Alpha-Omega Amusements

As we head into show season, I am exhausted but excited after spending the year as IALEI president working with Tracy Sarris (IALEI executive director) in rebuilding the association. It has been like starting a new company from scratch. However, my mind is simultaneously preoccupied with the past 22 years of national association work, as my final days on the AMOA executive committee as senior past president are finally coming to an end.

I first got involved in AMOA in 1984 while serving in the fourth year as president of AMOA New Jersey. In planning our annual state show, the AMOA national president was invited to be the keynote speaker. We were fortunate that John Estridge. Sr. was able to attend, and I was very impressed with his speech and commitment to our industry. Later that evening he asked me. ‘Why don’t you get involved in the national association?” He told me what I needed to do to apply to the board and was the first one to sign my application. My second main sponsor was Vincent Storino, who represented New Jersey on the AMOA board.

In those days, I was traveling around the country presenting game repair and management seminars at trade shows and distributor facilities, as well as a dozen
AMOA state shows. I found myself spending a lot of time with AMOA president Dick Hawkins, who was also speaking at the same AMOA state conventions. Dick filled me in on day-to-day goings on at AMOAs and he became my AMOA mentor. We used to joke about switching speeches because we heard each other speak so often.

The first meeting a new AMOA director attends is the mid-year board meeting. Quite honestly, I was bored just sitting around at my first mid-year, as new directors then were only required to attend two committee meetings in addition to the board meeting. I decided to get more involved in association matters and the creation of new programs that might be good for the industry. After I met with the AMOA executive committee they said. “Go ahead, but you will have to raise the money on your own to drive these new programs as there is no budget money.”

While attending the first AMOA Washington Conference, I was invited to sit down for lunch at the Capital Building with Russ Mawdsley (AMOA past president) and his wife, Gert. He spent an hour explaining how AMOA worked and how to lobby to get new ideas accepted. This was probably the most important lesson, and it came from one of the most respected individuals in the entire industry.
One of the wild ideas I came up with was the AMOA/AAMA Congressional Tournaments on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. Our Washington lobbyist at the time said it wouldn’t work as congressman and senators would never participate in a pinball tournament. It is a good thing that I didn’t believe him because this event turned out to be the main draw of our conference.

Its purpose was to attract senators, congressmen and their legislative assistants to our lobbying event and show how much family fun our industry provides. This event grew over a four-year period into basketball, dart and other competitions and eventually attracted some White House officials. AMOA got to socialize with dozens of senators, over 60 house members and hundreds of legislative assistants. Many told us that it was the second best event for them and their families, second only to the inaugural halls. AMOA operators purchased the dozens of games (S60,000 in value) that were donated by several manufacturers each year with the money being donated to the favorite personal charities of winning senators, House members and their immediate families. Over the years I developed quite a list of home phone numbers of many congressmen and their families and have spoken with several about their opinions and positions on different issues.

There is one in particular that comes to mind. An hour before the event was to begin, a senator from Indiana, Dan Quayle, showed up along with his wife and two children. They all wanted to enter the pinball tournament. I provided them with some tips on how to play pinball, and they picked it up quickly with a little practice. Senator Quayle was down to earth and very low key. He won the Senator’s Division easily. His wife placed, I think, second in the woman’s division, and both children also placed in their division. It was only a few months later that he got the nomination to run on the ticket as vice president. It was amazing for us, especially considering what a low profile our industry has normally had in Washington.

Years later, jumping into the video content issue, I had the opportunity to meet with Senator Joseph Lieberman and escort his senior legislate assistant through the aisles of an AMOA Expo. The conversations went smoothly because of all of the lobbying experience we gained attending these Washington Conferences. There was also a time when I had an opportunity to meet soon-to-be-elected President Bill Clinton. He was visiting New Jersey, and I went to hear him speak. As we shook hands, I mentioned that I knew AMOA operator Earl Gibbs from Hope, Ark. Mr. Clinton asked me to see him later since his grandfather and Earl had been best friends. He and I spoke for about 20 minutes, and I remember him asking me what issue would most help our industry. I said replacing the 10% investment tax credit and removing the dollar bill and replacing it with a dollar coin. I think he laughed for a good 15 seconds before saying. “Don’t think so.”

I also got my teeth into standardization for more than a dozen years and chaired or co-chaired the AMOA/AAMA industry standardization committee for almost 10 years. This group was instrumental in helping achieve 50 or more standards. I know some of those standards saved our company more than $100,000 over the years, and I hope they did the same for many other operators. At one time there were over 100 members of this joint committee and manufacturers needed to show up and provide their input, before the votes were taken or they could be left out in the cold.

During my first three years on the board, I was also involved in the AMOA educational roadshow program that included seminars on game repair, jukebox operation and marketing. Former AMOA presidents Randy Chilton, Jim Stansfield and others were also involved as we traveled to four different cities in one year. We had an opportunity to meet other operators from around the country. Many became AMOA members and later came to AMOA Expo.

