IAAPA Alert to Members, Event Attendees and Exhibitors

It continues to come to IAAPA’s attention that some companies are using misleading tactics to solicit IAAPA manufacturer and supplier members and others for listings in trade show and exhibition publications.

Amusement Park Daily

IAAPA members have been approached about being featured in articles or purchasing advertising in a publication called Amusement Park Daily by Source Group LLC. This company is not affiliated with IAAPA Expos or Show Daily, the only official daily trade show publication of IAAPA. If you are unsure whether you have secured a position in the official Show Daily or the unauthorized Amusement Park Daily, please contact Julie Rice-Witherell, Manager, Global Advertising Sales.

Online Directories

IAAPA members have received correspondence from Construct Data/FAIR Guide, EXPO-GUIDE, World Business Guide, and World Trade Register regarding listings in online directories for businesses, fairs and exhibitions. Although the correspondence appears to request information for free listings, the document is actually a three-year contract for the purchase of advertising space.

Companies under these names are actively targeting our supplier members and exhibitors via e-mail asking them to fill a free directory update form that abides them to the terms listed on their website. The truth is, the offer is a cleverly constructed three-year ad commitment for approximately €3,000 that results in endless harassment and collection demands.

For purposes of saving you a great deal of distress, and possible expense, we remind you to read all correspondence received by vendors or others very carefully prior to signing anything. If you receive a contract that looks like any of those pictured above you should NOT fill it out.

If you signed a contract and have received collection notices from any of these companies:

• Consider the option of immediately sending a letter revoking the signature explaining that the form was misleading and confusing. If you receive written demands for payment or telephone calls, no matter how threatening or ominous, you may have the option of simply refusing to pay any money and reiterating the fact that the form was misleading and was signed only as the result of confusion. Talk to your legal counsel about these options. The International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) believes that, despite some very crude and threatening collection tactics employed over the years by Construct Data/FairGuide, they have never taken legal action in any nation to secure payment. The same may be true of the other companies for the same reasons --- a court may have little sympathy for their tactics.
• As background documentation for your claim to Construct Data/FAIR Guide and EXPO-GUIDE, you may want to attach the letter for U.S. Members and Non-U.S. members sent by IAAPA’s legal advisor Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.

In the U.S., you can contact the Federal Trade Commission for further assistance.

Federal Trade Commission
Office of Business Fraud 
600 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.
Washington , D.C. 20580

Tel: +1 (202) 326-2800
Fax:+1 (202) 326-2034  
E-mail: [email protected]

As mentioned before, please note that IAAPA is not affiliated with Construct Data, FAIR Guide, Expo-Guide, World Business Guide, or World Trade Register.  They are not IAAPA-sponsored directories, and IAAPA does not sponsor or endorse their services in any way.

IAAPA Alert to Members, Event Attendees and Exhibitors

Many individuals have reported that they have received email solicitations from unknown companies claiming to sell “IAAPA Attendee” lists or data. Please be reminded that IAAPA does not release, publish, or sell attendee lists from any of its signature events.

In many cases these companies are rogue vendors selling lists that anyone could generate finding publicly available information on the internet using SIC codes or other tools. They may be “attractions industry” related lists, but are not IAAPA-specific lists.

What IAAPA is doing: In many cases, these vendors also consist of no more than a phone number, an email address and a bank account. Once a cease-and-desist order can be generated it is very simple for them to close up shop and reopen the next day under a different name. This is a similar business model to the rogue hotel/housing vendors that were so prevalent in recent years.

Nonetheless select IAAPA staff has been working in the US to advance legislation that would provide more substantive penalties, thus allowing the US Federal Trade Commission and the states’ Attorneys General more leverage in enforcement.

What you should do: If you do decide to conduct business with these organizations, you would be doing so at your own risk. Please note however that the list that is claimed to be from IAAPA is not, and is likely from generic publicly-available information online. The best way over time to stop solicitations such as these is to not conduct business with them in the first place.