WEBVTT 00:00:00.270 --> 00:00:02.690 Welcome to the Live with Sondra podcast where 00:00:02.690 --> 00:00:05.290 we dive deep into business, tech, and entrepreneurship. 00:00:06.150 --> 00:00:09.349 Hosted by me, Sondra Shannon, CEO of GateMaster 00:00:09.349 --> 00:00:12.689 Technology. Each show, we explore the latest 00:00:12.689 --> 00:00:15.009 trends in ticketing attractions and guest experience, 00:00:15.369 --> 00:00:17.929 helping you stay ahead of the curve in this ever 00:00:17.929 --> 00:00:21.510 -evolving world of attractions and events. Whether 00:00:21.510 --> 00:00:24.010 you're an industry expert or just getting started, 00:00:24.269 --> 00:00:27.129 this show has insights to inspire and empower 00:00:27.129 --> 00:00:30.480 you. Today's episode is sponsored by GateMaster 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:32.799 Technology, your trusted partner for ticketing 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:36.000 and attraction management solutions. Let's get 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:42.880 started with the show. Here we go. We are live. 00:00:44.020 --> 00:00:47.420 Hey everybody, this is the Live with Sondra show 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:50.520 and I want to welcome you today. We are exploring 00:00:50.520 --> 00:00:53.420 something that's changing the entire landscape 00:00:53.420 --> 00:00:57.789 of guest experiences from ticketing. to immersive 00:00:57.789 --> 00:01:01.789 storytelling. Today we're talking AI, VR, and 00:01:01.789 --> 00:01:05.469 the rise of spatial computing. If you've ever 00:01:05.469 --> 00:01:08.170 wondered what the future of attractions looks 00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:10.569 like and how to use these tools to stay ahead, 00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:14.329 this episode will blow your mind. We've got one 00:01:14.329 --> 00:01:17.049 of the industry's top digital transformation 00:01:17.049 --> 00:01:22.349 leaders joining us to share what's next. So stick 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:26.870 around and I'll see you after the intro. Thank 00:01:26.870 --> 00:02:07.909 you. welcome back to the live with sandra show 00:02:07.909 --> 00:02:09.889 i'm your host sandra shannon and today we're 00:02:09.889 --> 00:02:13.810 deep diving into the future of attractions spatial 00:02:13.810 --> 00:02:17.270 computing artificial intelligence and how immersive 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:21.030 technologies transform the guest experience but 00:02:21.030 --> 00:02:24.349 first a huge thank you to our sponsor gate master 00:02:24.349 --> 00:02:27.810 technology for over 30 years gate master has 00:02:27.810 --> 00:02:29.550 been the trusted point of sale and ticketing 00:02:29.550 --> 00:02:32.710 platform for attractions around the world from 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:34.830 mobile ordering to online sales and real -time 00:02:35.259 --> 00:02:38.439 data and integrated marketing tools gate master 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:41.520 helps operators simplify their operations and 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:45.120 stay ahead of the rapidly changing tech landscape 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.360 thank you gate master technology for supporting 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:50.759 today's conversation about innovation and the 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.939 future of guest engagement so without further 00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:57.879 ado ado i would like to introduce you to our 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:01.889 guest today now i could Not think of a better 00:03:01.889 --> 00:03:04.650 guest to have this discussion with us than Steve 00:03:04.650 --> 00:03:07.590 Smith, who is the CEO and president of Talana 00:03:07.590 --> 00:03:10.490 Solutions, Inc., where he helps organizations 00:03:10.490 --> 00:03:15.110 achieve digital transformation at a C -level. 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:19.969 Before that, Steve started as a CIO for major 00:03:19.969 --> 00:03:23.430 brands like Orbitz and Autotrader, leading technology 00:03:23.430 --> 00:03:26.409 initiatives that shaped how millions of people 00:03:26.409 --> 00:03:29.659 traveled and shopped online. including for iconic 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:34.080 brands like aa .com having lived in six countries 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:38.379 and traveled to more than 60 countries goals 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:42.479 that's my goals too steve brings a truly global 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.879 perspective on how technology scales and how 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:48.900 it can make or break the guest experience and 00:03:48.900 --> 00:03:50.960 one thing steve can't live without his journal 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.439 and his music which i think is the perfect blend 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.539 of reflection and rhythm that fuels both creativity, 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:01.199 and clarity, please help me welcome Steve to 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.919 the Live with Sondra show. Steve, I am so excited 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.500 to have you here today. Thank you so much. Really 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.400 excited to be here. Thank you for being here. 00:04:09.580 --> 00:04:13.520 So did I get the bio okay? It's good. I've lived 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.779 about four lifetimes in my 60 years on the planet, 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.920 so it's good. It's perfect. Well, I have to ask, 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:22.160 