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After gaining a loyal following for its Storytelling, Architecture, Technology and Design (SATE) conferences in the United States, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) took the concept to Europe for the first time with a two-day event last month in Amsterdam. Owen Ralph reports


ust short of 100 delegates participated in the two- day conference (June 16/17) within excellent facilities on the top floor of the Heineken Experience. The result was the one of the best TiLE events that never was. While SATE Europe was essentially an evolution of previous TEA seminars/get-togethers in Paris and Vienna, it also bore several similarities to the old TiLE (Trends In Leisure and Entertainment) conference which, incidentally, is due for a return in its pre-longed format this October in Florence. None of this should come as a surprise as TiLE and the more recent TiLEzone events have always been well supported by the TEA and its members. One of those members, Jora Vision’s Jan Maarten de


Kees Albers (Unlimited Snow/Tape My Day) and Jan Maarten de Rad (Jora Vision) were instrumental in bringing SATE to Amsterdam


SATE Orlando


The original SATE conference returns to Orlando on September 22 and 23. Full venue details have still to be announced, but the official hotel will be the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld.


A highlight of the programme looks likely to be From Autobots to Decepticons, a showcase of recent Universal projects King Kong 360 3D, Transformers: The Ride 3D and Despicable Me! with contributions from Universal Creative’s Thierry Coup, Dale Mason, Mark Rhodes and Mike West. Other sessions confirmed so far include Digital Dome Stories, Story & the Art of Theatre; The Architecture of Engagement; Interpretive Storytelling, The Art of Weaving Facts into Fascination; The Use of Technology to Create a Compelling Personalized Experience in a Group Environment; and Placemaking on the World’s Biggest Cruise Ships


www.teaconnect.org/sate- orlando


Marty Sklar delivers his keynote speech 22


Rad, was instrumental in bring SATE to Europe, with Kees Albers from Tape My Day/Unlimited Snow doing much of the work on the ground in Amsterdam. Additional input came from president of the TEA’s Europe and Middle East Division, Phil Hartley. The seminar programme was presided over by conference chairman Reinoud van Assendelft de Coningh, with individual chairs assigned to each of SATE’s four key themes. The organisers pulled off something of a coup in persuading Walt Disney Imagineering stalwart Marty Sklar to attend as keynote speaker. Now semi-retired (no one ever retires in the amusement industry), he imparted wit and wisdom gleamed during a 56-year theme park career, during which he became the only man to be involved with opening of all 11 Disney parks worldwide. “Save your money, don’t enter our business,” Walt Disney was told by travelling carnival operators when he started work on Disneyland in the 1950s, but of course many of his “crazy” ideas have become standard industry practice, including storytelling within attractions, pay-one- price and catering to “guests” rather than “customers.” During his speech entitled, “The Best Advice I Ever Heard!” Marty shared many more quotes and anecdotes before instructing delegates, “Don’t avoid clichés. They are clichés because they work.” If the staying power of some of the attractions he highlighted is anything to go by, then maybe he had a point.


TEA time in Amsterdam J


Glory,” was the mantra from Hester


Kloosterboer in her introduction to the Storytelling session, before introducing BRC Imagination Arts founder Bob Rogers, who discussed his firm’s work reinventing the Heineken Experience. Since 2009, the venue has rocketed from 302,000 to almost half-a- million annual guests (there’s that word again), and is now facing impending capacity issues. A nice problem to have for what is now Amsterdam’s top-rated tourist attraction.


Storyline Success Representing Dolfinarium Harderwijk, John Ruisch and Steve Hearn highlighted their dolphin show Droomwens (Dream Wish), which integrated a storyline into the performance with great success. A competition to find a girl to star in the show attracted 30,000 applicants, while yellow alarm clocks like those featured in the show are now one of the park’s top-selling retail items. Driving over the border just 48 hours before the launch of his new attraction Van Helsing’s Factory, Movie Park Germany general manager Wouter Dekkers discussed the role of intellectual property (IP) in amusement parks. When it lost its Warner Bros licence in 2005, the park was forced to find some new IP. After an unsuccessful attempt developing its own “moviecals” it has enjoyed success with brands including Nickelodeon and Shrek 4D. Although major licences like these cost money, Wouter pondered, “Outside of the really big parks, how many successful IPs have actually been started in a theme park?”


The morning’s speakers, including Marty Sklar, then sat in on a panel session, brining the morning’s Storytelling session to a close. After lunch in the pleasant Moldenzoler room, omnipresent conference fixture Ray Hole presided over the Architecture session. “We had no plan at the beginning,” was the rather frank admission from Denis Laming, architect at the birth of Futuroscope 26 years ago. A publicly-financed project designed to stimulate the area around Poitiers in France, the science attraction park has now welcomed over 45 million guests, but nevertheless Laming’s admission highlighted the folly of designing a space without knowing what’s going in it. According to Peter Slavenburg, of Dutch exhibition and brand experience designer Northern Light, buildings can relate to the content inside in one of three ways. The NEMO science centre in Amsterdam, Landesmuseum in Stuttgart and Media Experience in Hilversum were examples provided of attractions that either ignore their own architecture, relate to it with a sense of authenticity or feature real synergy between building and experience. Other speakers during the Architecture session include Center Parcs’ creative director Michel Linet-Frion and


JULY 2011


SATE Europe “No Story, No


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