VSDA convention-goers look to the future of video - 1992 Video Software Dealers Association annual convention - Video Sell-Through

Discount Store News, July 20, 1992 by Frank M. Viollis

|Fast Forward To The Future," sets the theme for the Video Software Dealers of America's 11th annual convention, declared Don Rosenberg, executive vice president.

One thing industry observers agree upon, discount stores will play an ever-expanding role in that future.

"We're out to create a stronger voice with the studios, and with Washington. We want to make it clear to them that, as far as video is concerned, we now represent not only the [specialty] retailer, but the mass merchant, as well," noted Kathy Ripple-Gilmour, VSDA's director of public relations.

To back up that boast, Ripple-Gilmour points to the addition to the VSDA board of three new categories for its board of directors: * Mass Merchants: represented by Steven Porto of Price Choppers Books, and co-represented by Dave Stevens of the Handlemen Cos. * Groceries: represented by Craig Odanovich of H.E.B. Central. * Sell-through retailers: represented by Gary Ross of Sun Coast Motion Pictures.

Besides VSDA's attempts to expand its membership beyond the specialty video retailer, other issues that affect the industry's future will also be discussed.

"This convention promises to be more future-minded and unconventional than ever," said Rosenberg. "We anticipate: new and exciting vendors; exhibitors on the cutting edge of technology; and, seminars geared toward the rapid changes in the industry. We look forward to an exciting, educational, and in many ways, different convention than in years past."

According to Gilmour, the show will provide attendees with an opportunity to discuss several issues of great concern to the video industry.

"There's a lot of confusion and concern among our membership about shrinking sales windows, purchase price options, proposed government regulations [or deregulations especially as regards the cable and pay-per-view networks], and new technologies," she told DSN.

Educational seminars will include: * Cross Promotions: Tying Into Success; * Interactive Disc Technology: The Next Generation; * Pay-Per-View: Sound and Fury Signifying - What? * Big Profit From Alternative Product.

The show will once again feature the Roundtable Meetings which debuted at last year's convention. Apparently, the roundtables were a big success. Ninety-six percent of last year's roundtable attendees indicated that the discussions ". . . encouraged higher levels of communication and cooperation between the different segments of the industry [primarily the retailers, suppliers, and the vendors]."

"Roundtables with studio executives," continued Rosenberg, "will provide the discount store executive with an opportunity to sit in on focused discussions designed to address video industry issues."

The roundtable discussions will address issues relevant to the expansion of the electronic hard and software universe into the world of video cassette sales and marketing. "The future of the home entertainment landscape," Rosenberg added, "will be predicted, described, debated, and hammered out right before discount store executives' eyes."

Proposed topics will include, but not be limited to: * Laserdisc; * Interactive Multi-Media Technology (CD-I, CD-ROM, etc.); * Dolby Home Video; * High Density Television (HD/TV); * Pay-Per-View.

Finally, the VSDA plans on enhancing communication through interactive, hands on displays.

"We're not only going to talk about the future," injected Ripple-Gilmour. "We're going to bring the future right to the convention floor in the form of a complete futuristic video store/department. It's going to be hot."

Interestingly enough, one of the major producers/exhibitors, New Line Home Video (a division of New Line Cinema), is planning a futuristic, interactive display of its own. While promoting the upcoming release of its recent Science Fiction hit "The Lawn Mower Man," New Line will be bringing in two Virtual Reality games from a U.S. distributor in St. Louis, noted New Lines spokesperson, Greg Ptacek.

Virtual Reality is a form of interactive entertainment that places the user virtually "inside" the game. "The Lawn Mower Man," written by Stephen King and starring Pierce Brosnan and Jeff Fahey, deals with a scientist's experiments at using Virtual Reality to expand the mind of a retarded man. At the show, "people will be able to experience, first hand, what the movie's all about. It should be incredible," said Ptacek.

The future isn't always so very far away; and, it isn't always a matter of dealing with imagined concerns about new or proposed products. Usually, the future is a day-to-day unfolding of matters both practical and useful.

In keeping with that more usable aspect of the future, the VSDA has opened its convention doors to more than 50 new exhibitors (bringing the total number of exhibitors to over 350). They will offer up a host of new products, ranging from |new age' special interest videos (including one on how to legally avoid paying income taxes), to video dispensers, to video trading cards (a product line pioneered by Paramount Pictures' affiliate, Full Moon Entertainment).