because you mentioned music, and I'm a big music 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:25.730 fan. What kind of music do you like? you know 00:04:25.730 --> 00:04:28.430 as a kid i was all pop rock so think you know 00:04:28.430 --> 00:04:31.170 80s hair bands uh you know journey and motley 00:04:31.170 --> 00:04:34.730 crew and death leopard um but you know my my 00:04:34.730 --> 00:04:36.629 best friend and my music collaborator we did 00:04:36.629 --> 00:04:40.389 a lot of beach boys elton john and then as the 00:04:40.389 --> 00:04:43.529 years moved on i actually tried to embrace country 00:04:43.529 --> 00:04:46.810 it was tough um but i was raised on country my 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:50.970 mom was actually a classically trained uh sopranist 00:04:50.970 --> 00:04:53.980 and pianist Sang at Carnegie Hall. So I had dreams 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:57.259 of a kid of being a rock musician. And my buddy 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:00.420 ended up heading off to California. He showed 00:05:00.420 --> 00:05:02.480 up at my house one night and he said, I'm moving 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.600 to California. I'm going to be a rock star. Get 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.920 in the car and let's go. And I was like, yeah, 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.839 I can't. And so he went off to California, became 00:05:10.839 --> 00:05:14.079 a Sessions musician, worked with all kinds of 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:16.800 amazing bands. And I went off and I joined the 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:20.759 army. Wow. What do you think about Yacht Rock? 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:24.319 Love, yeah, one of my favorite eras. Love the 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:28.620 music, love yacht rock. And so it's my go -to 00:05:28.620 --> 00:05:31.420 comfort zone for music. Yes, that's my husband 00:05:31.420 --> 00:05:34.899 and I too. Like we are really enjoying yacht 00:05:34.899 --> 00:05:37.740 rock on satellite. Do you have Sirius? We do. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:40.160 We've got XM in both of our vehicles. And so 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:43.779 my wife is a pop girl. So she loves everything 00:05:43.779 --> 00:05:46.519 that's modern and new and she doesn't like old, 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.370 but she's... She knows all the old songs. So 00:05:50.370 --> 00:05:52.209 when we put them on, she sings along with me. 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:56.230 Hey, my kids sing along. I'm surprised. Like, 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:57.870 actually, they got hooked on Yacht Rock before 00:05:57.870 --> 00:05:59.889 I did. My husband started playing it. And I'm 00:05:59.889 --> 00:06:02.569 like, I remember these songs. You know, I think 00:06:02.569 --> 00:06:04.230 it's funny. Some of these hair bands actually 00:06:04.230 --> 00:06:07.930 are kind of getting lumped into some of the Yacht 00:06:07.930 --> 00:06:10.209 Rock genre, especially when it's like the softer, 00:06:10.389 --> 00:06:13.569 you know, more songs. So it's kind of cool. Yeah. 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:18.379 Well, well, I. I'm really curious because you 00:06:18.379 --> 00:06:20.759 also mentioned that you have your journal and 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:23.959 your music and you're balancing this structure 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:27.259 and creativity. And I'm curious how those things, 00:06:27.379 --> 00:06:30.339 because you're a business owner, show up when 00:06:30.339 --> 00:06:34.019 it comes to your leadership and innovation. So, 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:37.639 you know, it's a paradox because typically you 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:39.519 think of business people and especially technology 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:42.459 people being very black and white, one and zero, 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:46.290 very, you know, business and data. driven um 00:06:46.290 --> 00:06:49.949 and you know when i started my business um i 00:06:49.949 --> 00:06:52.730 started the company in 2009 and it was one of 00:06:52.730 --> 00:06:55.029 the things that that i learned over the years 00:06:55.029 --> 00:06:58.529 as a technology executive everything comes back 00:06:58.529 --> 00:07:01.350 to the human everything comes back to the human 00:07:01.350 --> 00:07:06.110 and i've had the opportunity to work on projects 00:07:06.110 --> 00:07:09.029 where i spend hundreds of millions of dollars 00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:12.509 for the corporations i was working for And for 00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:17.189 a long time, 60 % of IT projects failed out there, 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:20.550 60%. And the reason they fail is because user 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:24.170 adoption, it's not the technology. It's because 00:07:24.170 --> 00:07:27.709 people didn't do the legwork and the homework 00:07:27.709 --> 00:07:31.389 to make sure that the application or the tool 00:07:31.389 --> 00:07:34.930 set or whatever it was is going to work with 00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:37.629 the consumer, with the end user, with the guest. 