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  • IAHA, HHA, HAA Questions:

    Does anyone know any info on what is going on with the Association(s) merger...how to continue (or technically start new) membership, if there is a new website up or in the works? Having trouble finding any info on any of it. I see HAA sponsored events on the Transworld site, but have not found much beyond that. I have emailed the IAHA info addresses several times to only get a general reply that my message would be forwarded to the proper people as they no longer deal with the association.

    I want to continue and be involved...

    Also in being a member of IAHA...I won a prize at the banquet last year and have not had luck in getting further info on redeeming it, or if Im just out now that the association is merged...

    I won one of the $100 off any IAHA vendor gift certificate at the Transworld Banquet last year. I did not have much luck in finding a vendor that was willing to take it (most said "we dont know anything about it and cannot honor it"). When I decided to put an order through with one that said they would take it, they told me I would have to pay for full amount then wait for IAHA to reimburse them before they would reimburse me, which while a trusted vendor, that kind of defeats the purpose of a gift certificate.

    Also...is the Haunt Vendor Association ever going to start back up? I've seen the logo on some sites, but their site is not current.

    Any info/help on any of the above would be greatly appreciated.


    Mike "Pogo" Hach
    -Mike "Pogo" Hach

  • #2
    They should just start one new association called HAHA because it's all a big joke.

    Robert

    I know it's not helpful but it's the true

    Comment


    • #3
      vote?

      Did you guys receive a ballot to vote in favor of the association merger? I sent mine back 2-3 weeks ago, and I wasn't sure if anyone else had that sent to them. Maybe that's the tie up?
      Patrick Barberry
      www.legendsofthefog.com
      sigpic

      Comment


      • #4
        Robert,

        You can't say it's a joke if you're on the sidelines, right? The HHA came in strong while IAHA may have been a little weak over the years but to say it' a joke but not take any action isn't righ. Join the board and make it a great association. I like the idea of a merger, one strong group for the industry as it sould be.


        DA

        Comment


        • #5
          Hey Dark , i was just wondering how long have you been in the industry? For me 16 years. I sat in meeting at Transworld for 3 years before IAHA was founded, and I was a founding member. So it's not really a matter of sitting on the sidelines, I was there at the start of all of it voting for this and that to even get the first group started.

          Now I would ask what are you looking for in a Haunted House Industry Association ? What would you like an association to work towards or for ?

          Now before I say anymore I'm going to point out there has been some stand up people on the broads of these associations. And we have also have a bunch of people how would fit each other in bars, back stab anyone that has come near them and stole funds. Also for many years this was the platform for some of our biggest pissing contests. So I'm sorry if the years of bullshit and doing nothing but throwing parties to raise money to throw more parties to raise more money has over shadowed the few great people we have had really tried to do good things.

          I would love to see an association forum with a real purpose, maybe as an industry figured out a direction and goals we want to accomplish, first. Then we build an association to meet those goals. Also for one to work there needs to be a paid staff of some kind, you can't expect a group of people that have a haunt and jobs and whatever else to be able to do heavy lifting for free and in there spare time, nothing will get done. We can't solve the industries problems in 4 or 5 conventions.

          I think the keys is to take on tuff issue alot of haunters face every year and alot of the people we have had in office aren't willing to take them on because they are worried about rocking there own boats.

          Robert

          Comment


          • #6
            Purpose?

            I have never understood these associations and how they assist the haunted house community. Can anyone provide greater details?

            - What is the association’s main purpose?
            - Any accomplishments that effect haunters that might be well known?

            Its sad to say but within the Haunt industry as a whole, it seems there are more people that would stab another haunter in the back before helping them out or working together.
            Joshua
            www.hauntedprints.com
            info?hauntedprints.com

            Comment


            • #7
              Thought

              I wonder if anyone has thought about breaking up an associate into smaller regional groups. Then certain members from the directors of each regional group could make up the national group.

              This would help get more people involved since haunters are spread across this nation. The average part time haunter usually doesn’t have enough time or can’t afford to meet in one location every year.

              It would be interesting to know what % of haunts in the US attend Transworld/HauntShow. I bet it is a very small %.
              Joshua
              www.hauntedprints.com
              info?hauntedprints.com

              Comment


              • #8
                Re posted from other forum...

