FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"AWESOME!"
THAT'S HOW ATTENDEES DESCRIBE
"FOUNDATIONS ENTERTAINMENT UNIVERSITY"
THREE-DAY EDUCATION EXTRAVAGANZA RETURNS TO KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI FOR SUCCESSFUL 4TH EDITION
Comprehensive Workshop Shows
How to Design, Build and Operate Profitable Destination Entertainment
Sites
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - Attendees said there was just one word to describe the fourth edition of Foundations Entertainment University:
"AWESOME!"
"Awesome," raved Fred Hurley of Conway, AR. "The information dispensed was EXACTLY what I was looking for!"
Foundations Entertainment University Class 4,
July 27-29, 2004 Kansas City, MO.
All 5 FEC industry expert instructors are kneeling in the front.
Nearly 60 Attendees, Sponsors, and Instructors Mix at FEU's Comprehensive Workshop on Destination Entertainment.
In Kansas City, Mo., Foundations Entertainment University (FEU) demonstrated that it is not winding down. As FEU approaches the completion of its second full year, this three-day educational program for the family entertainment center trade just completed its largest event to date. The seventh workshop took place July 19-21 at the Holiday inn on Country Club Plaza, according to a press statement.
Focusing on the how's and why's of successful FEC planning, creation, and operations, FEU 7 drew a wide range of mostly future or new FEC developers. The class included executives from leading casinos, water parks, builders and construction companies, child care center owners, bowling centers, laser tag operations, and outstanding retail manufacturing (USA Magnets, makers of the famous automotive stick-on yellow ribbon facsimile). A new category consisted of a group of University of Houston college students who are performing a study on opening and building an FEC.
"I haven't even opened yet and I feel I have already made money!" said Jay Pond of Cottonwood, Ariz.
"It's been a four-year college degree crammed into three days!" said Tom Rutherford of Rose City Bowl in New Castle, Ind. "Class time combined with on-eon-one availabilities makes it the best money you can ever spend on ensuring the success of your business."
Frank Seninsky (AEM) and Peter Olesen (seated middle)
reviewed facility layouts during the optional
after-dinner first night session.
"If you are ready for the most hard-hitting, paint-by-numbers blueprint to starting and growing you own FEC, you don't want to miss the next Foundations, " said Brian Stephenson of University of Houston's Center for Entrepreneurship in Houston, Texas.
Other comments included: "We are now on the right road, thank you. FEU should be the first step before anything else! I wish I could have found out about FEU sooner. WE had started on the wrong path, but FEU provides enough information, and the right people, to help us know, which direction we need to go. Now we are back on the right path!"
Seminar sessions are taught by five of the industry's most respected FEC experts: Frank Seninsky, Amusement Entertainment Management (AEM), East Brunswick, N.J.; Randy White, White-Hutchinson Leisure & Learning, Kansas City, Mo.; Alan Fluke of All Entertainment in Raleigh, N.H. and general manager of Daytona Lagoon in Daytona Beach, Fla.; Peter Olesen of Peter F. Olesen & Associates in Mt. Prospect, Ill.; and Jerry Merola of Amusement Entertainment Management.
Topics covered at FEU 7 included: The Market, Site Selection, Feasibility, Cost, Financing, Design, Food and Beverages, Games, Safety, Marketing, Birthday Parties, Groups, ADA and other legal requirements, Operations and more. Great emphasis was placed on avoiding costly mistakes that are typical of newcomers, and ensuring profitability from day one of a new site's operation. The curriculum applies to anything and everything from a $250,000 gameroom that complements a bowling center or theme park, to a $10 million standalone outdoor pocket theme park to a $50 million indoor waterpark, the statement said.
Jerry Merola of Amusement Entertainment Management
stands tall to show the rest of the group that he qualifies
for the 58-inch height requirement to ride the go-karts at
Paradise Park. All of the group that beat Jerry in the five-lap race
are(right to left) Mark Marchido, US Bowling; Erik Guthrie,
Zone Laser Tag; Bob Sullivan, US Pizza Work, and
Jolie Stoecklin, White-Hutchinson.
Beyond three full days of instructions, FEU includes two hands-on FEC site visits in the evenings, and a night of one-on-one consultations between students, faculty, and sponsors a third evening. During FEU 7, over a dozen of the organization's 26 elite sponsors offered brief and informative presentations. Carol Crain, marketing director for sponsor firm Ninja Jump, said "FEU was the most comprehensive and thorough seminars that I have ever attended. We will definitely recommend the program to our customers that are thinking about opening an FEC."
The next editions of Foundations Education University will take place:
-
July 17-19, Kansas City, Mo.
Early Registration: One person $649, two or more people from same company $600 per person. Standard Registration: One person $749, two or more from same company, $700 per person. Late Registration: $849 per person, two or more from same company, $800 per person. Fee includes all meals and tuition plus a three-inch thick presentation manual, but does not include hotel accommodations. Rooms are available at a special conference rate.
Full information and registration are available online at www.foundationsuniversity.com. Please contact Frank Seninsky (fseninsky@aol.com) at 732-254-3773 or Randy White (whiteheg@aol.com) at 816-931-1040 to learn more about Foundations.