00:07:37.870 --> 00:07:41.540 And so I think it's... a very appropriate kind 00:07:41.540 --> 00:07:46.139 of conversation with attractions and events and 00:07:46.139 --> 00:07:49.379 entertainment because everything has to circle 00:07:49.379 --> 00:07:51.120 around the guest. And even if you look at guys 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:55.160 like Jeff Bezos, they have their virtuous circle 00:07:55.160 --> 00:07:58.279 at Amazon. Everything starts with the customer 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:01.819 and then works back from there. So technology 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:04.600 by itself is spectacular, but it's worthless 00:08:04.600 --> 00:08:07.699 unless it actually delivers something tangible. 00:08:08.329 --> 00:08:11.350 for the human. And the same goes for AI and spatial 00:08:11.350 --> 00:08:12.529 computing and everything else we're going to 00:08:12.529 --> 00:08:14.850 talk about. Well, cool, because you actually 00:08:14.850 --> 00:08:16.850 brought up spatial computing. And I know today's 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:19.769 topic is spatial computing, AI, VR, the future 00:08:19.769 --> 00:08:22.970 of attractions. And this is a massive topic, 00:08:23.110 --> 00:08:25.350 like a massive topic. I don't know that we can 00:08:25.350 --> 00:08:27.470 cover it all in the short time that we have together. 00:08:27.730 --> 00:08:29.470 We're not going to get through all of it. But 00:08:29.470 --> 00:08:32.190 what I was really hoping for is that you would 00:08:32.190 --> 00:08:35.190 tell the audience and me, you know, Bring us 00:08:35.190 --> 00:08:37.750 up to speed. What is spatial computing for those 00:08:37.750 --> 00:08:40.309 of us that maybe never heard that term? So, you 00:08:40.309 --> 00:08:45.330 know, I think it is the most exciting. AI is 00:08:45.330 --> 00:08:47.549 a component of that, believe it or not. But I 00:08:47.549 --> 00:08:51.750 think it is the most exciting space in technology 00:08:51.750 --> 00:08:55.250 today. So let me give you a quick scenario. So 00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:57.570 you're in your brand new Tesla that you just 00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:01.190 bought. You told Gronk to take you home. It's 00:09:01.190 --> 00:09:04.340 doing most of the driving. While that car is 00:09:04.340 --> 00:09:07.620 navigating, it's using spatial computing. It's 00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:11.100 shooting out LIDAR, radar. It's collecting digital 00:09:11.100 --> 00:09:13.399 imagery of the landscape. It's understanding 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:16.100 the cars around it. It's understanding the buildings. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.860 It's reading signs. It's reading. All of that 00:09:18.860 --> 00:09:21.679 is spatial computing. It's one aspect of it. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.700 The other part of it is virtual reality, augmented 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:28.039 reality, mixed reality. That's all spatial computing. 00:09:28.259 --> 00:09:31.720 You're interacting. um and i love this new world 00:09:31.720 --> 00:09:34.639 other this new word that they use out there um 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:37.840 it's it's a combination of the physical and the 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:41.259 digital and now you've got the the digital uh 00:09:41.259 --> 00:09:45.419 so you've got oh you've got this blending of 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:48.500 the two together now the other part of spatial 00:09:48.500 --> 00:09:50.679 computing which hasn't hit yet but you know think 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:53.580 of tony stark in the avengers movie where he's 00:09:53.580 --> 00:09:56.480 talking to jarvis and he's manipulating you know 00:09:57.419 --> 00:09:59.860 holographic images and touching them and moving 00:09:59.860 --> 00:10:03.539 them. We're not that far away from that. So our 00:10:03.539 --> 00:10:05.860 interaction with the technology is going to become 00:10:05.860 --> 00:10:09.340 very, very physical. And if you look at big companies 00:10:09.340 --> 00:10:12.120 like Universal and Disney who are spending the 00:10:12.120 --> 00:10:14.779 most money in this space, they're already pushing 00:10:14.779 --> 00:10:17.519 a lot of this technology into their attractions. 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.279 It's the reason their attractions, now their 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:23.340 big ones, cost half a billion dollars to build 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:26.460 or more because they're putting... so much tech 00:10:26.460 --> 00:10:29.440 in there so when you look at this digital environment 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.039 between physical and digital that's all the spatial 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:34.639 computing it's all of those components that bring 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.679 all of this together and allow the human being 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:41.299 to interact with that in a very um you know realistic 00:10:41.299 --> 00:10:46.080 way um that really blends virtual reality and 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.779 augmented reality together in this mixed augmentation 00:10:49.779 --> 00:10:53.259 in this spatial computing environment so yeah 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:58.129 it's fascinating you know i um I'm a big fan 00:10:58.129 --> 00:11:00.090 of the meta glasses. Have you ever tried those? 