Many well attended Tech Classes were provided by DYE Precision, GOG Paintball, DLX, First Strike, Planet Eclipse, Ninja Paintball, Valken, and Virtue Paintball. Business classes were provided by Bob McGuire of PTI with presentations covering Low Impact Paintball, Opening a Safe Field and Fill Station Operation / Bottle Inspection; KWA presented a session covering how airsoft can help boost revenue; John Welch of The Signature B & B Companies presented a session on the exposure of a cyber threat to your business; Eddie Wall of New York Life Insurance Company presented a session on finding financial balance in your business; German Garcia-Fresco PHD and owner of Xtreme Park Adventure presented sessions covering How he went from a $ 5,000 park to over $ 2,000,000 in a few years and a second session on the science of online persuasion; Philip Hernadez, Editor-in-Chief of Seasonal Entertainment Source Magazine presented sessions covering social media marketing for attractions and using Facebook advertising to attract & engage guests; Chris Williams of Virtue Paintball presented a session on managing your business to increase growth in times of change; Craig Sherman of Paintball USA presented a session on marketing your park without going broke; Larry Dague of Vantora Waivers / Gatsplat Paintball presented two sessions covering online bookings to boost profitability and why start an indoor paintball field; Mike“ Pev” Peverill of Pev’ s Paintball presented his popular sessions covering increasing sales by using onsite marketing, demographics that’ s growing businesses & profits and increasing revenue & profits; Melinda Dowdy of The MD Bookkeeping Doctor presented a session on Quickbooks; and Quik-n-Crispy presented a
session on providing revenue from food for your field. The 2018 event presented over 45 hours of technical training and 26 hours of business training.
The indoor shooting challenge provided by Modern Combat Sportz saw continual activity throughout the event with over $ 3,000 of prizes awarded to the attendees that showed their expertise with the airsoft handgun. This year’ s event, while showcasing the paintball industry, also saw airsoft and laser tag product lines in over 40 displays.
The Hyatt Regency Dulles provided free hot snacks to the attendees of the Tuesday Night Welcome Reception and a free beer & wine Happy Hour on Wednesday night. Over $ 5,000 was raised at the Charity Auction of products donated by event exhibitors with all proceeds going to Pediatric Epilepsy Research.
Paintball Extravaganza International opened a new and expanded website for the 2018 event which provided continually updated information to the attendees and those interested in information on the event. Providing information to the industry this year included 24 Facebook posts with over 33,000 views, 3 videos posted on Facebook with over 7,000 views, over 17,000 emails and over 6,000 unique visits to the new website.
Plans for the next Paintball Extravaganza International are underway. Watch for updates on www. pb-events. com.
Rick Chard