How we can prepare for the season

[Speculo]

As we gear up for the season now is the time when thousands of haunted house fans rush to sites like Hauntworld.com or Haunted House.com or HauntedAttraction.com to find haunted houses. These sites along with associations, IAHA and HHA, entities like America Haunts, 13 Haunts, Americas Best Haunts and others will collectively dump 10s of thousands of dollars into national pr, advertising and marketing of all sorts. Some of it will feature this or that haunt, some of it will anger one person or another but all of it will hopefully bring up the profile of haunts everywhere in a positive light.

I have been working side by side with Patrick Konopelski the President of IAHA to develop some common answers to media questions that will crop up, so that both associations are on the same page, so that we can work together, productively, not destructively, to keep things going in a positive direction.

So this is what I ask of you all. If you have a bone to pick with this or that haunt entity, or you are mad because this or that list didn’t pick you, or you are ticked off that a haunt vendor is late with product, think twice before flooding the public boards with it. The overall goal is to promote haunts everywhere as fun safe forms of entertainment, and several years of hard work have already pushed this message in a great direction.

The media loves a good story - so let’s give them a GOOD story! Let’s see those haunt pictures and fresh websites, let’s see those cool storylines and pr ideas.

Let’s try not to throw fuel on the fire until November when only our little family is watching, and not the world, if we can.

Good luck to you all this season and don’t forget to visit your local Haunted House!

Thanks!

[BuriedAlive]

It may be time for either the IAHA or HHA to think about making a consumer complaint department to resolve some of the vendor issues. It could help to keep alot of the public outbursts about vendors off the board. It could be set up much like the BBB and could even rate the vendors.

This would help keep alot of the frustration of not being to get ahold of vendors. The bonus could be that vendors if they have to many complaints are suspended untill the complaints are fixed.

Just my 2 cents

[graystone]

The haunting season is fast approcahing and with Labor Day coming up we all know its down hill from there! Lets do as we do at Christmas put everything on hold and come together as this Inustry should for atleast the time being. I think it will be more produtive and in everyone's interest both big and small. We all do it at Christmas and we try to see the good in everyone then so lets try this with the Haunt Season! After that its everyone for himself and then we can bring back out the chains, whips, and fuel for the fire! Hell I will even be the first to get things started say November 5th? Shane and its whos with me on this? Shane this time.

[Jim Warfield]

That delaying until Christmas might mean that haunt owners have to put up with that nasty, scary Christmas dream watching Tiny Tim asking for more food and his old man looking like a bum because the haunt owner kept all the money rather than pay the help.

[Allen H]

Larry,
I will be joining HHA in a week or so. My haunt staff voted last week. I run a very democratic show and waited till our first meeting to bring it up.
Im sure thats the case with many shows. I also do not buy from first year vendors, I have been burned to many times, technically HHA is a firs year vendor. Im sure many are just waiting to see what it does in its first year before they invest.
Allen H