The AMOA Notre Dame program is also dear to my heart. As a member of Class III, we spent five three-day sessions over a two-and-a-half-year period bonding with each other and being instructed by some ofthe top industry educators anywhere. I’ll never forget Jack Kennedy and his courses on strategic planning. Jack has consulted for several U.S. presidents as well as Fortune 100 companies. I still am in contact with many ofthc members of Class III, several who have gone on to be AMOA presidents.

At the end of my first term on the board, I didn’t make the cut to VP so I stayed off the board for the next four years. Part of this was due to politics, part because of lack of communication between the leaders of AMOA and the new directors and part due to pride. Some in leadership at that time weren’t pleased that I was giving seminars at the manufacturers spring ACME show and writing columns in the trade magazines now that I was an AMOA director. Recall at that time there was a huge separation between AMOA and AAMA over the parallel board issue. I didn’t agree with either of these emotional philosophies. I continued educating operators at every opportunity because I truly believe that this is one of the most important aspects of raising the bar of professionalism for our industry. During this four-year period from the sidelines. I continued to co-chair the industry standardization committee and to run the Washington Conference and Congressional tournament program.

Around 1991, then AMOA officers Tami Norberg Paulsen and Randy Chihon flew into New York and asked me to get I involved on the board again during their presidential terms. I agreed, and ultimately re-joined as a director and was soon appointed to a vacant slot for VP. Then an open slot came on the officer slate, and I was appointed to the secretary position. Being an officer wasn’t unfamiliar territory because dunng my first three years on the board. I learned much about how AMOA operated from the officers and past presidents.

As treasurer, I spent a lot of time learning how AMOA’s former management group, Smith Bucklin out of Chicago, ran our association. I took a tough position that I was never going to sign a check without proper backup, and I held up almost $500,000 in checks at one time. That caused lots ofcontroversy, and I really stuck my neck out. When the backup was finally provided, the information it contained was the final impetus for AMOA to launch its own management in house.

During those formative years past presidents Don Hesch and Jim Stansfield and I worked as a team and took some risks to make the association better. Ohio’s Jim Hayes was also there with us during those tough times. We learned that we have to be very conservative in govemment relations and other association expenditures. Fortunately, through the help of people like Elliott Portnoy, we learned to be savvy about the way we pursue those services for our members.

AMOA also received a lot of help from AAMA’s executive director, first Bob Fay and later Mike Rudowicz. AAMA offered AMOA space at their headquarters and greatly assisted us during our search period for an executive director and for the first months of setting up a new office and staff. AMOA’s leadership will never forget this help from AAMA. For me, coming from the world of standardization and distribution, working with AAMA was all the easier. For many operators, manufacturers were foreign strangers and I tried to bridge the gap. Hesch and Stansfield, as large-scale operators, were familiar in dealing with manufacturers and were pivotal in launching the new AMOA office. It was a blessing that they were in or close to Chicago. It should also be mentioned that trade-show pro Brian Glasgow submitted the name of Jack Kelleher to our search committee. Jack, as assistant director of the Hardware Association, worked with Brian through their tradeshow.

One of my most rewarding experiences during those new AMOA formation years was working with EVP Jack Kcllcher during that first full year of his job. I have been doing the same thing with Tracy at IALEI this year. In both cases it’s been an honor. At the end of my president’s term, I gave Jack a toolbox (with
plastic tools) and a ring of keys to cornmemorate him becoming an “official operator,” at least in his thought processes and complete understanding of what operators are all about.

As I moved up the chairs. I got very heavily involved in the tradeshow cftbrt. I go way back with the Glasgows, having been involved in seminars and education at ACME and ASI shows. This allowed me the opportunity to help the movement toward Glasgow managing the AMOA Expo. My cross association board positions also played a role in the cc>location between AMOA Expo and Fun Expo. 13e- ing on the IALEI board and having a close relationship with Reed Expositions, helped bring those two shows together. I handled the negotiations for AMOA with Jack Kelleher in close everyday contact with AAMA and Frank Gumma Jr.

Harold Skripsky represented IALEI in the four month long negotiations. The result was the three-association purchase of the Fun Expo from Reed and the formation of the LETS board.

I am proud of that eftbrt and feel that it helped both the AMOA Expo and the Fun Expo (and IALEI as well). AAMA also came along for the ride on the side of industry unity. Having the two shows together with no walls of separation brought more people and a better face to the fall show. I really think that the co-location accounts tor why the AMUA has continued to hold successful shows during their fall slot.

All of these efforts fortunately came together during my presidential year (1999-2000). It was a very busy time at AMOA, but it was also the culmination of the efforts that I had been involved in during my officer years.

