A sincere thank you from the entire Raving Consulting team to all those that took part in Raving's 11th Indian Gaming National Marketing Conference. The dedication from our attendees and sponsors, the superb and attentive staffs of Grand Traverse Resort & Spa and Turtle Creek Casino and the powerful and insightful presenters and speakers made this and unforgettable conference!

The great weather, fun activities and beautiful fall colors of Traverse City and the surrounding areas certainly didn’t hurt either. Next year, we’ll be in the Pacific Northwest September 28-30 at the Tulalip Resort Casino, just north of Seattle, Washington. Check back for more details.

It’s always a treat to pull together some of the best Indian gaming marketing minds in the business together … to be able to network with each other and learn from each other. And this year was no exception.

During this conference, we took on a variety of Indian gaming marketing topics like ways to find new customers or improving marketing practices in a recession; crunching those marketing numbers that will allow you to better communicate with your CFO; and motivating your middle managers and senior executives to get more involved with the marketing process.

Victor Rocha, owner and editor of Pechanga.net wowed us with his no-nonsense assessment of what gaming has brought to Indian Country and what it means to casino marketers in Indian gaming today now that they’re in the spotlight. While Tamaya Enterprises Inc. and the Santa Ana Star Casino of the Santa Ana Pueblo reminded us they recognize that their casino is a marketing company selling a feeling rather than a product, proving once again why they are more than worthy as the recipient of this year’s Barona/VCAT Excellence in Indian Gaming Marketing Award.

Click here for more on the award.

Yes, we networked with and learned from each other — the real value of any Raving conference. And if you took part in Toby’s whirlwind networking exercise, we’re pretty sure you made a lot of new friends in a pretty short time. More cow bell!

Raving would like to give special thanks to each of its conference sponsors (some who had to temporarily brave booths with little to no materials thanks to shipping problems and airport screw-ups): AD Kickin SOLUTIONS; Global Connect; Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos; Imagine This; Native American Casino Magazine; Pechanga.net; Raving Service; Royal Performance Group; SportGame; Sport View Technologies; Store Financial; Talent Buyers Network; and Video Gaming Technologies.

Special congratulations are also in order for Jackie Greenhaw of the Chickasaw Nation’s Division of Commerce (Go Jackie, Go Jackie!), who won the travel package to join us at next year’s Raving’s Indian Gaming National Marketing Conference at Tulalip.

We hope to see all of you there as well!

Forgot to turn in your evaluation forms for this conference?
Click here to fill them out and simply fax them back to (775) 329-4947.

Questions or comments about Raving’s 11th Indian Gaming National Marketing Conference or next year’s event?
Contact Christine Faria, Vice President of Operations for Raving Consulting Company at (775) 329-7864 or by e-mail: chris@ravingconsulting.com.
Or contact Andy Holtmann, Vice President of Communications for Raving Consulting Company at (702) 478-8802 or e-mail him at andy@ravingconsulting.com.