Amusement 360 Event
August Recap: Operators And Startups Rediscovered Their Purpose & Passion
2023 Event Dates
Amusement 360 Event: April 25-27, 2023
Amusement 360 Event: September 19-21, 2023
The speakers, agenda, and details are being finalized for the 2023 events and will be announced by the end of the year.
August Event Recap
On August 16-18, we held the Amusement 360 Event and focused on helping operators rediscover their Purpose and Passion for the entertainment industry. After two difficult years facing a pandemic, we wanted to help operators remember why they’re in this industry, why the memories and smiles matter, and why their venues hold an important place in their communities.

Event Statistics
- 85 In-Person Attendees – a record for the Amusement 360 Event
- 14 Hours of Programming – educational presentations, panel discussions, and interviews
- 9 Hours, 9 Minutes – the average time spent in the event by virtual attendees
- 18 Speakers – experts who shared knowledge with attendees during the event
- 100% – the percentage of Amusement 360 attendees who would recommend the event
Event Focus – PURPOSE & PASSION
After 2 difficult years for operators, we were focused on helping operators rediscover their purpose and passion for the industry. We reminded attendees why they do what they do, so that they could return to their businesses reinvigorated and reengaged with a renewed sense of passion.
Recap Video
We work hard to create events that are educational, valuable, and FUN! After all, this is the amusement industry, so why not have fun while we tackle important business challenges?
Key Takeaways
With the incredible number of speakers, experts, and interviews, every day was filled with key insights. We distilled the content to provide you with small sample of the many takeaways from the March event.

Kimberly Schilling
Generosity Can Be More Than Money
Kimberly Schilling, one of the owners at Creative Works, shared her passion about generosity. When people hear about generosity, they often think about donating money to a charitable cause. That’s certainly not the only way to be generous. She shared stories from multiple operators in this industry that illustrated how you can be generous with your time and your facility. In fact, when you have an “open hand” of generosity in your business, it often comes back to you in the form of revenue and positive press.

Craig Buster
People Are More Important Than Revenue
Craig Buster is the General Manager of Coconut Bowl, a 125,000 entertainment center near Reno. Craig has built a culture unlike any other: in an industry built for turnover, the average tenure for his 22 managers is more than 17 years. There are a lot of reasons people stick around, but one of the most important is that Craig cares more about his employees than he does about revenue. As he shared during his interview, if you take care of your people, the revenue will follow. He gives his team autonomy and lets everyone approach their job with an owner’s mentality.

Kevin Loughery
Local Media Is A Powerful Marketing Tool
Kevin talked about the importance of getting coverage from your local news media. This earned media can be a very powerful and effective tool, and he shared some interesting statistics to illustrate this. When a person sees a business in the local news, here’s the impact:
- 31% increase in brand recall
- 62% increase in brand interest (willingness to learn more)
- 75% increase in brand consideration (likelihood to spend money)

Danny Gruening
Don’t Let A Bad Day Become A Lifestyle
“What starts as an excuse can easily become a habit. Don’t let a bad day become a lifestyle.” Danny quoted the author James Clear in a presentation about personal growth and development. As business leaders, we’re going to mess up, fall short, and fail. It’s inevitable. The most important thing is how we respond when this happens. If we make excuses, those excuses can become our default. But if we own our mistakes, we can get back up, brush ourselves off, and get back to work. When we do this, we’re building resiliency and positive habits that will serve us well down the line.

David Wallace
A Properly Poured Beer Increases Your Profits
Food and beverage training is crucial to success, from managers to front-line workers. David gave an example of pouring a beer. Most people know that a pint glass can fit 16oz of beer, but that’s only when it’s poured incorrectly. A properly poured beer has 1 inch of head (aka foam) on top. This 1 inch equals 4oz of liquid. When you pour a beer with this 1 inch of head, you’re saving 4oz on every beer sold, which is a huge boost to your bottom line.

Scott Harvey
You Can Create Unexpected and Lifelong Memories For Your Guests
Think about the best entertainment experience you’ve ever had. Odds are, it was memorable because it was a unique and special moment for you. You have the opportunity to create these types of memories for your guests in your FEC. Harvey shared a story about how him and his family got tickets to a Garth Brooks concert and were pleasantly surprised when they were upgraded to front-row tickets at no additional cost. It was an experience that Harvey and his family will never forget. Think about how you can give these experiences to your guests.
Experts
Several members of our own team are speaking, and we love sharing our extensive attraction knowledge with operators from around the world. We also work with the best speakers, experts, and consultants in the amusement industry. These experts will provide action items you can apply to every aspect of your business.

Armando Lanuti
Creative Works

Russ Van Natta
Creative Works

Danny Gruening
Creative Works

Kimberly Schilling
Creative Works

Scott Harvey
Speaking of Harvey

Jackie Hoegger
Hoegger Communications

Sheryl Bindelglass
Sheryl Golf

Frank Price
FL Price

Beth Standlee
TrainerTainment

Jerry Merola
Amusement Entertainment Management

David Wallace
Turfway Entertainment Group

Kevin Williams
Spider Entertainment

Kevin Loughery
Prospr Communication

Kevin Lonzo
Lonzo Law

Pat Hart
Trifecta Management Group

Craig Buster
Coconut Bowl

Brad & Keri Little
High Five

Jeff & Sharolette Pierce
Atomic City
Testimonials
Here’s a small sample of the amazing feedback we received from attendees at the August 2022 event!
“I have been in the hospitality industry for 32 years and yet this event not only reminded me of things I should be doing; I learned new approaches to make us even better moving forward.”
Barry Taylor
“Everyone from attendees, partners, vendors, and speakers are like family. Everyone is encouraging and willing to share what works and what they could do to improve. People feed into us and we in turn feed into people just joining the industries. “
Sharolette Pierce
“Amusement 360 is your opportunity to get in the room with experienced operators and start ups. It is the place to get your questions answered”
Jim Lewis
“Amusement 360 is THE event to be at if you are opening or growing your business”
Eric Black
“While larger conferences are beneficial, this event holds a tone of value in having “1-on-1″ meetings with other operators and vendors. The networking opportunities at Amusement 360 were incredibly valuable!”
Steve Roach
“No matter how long you have been in the industry you will take away a wealth of knowledge from sessions, networking with operators & vendors. It has become our favorite conference”
Keri Little
Partners
This event wouldn’t be possible without the support of our amazing Partners. All of these companies will be present at the event, so you can schedule 1-on-1 time to ask questions and learn about their products and services.
Speakers
Educational content is one of the driving forces for Amusement 360. These are the companies who will be providing educational presentations during the event.