International Bowl Expo is not just an event, it’s a happening

We wanted to share the following wonderful article written by Dick Evans. We appreciate Dick's interest and willingness to "pen" this article about International Bowl Expo.

By Dick Evans

International Bowl Expo is not just an event, it’s a happening that has global implications and is a hot summer ticket.

But make no mistake, International Bowl Expo doesn’t just happen, it is a basketball-style full court press for 50 weeks by the entire staff at the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America headquarters in Arlington, Texas.

"The annual International Bowl Expo is where all the integers of the industry come together and make it the true showcase of bowling," said John Berglund, the BPAA’s executive director who deserves a lot of the credit for Bowl Expo’s expansion to almost every facet of bowling internationally.

Last year the Canadian proprietors met during International Bowl Expo in Las Vegas, this year the European proprietors will meet during Bowl Expo in Orlando June 21-26.

Also on hand as usual will be:

• America’s military bowling leaders.
• Members of the International Bowling Pro Shop & Instructors Association (IBPSIA).
• The United States Bowling Congress’ Board of Directors plus leaders from the USBC high school, collegiate and coaching divisions:
• All manufactures from every facet of bowling center operations featuring tomorrow’s trend leaders.
• The nation’s leading bowling writers (BWAA).
• Strike Ten’s goal tenders.
• Many of the nation’s elite pro and amateur stars and a fistful of seminar speakers.

"Our goal from a marketing prospective for the next Bowl Expo starts the day our staff returns home from the previous Bowl Expo," explains Berglund.. " We start by establishing the agenda and policy, plus the graphics and the theme must be completed before our Bowling Summit, which is in January."

Believe it or not, virtually every speaker is lined up before the BWAA staff breaks for Thanksgiving.

To run this full-court Bowl Expo press, Berglund must be considered the head coach with Bill Supper, his Deputy Executive Director, backup.

Berglund key assistant coaches, who diagram the plays, coordinate all the shots and work on Bowl Expo continuously all year long are:

• LeeAnn Norton who is in charge of overall management and operation of Bowl Expo. She secures hotel property, negotiates hotel-entertainment-keynote venues and oversees all aspects of Bowl Expo marketing, design plus program.
• Cary Richmond who is in charge of all media related activities, i.e. magazine ads, newsletters, press releases and all Bowl Expo AV and production needs as well as BPAA awards.

Bullet - Rich Caims handles all tech support prior to and on-site at Bowl Expo, registration set-up, web support, registration reports, signage, etc.

Under them are their key aides:

• Greg Taylor handles exhibit, sponsorship sales and all on-site operational aspects of trade show and exhibitors.
• Marie Shatto handles housing, transportation, food and beverage andseminars/speakers.
• Wendy Jones handles all registrations (both pre-show and on site) and all trade show activities that keep people on the trade-show floor.

And those are only the assistant coaches and their key aides.. Under them are the about 20 more of the BPAA’s home office staff of 32. Then there are about 13 spouses and family members who join the team at Bowl Expo.

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