking events, but Clarion did put considerable thought into planning one each evening, which I am sure was appreciated by many of the attendees.
I disliked:
The location of the show: Boston was an unfortunate choice. The town is not centrally located to a great deal of the gaming industry – and is expensive to travel to, especially during graduation season. I was also not fond of the Boston Convention Center, which was totally empty except for ICE North America and is not conveniently located to public transportation (especially as it rained for two out of the three days of the show).
Jeffrey Compton is the publisher of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at jcompton@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @cdcnewswire