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:03.210 Spatial computing. I have. I love them. Yeah, 00:11:03.230 --> 00:11:05.970 I love my meta glasses. I don't travel without 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:08.590 them. I have them next to my bed. You know, they're 00:11:08.590 --> 00:11:11.529 always around. My son was just telling me yesterday, 00:11:11.570 --> 00:11:12.909 I haven't had a chance to look into it, but I 00:11:12.909 --> 00:11:18.710 think they're leaving Ray -Ban. And because they're 00:11:18.710 --> 00:11:21.250 going for what you're saying, where you can control 00:11:21.250 --> 00:11:23.570 what's on the screen. And that's going to be 00:11:23.570 --> 00:11:25.230 really, really interesting. Although I might 00:11:25.230 --> 00:11:26.789 get myself another pair of Ray -Bans because 00:11:26.789 --> 00:11:28.570 I saw these new white ones they have. They're 00:11:28.570 --> 00:11:31.169 really cool. But, you know, it is fascinating 00:11:31.169 --> 00:11:34.590 to me how much we are interacting with this technology 00:11:34.590 --> 00:11:36.490 all the time and we don't even really realize 00:11:36.490 --> 00:11:41.549 it. And so thank you for explaining that. And 00:11:41.549 --> 00:11:45.850 we mentioned in your bio that you have been to 00:11:45.850 --> 00:11:48.289 over 60 countries, which, by the way, is like 00:11:48.289 --> 00:11:54.320 my goal. To go to 60 countries. I love travel. 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:56.759 I love cultures. You know, I've had the opportunity 00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:01.840 to live in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, India, 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:06.100 China, and Korea. All those places. Germany, 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:07.799 I was the longest. I was three years in Germany. 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:09.960 All the others, about a year and a half. The 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:11.799 one that I lived in the shortest amount of time 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:14.759 was Korea. But I've spent multiple trips going 00:12:14.759 --> 00:12:18.399 to Korea. First, when I was in the US Army. And 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:20.870 then, you know, back when I was a civilian. But 00:12:20.870 --> 00:12:23.450 a lot of the countries I've been to have either 00:12:23.450 --> 00:12:26.389 been through work or through the military. And 00:12:26.389 --> 00:12:28.950 as I like to say, conference rooms and hotel 00:12:28.950 --> 00:12:30.649 rooms look the same everywhere in the world. 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:34.029 And so now I'm trying to get to the places that 00:12:34.029 --> 00:12:37.090 I went for work on a pleasure basis to really 00:12:37.090 --> 00:12:40.309 dig into the culture, the people, the localities. 00:12:41.649 --> 00:12:43.570 I'll take a quick example, Germany. I lived in 00:12:43.570 --> 00:12:45.669 Germany for three years, went to Cologne, the 00:12:45.669 --> 00:12:49.639 city of Cologne, probably 100 times. Never went 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.220 to the cathedral in downtown Cologne, in the 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:56.860 center city. Fantastic story. The church, the 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:00.659 cathedral took 350 years to build. And they were 00:13:00.659 --> 00:13:04.080 like less than half done. And then the Prussians 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.759 came in and occupied. And because the Prussians 00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:10.159 are very structured and organized, they completed 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:13.799 the other 50 % in 50 years, where it took the 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:16.700 folks up there in Cologne 300 years to get half 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:19.370 of it done. It's just little things like that 00:13:19.370 --> 00:13:21.629 that you just don't learn about if you just go 00:13:21.629 --> 00:13:23.230 for business and you're in a conference room 00:13:23.230 --> 00:13:26.470 or you're in a workplace or hotel. Yeah, I don't 00:13:26.470 --> 00:13:28.529 know if you know this about me. In my early days 00:13:28.529 --> 00:13:30.990 here at GateMaster, before we had the technology 00:13:30.990 --> 00:13:33.690 of Zoom and all the things that we could do remote 00:13:33.690 --> 00:13:37.659 with computers. In the early 2000s, I was still 00:13:37.659 --> 00:13:41.919 traveling to all of the attractions to put the 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:45.039 floppy disk in or the chip and load the program 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:48.000 and get them all set up. And I'd oftentimes spend 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.820 several weeks, if not months, with their teams, 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.799 helping them get set up. And it was my job. We 00:13:55.799 --> 00:13:57.559 don't even do that anymore because of the way 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:00.659 that computing has changed. The way that we're 00:14:00.659 --> 00:14:04.059 interacting with even the parks that we partner 00:14:04.059 --> 00:14:08.080 with. But, you know, I got really lucky because 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.799 I did get to stay with them for those weeks at 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:14.460 a time. And I I was lucky enough that they they 00:14:14.460 --> 00:14:17.899 would always allow me to be a part of their culture. 00:14:18.179 --> 00:14:21.519 Yeah. You know, my my my sister, Tiffany, who 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:23.759 works with me, she went to I can't remember. 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.639 I think she might have been in Jamaica doing 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:28.659 the work, that same work. She's been with the 00:14:28.659 --> 00:14:32.500 company 18 years. And she says she'll never forget 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:35.169 when they just brought her a whole. fish head 00:14:35.169 --> 00:14:38.129 for dinner you know because that's what they 00:14:38.129 --> 00:14:40.809 ate right like maybe then maybe they were joking 00:14:40.809 --> 00:14:42.909 with her i don't know but she loved it you know 00:14:42.909 --> 00:14:45.330 because my dad's a butcher we ate everything 00:14:45.330 --> 00:14:48.629 yeah i'm just saying it was on the table you 00:14:48.629 --> 00:14:51.830 had to eat it because dad caught it you know 00:14:51.830 --> 00:14:55.440 what i mean so That was, but that was really 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:58.220 cool. And I'm glad that you recognize that, like, 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:01.259 you want to go back and experience these countries. 