Volume 2, No. 21. November 8, 2002
IAAPA Preview
For exhibitors listed alphabetically, click here.
For exhibitors listed numerically, click here.
Editor's Note: Our next issue of THE LOOP will post on Tuesday, November 26, to report on the news from the IAAPA Convention and Trade Show.
Club
do’s
As if all the IAAPA-sponsored socials and exhibitor parties weren’t enough
to weaken your trade show legs throughout the week, now two nightclubs near
the Orange County Convention Center are offering attendees an incentive to party
at their places: free admission. Anybody wearing an IAAPA Trade Show badge will
get in free to either Metropolis or Matrix in the Pointe Orlando Shopping Center
on International Drive, a savings of $5 to $15 in cover charges depending on
the night.
“We’re nightclubs, but we do a lot of corporate convention groups,”
said Tricia Jenkins, convention sales manager for the two neighboring nightclubs.
She hopes that by exposing her venues, some IAAPA group or sponsor will book
a future event there. “I know you guys are in town the next two years.
As soon as people walk in the door they say, ‘This is it, this is where
we’re having our event.’”
The two nightclubs, both 15,000 square feet (1,393.5 square meters), opened
a little more than a year ago and offer two distinct styles of fun. Metropolis
is a Moulin Rouge-look venue with purple billiard tables, mahogany wood-accented
decor and chandeliers hanging over the dance floor. The music is ’80s and
’90s and contemporary Top 40. Matrix is the high-energy hot spot playing
techno, Eurotrance and breakout. Last November the Matrix served as one of the
social venues for the Lighting Dimensions International convention because much
of the club's light and sound equipment was so new it had not yet been put on
the market.
Opened Wednesday through Sunday, the two nightclubs offer further variety for
IAAPA buyers and exhibitors. Metropolis will host a battle of the bands competition
November 20 and continuing on subsequent Wednesday nights featuring three Latino
bands per contest night. Matrix, drawing heavily from the 18-25 demographic,
attracts the various celebrities who live in Orlando, the N’Syncers and
O’Towners, et al. “On a regular basis we are 75 percent to 80 percent
local business,” Jenkins said. “Being in the heart of the tourist
district, that’s unheard of.”
For IAAPA week, however, she hopes to tilt the balance toward a certain group
of out of-towners, now and in the future.
For
more information about these nightclubs, visit their website, www.metropolismatrix.com.
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