Open day forces industry to think ahead! - Coinslot June 2005

The annual Park Avenue Open Day once again attracted a big attendance, swelled largely by manufacturers and distributors in support of their current crop of products. Held between the two neighbouring showrooms of Electrocoin and UDC, the event offered various competitive elements within the industry a chance to talk about the Gambling Act and muse over some crucial issues, notably the future of the traditional AWP machine.
Vanda Osinska of Bell-Fruit Games offered a glowing appraisal of the occasion, saying. "The Open Day has evolved into an event not to be missed, with a fantastic turnout from all sectors in the industry. Bell-Fruit enjoyed a very successful day with Random Spinner, the Section 16 sensation; but most importantly, the BACTA charity BffiIC benefited from all the proceeds from the event."
Kevin Weir, Electrocoin's business development director, placed particular emphasis on the charitable side of the event, saying: "We raised in excess of £5,000 for BACTA:s nominated charity Bmlc and they were here on the day and managed tornise a further £300. It's nice to put something back. Wedon't charge anybody so we think it's a fair deal aIl round just to ask visitors and exhibitors for a contribution - and there were some very generous sums donated."
As for general feedback, Weir was more than happy, adding: "We didn't get any negatives at aIl during the day and when you look around at who was here you have to say the industry came to Park Avenue. All the major players that you would expect to be here turned up and gave their support:'

The event also generated a significant amount of overseas interest and support, as Weir explained: "From our point of view we had a big international representation from associate companies from around the world and it was great to see that they had made the effort to come just to an open day. We had the likes of Lou Rudolph, Bob Fay and Ron Carrara -and they had a long way to come for what is really only a few hours."

Terry Farr of CVA and John Stergides of Electrocoin signal another buzzing day
UDC sales director Michael Green was reasonably pleased, too, at the industry's willingness to support the event: "The good weather made for a glorious day that brought quite a good turnout from people in the trade. Unfortunately, there were a couple of events that kept some from attending -the BALPPA Summer Conference and the wedding of a very prominent showman and arcade owner on the south coast. But, that considered, it was still a very successful day.
As ever our customers treated it as a great day out and an opportunity to have a chat and do some business."
In a very practical sense, the gathering did manage to focus industry thoughts tightly on what the future holds for Section 16/21 products -of which there were many on show- and the possible repercussions that may lie in wait for the traditional AWP sector. A key industry figure offered possibly the most sobering thought of what was otherwise a very positive day, saying: "Section 16 is taking great money but in 18 months time the rules may very likely have to change and I worry about what destruction to our core product might be left in its wake:'

Last week's ParkAvenue Open Day highlighted the many inherent strengths of the UK coin-op industry, most notably the willingness of competing firms within the business to get together and talk about the bigger issues ahead and, despite its strong social flavour, it still has the capacity to draw out the very serious side of the business. For achieving that alone, the organisers should be fittingly acknowledged.