00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:04.259 Dive in deeper, you know, and again, you know, 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:07.399 when I lived in China, you know, the diet is 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:10.919 very different. It's very different. And, you 00:15:10.919 --> 00:15:13.039 know, I mean, one of my favorite stories is, 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.080 you know, because I was always the senior executive, 00:15:15.179 --> 00:15:17.659 I was the bigwig, you know, so I always got at 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:19.419 the center of the table and they always brought 00:15:19.419 --> 00:15:22.509 me this soup. And I'm eating the soup every time 00:15:22.509 --> 00:15:24.690 it's the same. I mean, it's very tasty. But the 00:15:24.690 --> 00:15:27.210 noodles, the noodles were so hard and chewy. 00:15:27.750 --> 00:15:30.070 And my Chinese, my Mandarin is not good. I do 00:15:30.070 --> 00:15:31.669 speak a couple of languages, but Mandarin, I 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:33.330 know enough to be polite. Say hello. Goodbye. 00:15:34.289 --> 00:15:36.889 Anyway, so I'm eating the soup and I turn to 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:39.529 my translator. I'm like, I'm like, his name is 00:15:39.529 --> 00:15:41.690 Hang Fook Sang. I go, Fook, you know, I've been 00:15:41.690 --> 00:15:43.730 eating this Chinese, this soup every time. I 00:15:43.730 --> 00:15:45.710 said, it's not good chicken soup. The noodles 00:15:45.710 --> 00:15:49.590 are so tough. He goes, no, not noodle. He goes, 00:15:49.669 --> 00:15:52.289 fish lip, that fish lip soup, very expensive. 00:15:53.710 --> 00:15:56.110 And I looked at it, and it is, it was little, 00:15:56.190 --> 00:15:58.769 tiny, I thought it was white noodles, but it 00:15:58.769 --> 00:16:02.029 was the fish lips. And I was like, I've been 00:16:02.029 --> 00:16:04.750 eating the fish lip soup now for the past year. 00:16:05.409 --> 00:16:08.769 That's an awesome story. I mean, funny. Well, 00:16:08.889 --> 00:16:11.669 you know, speaking of your travel and all that 00:16:11.669 --> 00:16:14.929 you've done, I'm curious. You know what you think 00:16:14.929 --> 00:16:16.929 about, you know, with these global trends that 00:16:16.929 --> 00:16:19.330 I'm sure you've seen in your traveling. You know, 00:16:19.330 --> 00:16:24.769 what do you think North America attractions are 00:16:24.769 --> 00:16:28.710 underestimating when it comes to maybe the technology 00:16:28.710 --> 00:16:31.090 that's global? Because, you know, I'll tell you, 00:16:31.090 --> 00:16:35.049 I was just in same thing. I was in London. I've 00:16:35.049 --> 00:16:37.590 been in London twice this year for several times 00:16:37.590 --> 00:16:40.289 for work. And I did get to go to Greece. I have 00:16:40.289 --> 00:16:42.450 to mention I did go to Greece for fun this year. 00:16:43.769 --> 00:16:46.549 probably the first trip i've really ever taken 00:16:46.549 --> 00:16:50.769 for fun because you know you're a business owner 00:16:50.769 --> 00:16:53.629 and and there's a lot of times like if i don't 00:16:53.629 --> 00:16:55.970 go anywhere unless it's for work but in this 00:16:55.970 --> 00:16:59.870 case i uh i took a trip you know wait until i 00:16:59.870 --> 00:17:04.390 was 46 to take a trip to to that but i do notice 00:17:04.970 --> 00:17:06.950 when i'm in these other countries that there 00:17:06.950 --> 00:17:09.789 is a difference in the technology and it's got 00:17:09.789 --> 00:17:13.210 me thinking about maybe what your thoughts are 00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:16.490 on are we underestimating the technology here 00:17:16.490 --> 00:17:19.069 in our attractions in north america or do you 00:17:19.069 --> 00:17:21.150 think we're leading you know what do you think 00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:24.809 about all that so it's a great question and and 00:17:24.809 --> 00:17:26.789 i think you know as i kind of think about the 00:17:26.789 --> 00:17:29.670 technology landscape that's out there today we 00:17:29.670 --> 00:17:33.910 we really are at an inflection point We are, 00:17:34.089 --> 00:17:37.609 I think, at the precipice, at the beginning of 00:17:37.609 --> 00:17:40.710 a complete and total transformation of not only 00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:44.009 technology, but of society. So if I'll start 00:17:44.009 --> 00:17:45.329 with, you know, we started the conversation with 00:17:45.329 --> 00:17:48.289 spatial computing. Yeah. I'll add to that artificial 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:51.430 intelligence. And then kind of the coup de grace 00:17:51.430 --> 00:17:54.470 on the back end is quantum computing. If you 00:17:54.470 --> 00:17:57.650 lace those three things together, we're talking 00:17:57.650 --> 00:18:00.650 about Star Wars, Star Trek, pick your favorite 00:18:00.650 --> 00:18:04.309 sci -fi genre. That's the world that we're right 00:18:04.309 --> 00:18:08.230 on the edge of embracing. And so, you know, when 00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:11.349 you look at what the possibility of what if is, 00:18:11.589 --> 00:18:14.450 it's absolutely incredible. And we're going to 00:18:14.450 --> 00:18:15.930 see it in our lifetime. You know, I'm an old 00:18:15.930 --> 00:18:18.009 guy. I've been around a long time. You know, 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:20.829 I'm pretty digital. And, you know, we had a party 00:18:20.829 --> 00:18:22.549 line at my house when I grew up and we had to 00:18:22.549 --> 00:18:23.890 share with three other people down the street. 