The University of Arizona’s 38th annual Symposium on Racing & Gaming is shaping up to be the horse racing industry’s first full-scale exploration of digital age business applications
. According to Race Track Industry Program Director Doug Reed, the program will deliver insights on how to adapt to and use online and interactive technologies to not only manage operations but also to help grow new communities of cyber-wagering fans.
Reed said that the digital focus of the conference is timely.
“The news from main street this week affirms the importance of online commerce to our customers,” he asserted. “Consumers went online to spend a record $1.25 billion on Cyber Monday.
“More important, for those of us in businesses where we depend on trips to our facilities, we need to take note of the fact that online spending was $816 million on Black Friday, a day usually reserved for trips to the mall,” he said. “Now is the time to leverage the digital market for our sport.”
Among the topics that will be featured at the 2012 Symposium are:
- Racing’s Young Guns --- a panel of young, up-and-coming track executives make a compelling case for the future of horse racing by contesting the notion that racing appeals only to an aging demographic.
- Social Media and the ADW: A Match Made in Heaven --- leading ADW executive Chuck Champion heads a panel of experts that will delve into the 'digital trip to the track' and how it is one key to satisfying race fans who demand entertainment … on demand.
- Your Social Networking Toolbox: What’s In It? --- A first-ever look at how racing can use community building and networking programs like Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, Living Social and BuyWithMe to build their 'book' of business.
- Managing Your Business on the Internet --- Berry Cobb of Virtual Root, LLC will lead a discussion on how to be found on the internet --- and how to keep competitors from poaching.
- Unique Computer Applications for Racing --- Want to learn how to entertain and 'track' customers? Students from the School of Information: Science, Technology and Arts combined with the Race Track Industry Program students show the results of their semester-long course on how to use applications like QR codes to connect with customers.
The 2011 annual symposium will take place at the Westin La Paloma Resort in Tucson, Arizona, from December 5-8. Registration forms can be obtained at the RTIP website (ua-rtip.org).
(RTIP)