                As for IAHA/HHA it became very clear to me after starting HHA that this industry does not want to support an association to this industries potential. Hence not worth anyones time or effort. Example... Hauntworld magazine has around 2000 subscribers plus or minus. Another example Hauntworld.com haunt directory has over 3000 haunts listed and even if a 1000 or so are not active it still leaves about 2000 haunts trying to open a haunt in 2011. So the point is HHA had maybe 250 members IAHA had maybe 250 members and many of those are the same people.

                When I was President of IAHA I think the membership was less than 200 after I became President I think it got as high as something like 400 and no matter what awesome things you attempted to do, national PR program, whatever you couldn't get higher than say on average 300 350 members out of a couple thousand.

                Its very disappointing to know when all the guys who busted their buts for HHA and did some really awesome things and even dedicated a lot of their time even during Halloween season couldn't be rewarded with a bigger support from our industry.

                The success of HHA is forcing IAHA to FINALLY realize an association for the haunt industry shouldn't be run by home haunters, IAHA changed basically EVERYTHING they do to match HHA, and only now they want to merge up. All great things.

                However even though they merge it won't mean much... because there just isn't that much support for our industry to have an association.

                To be honest we don't need one considering Transworld produces the tradeshow, and others such as MHC, Hauntcon, and others produce seminars, events, tours, and conventions. Traditionally the associations produce the magazines, seminars, tradeshows, events, and so forth and profit by them to fund the organization.

                Considering that will more or less NEVER happen I guess the importance of an industry association is low.

                Even said doesn't mean that good things can't happen its just I expect more of the same which is low support, low interest, from the same 2 or 300 folks year in and year out.

                I think in Missouri the motto is SHOW ME... I think the haunt industry motto is something along the lines of 'what have you done for me lately..'.

                LOL

                Its hard to very hard when you run your own business to do do do do for the industry when you have to do do do do for yourself. Associations shouldn't be managed, owned and operated by the actual operators it should merely steared and guided and when you do NOT have the funds because you dont' do tradeshows, that rake in tens of thousands you are more or less doomed.

                The good thing though is IAAPA is a real association that had TONS of money and fight all kinds of law changes and more that could affect their amusement parks, which could also affect our haunts... they do all the things we need done so that is a good thing.

                I think the guys who started and dedicated their time to HHA deserve a huge medal or something... they worked hard, and believed in something and accomplished a lot but when the industry doesn't throw the kind of support it needs to continue and that means for EITHER association they will not last long.

                Lets see what happens now but overall an industry association is my book is just a website that gets updated every now and again. Without the potential to raise hundreds of thousands it will never ever be all that it can be and due to that the whole industry as a whole will never join.

                Larry
                Larry Kirchner
                President
                www.HalloweenProductions.com
                www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re posted from the other forum:

                  A reboot won't matter... this industry has tried and failed to find interest from the industry to support such a thing. The fact is the people running them are busy themselves, and find it hard to do anything.

                  The biggest and I mean the biggest failure is simply that our industry association have no importance because they do NOT do anything not one thing that the industry or any industry depends on such as...

                  TRADESHOWS, SEMAINRS, MAGAZINES, EVENTS, EDUCATION because all of these things are done by private business.

                  In all the years of associations NOT ONCE did IAHA ever produce a tradeshow which is the ONLY and MAIN way MOST if NOT all associations SURVIVE! Its the tradeshow that pays for the year around staff, the management the programs, everything!!!!

                  You've had ever single Tom Dick and Harry produce tradeshows in our industry but never once the association... when you agree to be a lap dog for a free booth at a tradeshow and or a couple bucks you basically are agreeing to be worthless.

                  Tradeshows rake in hundreds of thousands for the industry associations.

                  Considering this just isn't going to happen at least not any time soon, NO industry association we could ever create will EVER be able to do the things and or fund the things and or sustain the things neccessary to build a brand that hte industry would eventually support.

                  I'll give you an example... IAAPA SHOW, you can't even exhibit if you are NOT a member. Every single one of those thousands or so exhibitors are members. All of those 20,000 or so people who attended are probably members... all that money went to IAAPA. It has to be in the multiple millions of dollars.

                  For the haunt industry an association like AEALI hope I got that right was a perfect modal for our industry... they ran a show about the same size as ours had over 1000 members all supported by small FEC type industry. Their tradeshow pocketed about $300,000 - $400,000 cash in hand for them... what could the haunt industry do with that kind of coin if we had the right people in charge?

                  Ahh a lot... could we then force people to join or you can't enter the show or you can't exhibit... ahh yep!