00:18:24.250 --> 00:18:26.730 So, you know, where we were and where we are 00:18:26.730 --> 00:18:29.950 today and what's getting ready to hit Gen Z and 00:18:29.950 --> 00:18:33.859 Gen Alpha. you know we could see faster than 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:37.259 light travel we could see the elimination of 00:18:37.259 --> 00:18:40.259 cancer we could see the elimination of alzheimer's 00:18:40.259 --> 00:18:42.339 and polio and good on the list of disease and 00:18:42.339 --> 00:18:44.380 maladies that have afflicted human beings for 00:18:44.380 --> 00:18:47.619 the past 350 000 years we could be at the precipice 00:18:47.619 --> 00:18:50.180 of all that going away yeah but but reeling it 00:18:50.180 --> 00:18:53.079 back into kind of the tactical around the entertainment 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:55.380 industry in north america i think there's a couple 00:18:55.380 --> 00:18:57.799 i'm gonna put four things on the on the bullet 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:01.180 list the first is I think that the blurring between 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:05.180 the physical and the digital is only going to 00:19:05.180 --> 00:19:08.500 accelerate. And I saw a recent study, very interesting, 00:19:08.579 --> 00:19:14.099 that 68 percent of Gen Z prefer a virtual experience 00:19:14.099 --> 00:19:18.200 than a physical one. So I think that I think 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:20.799 that that blurring of those technologies is going 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.819 to be like the next wave. And I think, you know, 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:25.720 the big players who have big bucks to invest 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:27.140 right now because this stuff isn't cheap right 00:19:27.140 --> 00:19:28.900 now, it's tough. If you're a small attraction, 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:33.400 how do I compete with Guardians of the Galaxy 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:38.880 and Rise of the Empire? It's just crazy stuff. 00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:40.960 So that's one. I think the other part, which 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:43.220 I think small attractions can get into, and I 00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:45.900 think we're underestimating and we're just starting 00:19:45.900 --> 00:19:48.319 to scratch at it, is hyper -personalization. 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:52.700 Creating experiences for our guests where they 00:19:52.700 --> 00:19:56.279 are the center of the universe. And by hyper 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:59.230 -personalization, not only... tailoring the entertainment 00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:02.710 experience and the stay at the hotel and the 00:20:02.710 --> 00:20:04.349 dining experience, but putting all that stuff 00:20:04.349 --> 00:20:06.730 together so it's hyper -personalized, but also 00:20:06.730 --> 00:20:10.210 a digital presence whereby I know all the places 00:20:10.210 --> 00:20:12.170 that you went, that you ate. I know that you 00:20:12.170 --> 00:20:15.650 searched 25 times online for packing lists to 00:20:15.650 --> 00:20:19.170 go to Disney. How do I use AI and the technology 00:20:19.170 --> 00:20:22.789 to completely enhance that experience? So I put 00:20:22.789 --> 00:20:24.950 digital presence and hyper -personalizations 00:20:24.950 --> 00:20:28.059 in there. And then the other part is just the 00:20:28.059 --> 00:20:30.660 creative piece. And we talked about music earlier 00:20:30.660 --> 00:20:33.460 and my passion for music. So, you know, I'm running 00:20:33.460 --> 00:20:35.259 a company. We've got hundreds and hundreds of 00:20:35.259 --> 00:20:37.759 employees all over the world. I don't have a 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.140 lot of time to do the things that I love. I love 00:20:40.140 --> 00:20:43.460 writing and I love poetry and I love music. Well, 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:47.799 I now can go and I can use AI tools. And we were 00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:49.599 just on a cruise. My wife and I were just up 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:51.839 and it was my birthday and we were in Canada 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.119 and we were cruising down to St. Lawrence that 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:56.210 I'd never been. down the st lawrence been to 00:20:56.210 --> 00:20:59.450 canada 100 times been to the the maritimes but 00:20:59.450 --> 00:21:01.690 i've never been there as a tourist and so we're 00:21:01.690 --> 00:21:04.670 traveling down the the st lawrence and i'm seeing 00:21:04.670 --> 00:21:07.170 the stars and the moonlight and i start writing 00:21:07.170 --> 00:21:10.329 music and i wrote a whole album i wrote 12 songs 00:21:10.329 --> 00:21:14.630 i used ai to help me write the songs i used google 00:21:14.630 --> 00:21:17.349 image generator to generate the cover of the 00:21:17.349 --> 00:21:20.890 album i used ai to help me clean up my lyrics 00:21:20.890 --> 00:21:23.930 and then i craft all these songs and so i wrote 00:21:23.930 --> 00:21:26.450 a song about halifax and about nova scotia i 00:21:26.450 --> 00:21:28.750 wrote a song about montreal i wrote a song about 00:21:28.750 --> 00:21:31.690 quebec i wrote an entire album over the course 00:21:31.690 --> 00:21:34.809 of that 10 days that we were on that ship and 00:21:34.809 --> 00:21:37.170 it's beautiful it reflects my soul and my personality 00:21:37.170 --> 00:21:40.730 