IAAPA, the global association for the attractions industry, has announced details of this year’s Legends Panel at IAAPA Expo. The session will be taking place on Wednesday 20 November from 4 pm to 5.30 pm in the Learning Hub, sponsored by Miral.
The Legends Panel, moderated and curated by Bob Rogers, CEO and chairman of BRC Imagination Arts, has provided a platform for creative leaders to share vital information for over two decades. It is committed to conserving the invaluable knowledge of the most accomplished members of the theme park and themed entertainment industries.
IAAPA Expo 2024 is the leading event for the visitor attractions industry and is taking place from 18 to 24 November in Orlando, Florida.
Candid conversation
Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” and the 2024 panel includes four leading industry figures who embody this ethos. In this session, these panellists will share insights, strategies, and learnings from their careers. It will include:
Bob Rogers
Rogers is CEO and chairman of BRC Imagination Arts, and the founder, moderator and curator of The Legends Panel. A renowned industry veteran, he has been inducted into the IAAPA Hall of Fame, honoured with the Thea Lifetime Achievement Award, and nominated for two Oscars. His career began as a magician at Disneyland’s Magic Shop.
Bob Weis
Throughout his 40-year career as an Imagineer, Weis has created, built, and produced immersive experiences for some of Disney’s best-known projects worldwide. Most recently, he served as the president of Walt Disney Imagineering. The influence of Weis’ design and storytelling can be found at theme parks, rides, resorts, and cruise ships worldwide.
His most recent book is Dream Chasing: My Four Decades of Success and Failure at Walt Disney Imagineering. He formerly edited Marty Sklar’s Travels with Figment: On the Road in Search of Disney Dreams. He is now writing TWELVE DISNEY PARKS: Treasures from the Marty Sklar Archives of Walt Disney Imagineering, which will be released in June 2025.
See also: Bob Weis: a life in themed entertainment & the next chapter
Margaret Chandra Kerrison
Kerrison, who was born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore, has over sixteen years of experience writing and constructing narratives for a variety of media. This includes games, movies, television, digital media, brand storytelling, location-based entertainment, as well as immersive experiences like National Geographic Base Camp, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
She previously worked with BRC and Disney Imagineering and is now a speaker, creative advisor, and author of two books: Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds: A Writer’s Guide (2022) and Reimagined Worlds: Narrative Placemaking for People, Play, and Purpose (2024). Her third book, The Art of Immersive Storytelling: Strategies from the Gaming World, will be published early next year.
See also: Margaret Kerrison on placemaking for people, play and purpose
Joe Pine
Together with James Gilmore, Pine is the author of The Experience Economy, a best-selling classic valued by readers and organisations worldwide and translated into more than a dozen languages. He is an internationally renowned writer, lecturer, and management consultant to both Fortune 500 businesses and entrepreneurial start-ups and a co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP, a thinking studio dedicated to assisting organisations in developing and designing innovative methods to add value to their economic offerings.
The Experience Economy has been ranked as one of the top business books of all time. Preliminary plans for the Legends Panel include details of Pine’s eagerly-awaited new book, The Transformation Economy, which will be released in the autumn of 2025.
See also: Joe Pine and the evolution of The Experience Economy
Last month, IAAPA announced the appointment of Jessi Quillen as VP of digital strategy. Quillen brings a wealth of expertise from the retail and tourism sectors, with 15 years in global digital marketing and technology. She specialises in CRM, web, and loyalty experience.
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