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I was Dean of the college back in '62
Which by the way makes me better than you!
See were kinda different up in Cambrige, Mass
Back then I gave a lecture to the Freshman class!

I said "Good Morn' Ladies and Gentlemen~welcome to Harvard! Today we have with us:

Overall the convention was very good, considering the NYC/DC disaster which happened just as the convention was kicking off.

We (my wife and I) found out about the attacks as we were getting onto a bus to head for a tour of Glacier National Park. The full impact of what had happened hadn't set in, in fact when we left, only one of the towers had been hit. By the time we reached the top of Going-To-The-Sun Highway, the rest of the attacks had occurred and the towers had collapsed. Needless to say, we were all numb for the rest of the day/week.

Since the first real event of the convention was a cocktail party followed by a screening of "Big Trouble" on Tuesday night, many of the attendees were scheduled to arrive Tuesday afternoon. About 80 conventioneers did not arrive due to flight cancellations.

The screening went on as scheduled, but it was announced that the film release was pushed back until "next year" (they didn't give a date). For the record, the movie was hilarious, good thinking-person humor (based on a novel by Dave Barry), but some scenes were kind of unsettling because they involve a nuclear device being sneaked onto an airliner.

On Wednesday morning, we saw presentations by the studios of fall/holiday product. This was somewhat skimpy, as several of the studio reps and/or their product reels were stranded in various cities. We had no rep from Disney, Paramount, or Fox...all of whom are usually at this convention. Universal's rep was there, but their product reel was not. Sony, Dreamworks, Warner, New Line, Miramax, USA all had reps and reels in attendance. All the product reels except one were on video, but they were projected with a hi-res digital projector (not a DLP) so they looked a lot better than the video trailers of recent years. Product? Well, there were a few decent standouts, but no giant blockbusters were evident. Everyone is waiting for Monsters, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Of those 3, only Potter was trailered, and that was the same trailer that you've all seen. (According to Kristina Warner of New Line, a new trailer for LOTR will be out late this month.)

Wednesday afternoon consisted of the trade show, about 60 booths, and it was the best this convention has ever seen. Some of the manufacturer reps couldn't make it due to airline cancellations, but the convention committee rallied and set up their booths and literature anyway.

On Wednesday evening, a big dinner was held. The highlight was a takeoff on "Weakest Link" with 8 people from the audience drawn at random and asked movie-related questions. It was good, but not as enjoyable as last year's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" type event.

Later that night we saw a screening of "Hearts in Atlantis," with Anthony Hopkins. The screening had been billed as the "world digital premeire," as it was supposed to be shown in DLP, but this didn't happen because the technician was stranded in Los Angeles. (All the equipment arrived, however...got to see the crates!) The movie was shown in 35mm, good thing they had a backup print. The print had 4 lab splices, which I thought was pretty excessive for an industry screening. Excellent movie though, but will do better in upscale markets and big cities. The presentation quality at the theatre was good, sound was not so great, but it's a very old theatre.

Thursday morning was set aside for State association meetings, and the rest of the day was "seminar day," with three scheduled. All were altered in some way due to the NYC tragedy.

Seminar #1 was on building theatre websites. Since the scheduled moderator couldn't make it, the group heard suggestions and ideas from those who already have sites. It was a worthwhile meeting.

#2 was the NEC concession seminar. That moderator wasn't there either, so the crowd mostly cussed and discussed the virtues of Pepsi vs. Coke, as Pepsi had a rep there. Surprising the difference in levels of "customer service" in different areas of the country.

#3 was supposed to be a digital cinema demo and discussion, but of course the demo couldn't happen due to the tech not being there. The same person (I forget her name) who updated us on DC last year was supposed to be there, but was not. However, there were reps in attendance from Technicolor Digital Cinema, Digital Projection, and Texas Instruments. There was no information given that I didn't already know, but it was still interesting.

On Thursday night we were treated to a fine beef/chicken barbecue dinner at a ranch-type location in the mountains, followed by a concert by an excellent Montana-based band, Rob Quist & Great Northern. Why this guy is not on top of the charts, I don't know...his music is excellent and the band is just awesome.

Overall, an excellent convention. Next year this convention is in Lake Geneva, Wisc. If you are tired of all the huge-ness of ShoWest, this convention, due to its smaller size, gives you a great opportunity to actually be able to get quality face time with all the studio and manufacturing reps without dealing with big crowds, traffic, high-priced drinks and food, etc. And for about 1/3 of the ShoWest price. It is well worth your time and money.