Once more, ICE London at the forefront of innovation

"It's still very early to be talking about thing like numbers and feedback, although the feedback we´ve been getting by speaking with our customers, with visitors and delegates has been amazingly positive," Dan Stone said. "We are really pleased with the issue of the challenge that an event like ICE London represents, because it is the leading event for gaming. It also means we have to risk, we have to try a little bit harder, I believe, to stay ahead. You can't get lazy; you have to keep innovating; to try new things. That's one of the reasons we work with the:  'Step, Leap, Dive and Look - Into The Future' campaign. It´s about not staying still, always thinking ahead, with our customers, with the audience; hopefully we will find more feedback over the next week or so."

When asked about the expectations he had for ICE London, he answered: "We obviously want to deliver the numbers our customers expect, although they always tell us the quality is paramount; that´s the most important thing. Obviously quantity is important, but actually that's the return they get from the experience. And the same applies for visitors and delegates as well. They want a good experience, and that´s not just about how many stands you have but it's about trying to inject that ICE magic. It´s just a different vibe, a different feel at ICE London that you don't get in other events. I think part of that has to do with our approach and our belief in the values that are mentioned by Kate Chambers and which have to do with people engaging, with loyalty, with trust, with being authentic. We really do want to bring the best we can, so our expectations were pretty simple: To do that, to deliver a show in which people would come away from feel energyzed, in which people have learnt something from that; from the content, or from the networking with the base, or from exploring all the exhibitors at their booths. We had 70 new exhibitors at the show this year. And we had the e-sports arena as well. Consumer protection is also very important for us. So far, I think that, in terms of feedback, we have huge expectations, which is fantastic."

He then analyzed the conferences specifically: "We had the conferences, visitors and exhibitors, and each of them had different aims and expectations. The conference is quite different from the trade show. You get different benefits from them. We've spent a long time and effort on the conferences, to put them forward, and by that, I mean, we continue to find speakers who really provide that insight which you don't really get in any other conference. And it involves going out to find speakers maybe outside of the gaming industry for example, giving a kind of different thoughts and processes, but it's something we believe in, and that was very well received."

With regard to the exhibition, he added that most visitors attend to the show primarily for business solutions and also networking. "We had a number of networking events, then, and the power of connecting people in the industry: speakers, visitors, exhibitors.  ICE 2021 is scheduled on 2-4 February 2021, at ExCel London, and it will start with a clean sheet again, as we develop a new approach every year, because the industry changes so quickly, and we bring a service to their industry."

When asked about the secret for ICE Success, Dan Stone commented: "We try to think about that, to help us understand why it works so well and why it feels different, as a recipe, and unfortunately, I don't think it's as simple as that. I think it is an amalgamation of different parts. When you get those in place, you get them right, and then the whole comes together. Some of those parts is the team, which is fantastic and shares the same values and thoughts, and part of that is to constantly develop the event to put it at the forefront. You can look at the positive feedback and say: "Well done", or you can look at the negative comments and say: What can we do to adress that?", so that power of questioning ourselves all the time every day, every week, every campaign, is what helps us to connect better with the audience and to deliver an event like ICE London. And then the memorable moments, the magic; I think a lot of people agree that ICE has charisma."

He then talked about other events that Clarion Gaming is organizing for the rest of the year: "ICE London is the big start of the year. We also have Totally Gaming Academy, which is a program of training and courses. Intensive learning and in-house training as well. We then have ICE North America in May, which moved from Boston to New Orleans. Besides, Latin America has always been very special to us. We have the sense that something is about to happen in Brazil. That's why we made the decision to launch "Gaming Latin America, Brazil", that will be taken place later in the year, in mid October, in Brazil. Then, ICE Africa, which is a true home for African Gaming and will be held 28 to 29 October. But before that, on June, we have ICE Asia, in which we are holding SIGMA Manila (June 8-9), it will be an exciting partnership, and it will be effectively two events in one roof. It may be exclusively landbased (ICE Asia) or exclusively online (SIGMA Manila) or you can get one pass for the two events.Then IGB Live is a big event for us, and it is getting better every year. It will be held in Amsterdam next July. We also have the Sports Betting USA conference, which has developed quite large in the last few years, so we´ll do that again in November in New York."

"I guess the challenge for us would be maintaining our leading events in such a leading position. As I said before about ICE London, people expect an event which will blow their minds, which will bring them something memorable. The challenge is to try to replicate that year after year, keeping fresh, keeping new, keeping innovative", he concluded.