Right after I became president, the JLO representing the PROs (ASCAP, BMA, SESAC) formally terminated the jukebox licensing agreement. Prior to this, I had been working individually with the PROS on gathering information on how they felt about the new download jukebox technology. Some at AMOA argued this was the cause of the termination, but we later found out that the PROs were planning to terminate the agreement anyway. The termination triggered a renegotiation period. AMOA put together a really top notch negotiating team that included Chairman Doe Ringo. Dick Hawkins, Mike Leonard. Jim Pictrangelo, Jim Hayes and myself. Both Doe Ringo and Dick Hawkins had been involved in the initial agreement negotiations some ten years prior and they brought all of that knowledge and experience to the table.

My main function was to push really hard for a rebate for AMOA members. I saw that a rebate would be a win-win for AMOA and the PROS. The PROS took this concept off the table (as they had done during the first negotiations) from the very beginning. Throughout the negotiations I kept mentioning at every opportunity (both at the table and in private conversations) how AMOA members were the key to the compliance issues. What was desperately needed was a way to prove to the PROS that this was true.

From my dealings with some of the European trade organizations, I also knew that one of the best negotiating tools is third party studies conducted by reputable organizations. Jim Pietrangelo suggested that the University of New Orleans perform a jukebox survey, and the PROs agreed to split the cost of the study with AMOA in an effort to move the negotiations forward. This study was the critical factor in moving both sides to a common middle position from their completely opposite original positions (PROS wanting to triple the licensing rates and AMOA needing to keep them as low as possible and keep our member compliance rate high).

During the last round, our committee put the rebate formula back into what AMOA needed. By that point, it was pretty logical that AMOA members were the industry joiners and the law-abiding citizens of the trade. We are the guys who pay our license fees and maintain a higher level of professionalism than many of the non-members. The PROs were able to track AMOA member juke license fees vs. non-members and compare it with the UNO survey results. The end result was a jukebox license agreement that was good for both parties, and this resulted in an AMOA membership increase of 50% (from 1,200 to 1800) as soon as the rebate became available.

By the end of my presidency, AMOA was in a financial position to put $100,000 into the reserve fund, and we did just that. This became a goal of each succeeding president and this trend has now continued over the past six years. AMOA’s recent growth and stabilization has been due to four major factors: 1) bringing AMOA’s management in house and choosing Jack Kelleher to be EVP 2) the three association purchase of the Fun Expo and its continued co-location with AMOA Expo: 3) the JLO rebate for AMOA members; and 4) hiring WT Glasgow to manage the AMOA Expo. Of course, there are other factors. but I believe these are the top bar.

During my six years post presidency, I have tried to make sure that high caliber individuals were elected to the board and continued bolstering the board by sharing my experiences with new directors and passing along the concept of carefully managing AMOA’s funds. AMOA has one of the most efective and hardest vorking boards that exist among the 45,000 existing associations. Back in 1948, the founding fathers of AMOA created by-laws and a committee structure that amazingly still stands and functions well today. AMOA has a deep-rooted culture. You see other dedicated people working, and you are motivated to work too. That allows AMOA to accomplish a lot with a very small stall AMOA is a group of independent entrepreneurs, but it really works like a well oiled machine.

In the midst ofthe present chaotic business climate, AMOA remains strong. Every business in the U.S. is having a tough time, looking for dedicated people who are willing to work hard. The amusement business is made up of happy and hard working people, but many of the owners are now the same age (baby boomers), and there aren’t necessarily members of the next generation willing to come in and take over. Even though future additional consolidation is inevitable. AMOA will be there for us for many years to come.

I am always amazed at how much of a grass roots organization AMOA is and how much reach a small industry like ours has, even within highly placed political groups. Due to close relationships between, for example, past president Craig Johnson and Senator Oren Hatch of Utah, past president Fred Collins and Senator Strom Thurmond, the Goudcau family and Senator John Breaux of Louisiana and many others, AMOA has had the inside track on the national and state scenes for most of its long history.
AMOA has helped me bond and have very close friends all over the world. AMOA travel really broadened my outlook, especially international trips and working with overseas trade groups (EUROMAT and its 18 country associations, BACTA. Australia, JAMMA). I still stay in touch with many of those people, and it is one of the reasons why I haven’t run out of industry material to write about each week

Whenever I travel around this country, there is always someone to call and visit and see his or her operations. I don’t think you’re going to find this kind of industry hospitality in any other industry. I have discovered lots of wisdom in the past presidents and in all those who have served on the AMOA board (the “soldiers”), and I hope fix my remaining years I can help play that same role for current and future AMOA leaders. I am gladly looking forward to this role. The I industry has been good to me and being a volunteer for the past three decades is the happiest form of pay back for all of the knowledge and help that one receives from their industry peers. It’s been a great roller coaster ride and it is now time to get off. Thank you all, for the opportunity. And finally, thank you Rich Holley for looking down on mc and keeping a watchful eye on AMOA. Your term as AMOA president can never end.