Thursday, March 28, 2024

Book Worms

Why be ON the panel when you can be the moderator?

by Bob Rogers, BRC Imagination Arts

People tell me I should be ON the panel rather than “merely moderate it.”  They are so wrong!  Moderating is the best job of all!

Again this year and for over a decade now, it has been my privilege to organize and moderate the “Legends” panel, Wednesday afternoon at IAAPA.  Over the years the panel has featured some of the great industry leaders and thinkers of the last half-century – people like Marty Sklar, George Millay, Buzz Price, Richard Sherman, Bob Gurr, Dick Nunis, Blaine Gibson, Tony Baxter, Joe Rohde and so many others.

Because we take it VERY seriously, the preparation and pre-study is hard work but it is its own reward.  My job is to develop the questions that will bring out their best. To prepare, I get to spend two to three hours in one-on-one conversations with each of these achievers talking to them about their books, their careers and everything else.  I learn a LOT!  The result is incredible access to these Legends and the amazing insights they have to share.

ee22013 is the year of the author.  Each of this year’s panelists have written important books about our industry, so in addition to the interviews I also had a pretty good reading homework assignment.

This year our panelists include:

Head Imagineer (retired) Marty Sklar has just published his new book chronicling his 54 years of creative leadership at Walt Disney Imagineering.

Industry journalist Tim O’Brien has written two books.  One is the life story of industry Legend George Millay.  The other is a collection of industry legends.

Promotional pioneer Jack Lindquist will speak about his book covering his years promoting and inventing theme park promotion through the golden age of the early Disney parks.

Lee Cockerell will explain his two books about achieving the operational magic of the Disney properties.

Thanks to IAAPA, all four of these Legends will stick around after the panel to autograph books.

The Legends Panel is truly a labor of love.  None of us are paid to do this.  The small royalties our authors make on the books don’t begin to offset their travel expenses.  They do it because they sincerely want to share their hard won experience and insight with you – the next generation of leaders of our industry.  If you feel you should be part of that next generation of leaders, please join us.  We look forward to seeing you there – 3:30 Wednesday November 20 at IAAPA.

Martin Palicki
Martin Palicki
Martin Palicki owns and publishes InPark Magazine. Started in 2004, InPark Magazine provides owners and operators the perspective from "in"side the "park." Martin has also written for publications like Sound & Communications, Lighting & Sound America, Attractions Management and others. Martin has been featured in Time Magazine, CNN.com and Folio. Martin lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

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