the music's amazing so this technology is going 00:21:40.730 --> 00:21:43.809 to allow us to put the human at the center and 00:21:43.809 --> 00:21:46.109 i think that's the other part about that i think 00:21:46.109 --> 00:21:49.410 we're missing is that the human in this is going 00:21:49.410 --> 00:21:53.279 to become the most valuable aspect The AI stuff 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:55.400 is going to drive the economies of scale and 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:57.380 it's going to drive the cost incredibly down. 00:21:57.660 --> 00:22:01.059 And so the cost of premium experience is going 00:22:01.059 --> 00:22:04.599 to be us being able to go see a human play Frankenstein 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:08.259 versus a digital version of Frankenstein. And 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:11.740 so I think there's those big things around creativity, 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.960 around prototyping and evolving, and then letting 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:19.700 the human bring in the ideation. great example 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:21.960 would be kind of our relationship in the united 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:24.279 states with most of the world we are the financial 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:27.559 hub and we are the idea hub you know look at 00:22:27.559 --> 00:22:29.880 the back of your apple device you know it you 00:22:29.880 --> 00:22:32.259 know created and designed in california built 00:22:32.259 --> 00:22:35.160 in china um that's going to be all of our ideas 00:22:35.160 --> 00:22:38.059 all of the cool ideas and now ai is going to 00:22:38.059 --> 00:22:41.200 help us expand them in ways that we never even 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.759 thought about Well, I love that you said that 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:45.980 because I was actually on a podcast last week 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:52.160 with somebody who is big in the index, which 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.700 is the International Ticketing Association. So 00:22:55.700 --> 00:22:58.339 naturally, GateMaster, we belong to that. We 00:22:58.339 --> 00:23:02.480 go and, you know. The conversation around AI 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:05.400 came up because, you know, there is a lot of 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:07.960 controversy around whether or not AI is going 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:11.339 to be taking jobs and what that looks like. And 00:23:11.339 --> 00:23:14.700 I don't think he liked it when I said, hey, candle 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:17.220 makers had to figure something else out when 00:23:17.220 --> 00:23:19.720 electricity became a thing. Right. Like this 00:23:19.720 --> 00:23:22.680 is how innovation happens. This is something 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:25.440 that, like you said, is happening in our lifetime 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:29.420 and it's happening quickly. If you get in front 00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:30.980 of this, you're going to get hit by a Mack truck. 00:23:31.140 --> 00:23:33.019 It's not you're not going to stop this. You're 00:23:33.019 --> 00:23:35.019 not going to stop this. And, you know, and I 00:23:35.019 --> 00:23:36.359 and I agree with you, like you mentioned with 00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:40.779 the music. I mean, I find that what used to take 00:23:40.779 --> 00:23:45.440 me hours at work, just some tasks that I do now 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.920 can be done in minutes. And and you know what? 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:50.599 And I think that's where the creativity piece 00:23:50.599 --> 00:23:52.619 comes in, too. Right. It allows me to be so much 00:23:52.619 --> 00:23:54.240 more creative because I'm not trying to figure 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:57.460 this one thing out. Right. Or I'm not having 00:23:57.460 --> 00:23:59.180 a reason. I'm not having a, you know, it's a 00:23:59.180 --> 00:24:02.059 lot more difficult for me to research data than 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:04.220 it is to just ask it to get me the data that 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:06.980 I want. Right. Right. Because everything is so 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:09.359 data driven. But or even like I just got back 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:12.359 from my annual physical. The doctor asked me 00:24:12.359 --> 00:24:15.339 and she had to record me. She said, are you OK 00:24:15.339 --> 00:24:20.140 with me using AI as part of our session? And 00:24:20.140 --> 00:24:23.240 and I'm like, you know, I didn't know I was expecting 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:25.569 that. And she goes. listen it's faster than i 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:29.950 am that writing result and i was like okay like 00:24:29.950 --> 00:24:33.730 sure i mean i trust it every study that comes 00:24:33.730 --> 00:24:38.609 back has shown that digital ai doctors are faster 00:24:38.609 --> 00:24:41.109 and more accurate than human doctors that's fascinating 00:24:41.109 --> 00:24:43.069 and it's not it's not a slight against someone 00:24:43.069 --> 00:24:44.890 that spent 12 years of their career going to 00:24:44.890 --> 00:24:46.430 school and trying to learn that stuff it's just 00:24:46.430 --> 00:24:51.910 that the human mind wasn't evolved to retain 00:24:51.910 --> 00:24:56.109 information on the scale that a modern society 00:24:56.109 --> 00:24:59.930 has today. Your brain can't, it's there, but 00:24:59.930 --> 00:25:04.190 unlocking it isn't as easy as a digital AI can 00:25:04.190 --> 00:25:08.809 do and unlock that with 100 % clarity and 100 00:25:08.809 --> 00:25:12.569 % accuracy and can compare thousands of test 00:25:12.569 --> 00:25:16.009 samples simultaneously and give you, oh, here's 00:25:16.009 --> 00:25:19.390 the result that you want. Yeah, it's fascinating 00:25:19.390 --> 00:25:24.180 stuff. Sandra, it's scary for so many people. 