                  This might be the ultimate reason our industry will probably NEVER have a TRUE association doing the things like IAAPA or others. The good news is though... that we have a lot of GREAT organizations out there doing seminars, tradeshows, magazines, events, or whatever... yes all for personal profit, but still all doing a good job, so with all the things a normal association would do there really is no dire need for one. Its sad but true.

                  I had to learn this the hard way! LOL

                  Larry
                  Larry Kirchner
                  President
                  www.HalloweenProductions.com
                  www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                  www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                  www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    For the record the new association is going to be called HAA (Haunted Attraction Association) and the url should be www.hauntedattractionassociation.com.

                    I owned this URL and let it expire so the current board of HHA could register it for an eventual formation of a new association slash merger with IAHA. While I was still on the board I proposed this name as it was the true and accurate name for any association we should have.

                    Everyone agreed, and I brought up I owned the URL, and I agree to transfer it over to the members of HHA, however when I looked it was set to expire so I informed Dwayne (13th Gate) just buy it when it expires and I think that is what he did.

                    I want everyone to understand that although I'm being a realist on the facts that an industry association is really never going to be what an association is typically for other industries, it doesn't mean I want whatever the new association is to be to fail or fall on its face.

                    I hope and welcome ANYONE or ANY group that can do good things for our industry to help spread the word about the industry even if its very little or a lot. The thing that I can't stand is when something meant for the good because a tool for politics, fighting, arguements, and worse and lets be honest haunt associations have been NOTHING but a major ligthning rod for that making good people shy away from them.

                    That in and of itself is the other problem.

                    Me I have no time for politics all year long, I'd rather focus on making what we do better!

                    Larry
                    Larry Kirchner
                    President
                    www.HalloweenProductions.com
                    www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                    www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                    www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hey Larry why can't we start a new HAA and run our own tradeshow? Just saying your right we have the people in this industry with the right tools to put on our know show so we should. This show wouldn't hurt there own shows because there would be your main buying show and the rest of the shows could work between them selfs to spread out throughout the year and be used as show focusing more on Ed classes, meet and greets, and forums for addressing industry topics. Companies could still go to those shows if they wish, but mostly they could be used as regional meeting spots.

                      I feel your right that if this type of frame work could be layout we could win back alot of haunters that have shied away in the past. People and vendors would feel more comfortable putting there money out if they knew it was being used to found new projects and causes that are hurting a large percent of the haunt population, like codes and regulations.

                      Just talking out my ass, and living in a perfect world

                      Robert

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Let me tell you FLAT OUT no association for our industry will EVER be worth much without MONEY and TONS of money and then on top of that the RIGHT people running it who are not doing this or that for personal greed, self promotion, or whatever. IAHA has been FULL of the before mentioned... IAHA was a complete failure.

                        HHA was a success when you consider what was done in a short period on top of the fact that IAHA paniced and changed everything like over night what they wouldn't change for 10 years prior!

                        Now you will merge the two but I'm sorry to say hardly anyone will join, because its pointless ... for our industry an association just isn't in demand by the industry because things are cruising along with or without one. Until a haunt association makes or should I say FORCES the industry to make them important it will be ignored.

                        To do that the road map includes running your own tradeshow for the benefit of the industry, association, buyers, vendors, the whole nine.

                        But with Transworld doing such a good job now, and you still have MHC, Hauntcon and a host of others, where does one fit in? It doesn't. Can't start a magazine because there is hardly enough money out there now to support hardly one if not any.

                        It will just kind of exist nothing more nothing less.

                        When Transworld was not giving the haunt industry the fair shake it deserved there was a call for one run by the industry, that was the window, that was the crack of light, and now TW is really focused on the industry and doing a great job.

                        I just don't see a need for another show. Not to mention there is really only a handful of people in this industry that could even put it together, or be the force behind organizing it and I think most if not all of those people at this time have no interest. You don't break something that is working.

                        That isn't to say they couldn't do one like Hauntcon type of deal but that will making certain others upset I would imagine. I don't think it will happen

                        Larry
                        Larry Kirchner
                        President
                        www.HalloweenProductions.com
                        www.BlacklightAttractions.com
                        www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
                        www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I got a really cool tote-bag from IAHA a couple of years ago. I use it all the time. Just sayin.
                          Michael Inks
                          Geist Entertainment, Inc.
                          Visit GEI on Facebook

                          sigpic

                          "If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney

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