00:25:24.259 --> 00:25:27.339 It is frightening. It is frightening. And I think 00:25:27.339 --> 00:25:29.240 a lot of it is just the unknown, which is why 00:25:29.240 --> 00:25:30.839 I'm grateful for somebody like you coming on 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:33.700 the show and teaching our audience about this. 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:37.500 Because I do agree that we see these big brands 00:25:37.500 --> 00:25:40.500 like Disney, Universal, implementing this kind 00:25:40.500 --> 00:25:43.640 of technology. I mean, even before Epic was open, 00:25:43.779 --> 00:25:46.299 you could go and see that augmented reality. 00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:49.319 You know, they had the map and... and and they 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:51.180 were already implementing all of this type of 00:25:51.180 --> 00:25:54.480 technology but when we look at the smaller family 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:57.700 -owned operated parks who like you said don't 00:25:57.700 --> 00:25:59.960 have those kind of budgets you know i appreciate 00:25:59.960 --> 00:26:02.059 you giving us some foundations for what they 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:05.099 can do because i agree personalized experiences 00:26:05.099 --> 00:26:08.599 are where it is going to be at for attractions 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:12.859 like this and And what I'm also excited about 00:26:12.859 --> 00:26:15.319 from all the things that you're saying, as somebody 00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:19.839 who is an advocate for accessibility, I think 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:22.319 this is only going to make things even more accessible 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:25.480 than what we've ever thought imaginable. Absolutely. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:29.640 Yeah, the democratization of the guest experience 00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:32.259 is happening before our eyes. And, you know, 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:34.500 it's interesting. I'll draw this analogy from 00:26:34.500 --> 00:26:36.980 my days when I worked at Orbitz and Autotrader. 00:26:37.690 --> 00:26:39.849 I was in the travel industry for years, you know, 00:26:39.849 --> 00:26:41.910 so I worked for American Airlines and they had 00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:44.490 a tech company called Sabre Systems. And, you 00:26:44.490 --> 00:26:47.670 know, I think the interesting part that the travel 00:26:47.670 --> 00:26:50.470 and entertainment industry can learn are the 00:26:50.470 --> 00:26:52.869 entertainment and attractions industry can learn 00:26:52.869 --> 00:26:56.890 from the travel industry is the power of infrastructure. 00:26:57.670 --> 00:27:00.769 You know, being able to take your technology 00:27:00.769 --> 00:27:04.500 and connect it to multiple places. and allow 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:06.059 for self -service and i think it's one of the 00:27:06.059 --> 00:27:08.200 things that gate master does great with their 00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:12.400 platform is the ability for the the end user 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.480 to you know self -serve what they need to get 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:18.299 done and and i think that is so important you 00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:20.460 look today for most of us who are booking just 00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:22.680 a regular kind of i got to go on a trip i got 00:27:22.680 --> 00:27:25.200 to get a hotel i got to get a car you take care 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:28.759 of all that yourself online yes and and so what 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:31.220 enabled that was all the plumbing in the background 00:27:31.220 --> 00:27:34.369 that allowed the the you know the rental car 00:27:34.369 --> 00:27:37.369 company and the airline and the hotel to put 00:27:37.369 --> 00:27:40.309 all their stuff into a single location have open 00:27:40.309 --> 00:27:42.849 ais and allow apis and allow that information 00:27:42.849 --> 00:27:45.950 to come back and forth allow real -time access 00:27:45.950 --> 00:27:50.410 to inventory and data create personalized travel 00:27:50.410 --> 00:27:52.230 experiences for you by allowing you to collect 00:27:52.230 --> 00:27:54.710 all that information being on hand i mean 20 00:27:54.710 --> 00:27:56.450 years ago you went to liberty travel you went 00:27:56.450 --> 00:27:59.549 to a travel agency right they helped you with 00:27:59.549 --> 00:28:02.319 that stuff You know, and today what's happening, 00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:04.720 and I'll give a great example because we travel 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:07.500 a lot, my wife and I, if we want a highly personalized 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:11.000 experience, we go to a travel agent or someone 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:13.740 who is a person on the ground. Hey, tell me the 00:28:13.740 --> 00:28:16.099 best restaurants that you like to go to. Tell 00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:18.160 me, you know, the secret hidden place that nobody 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:20.000 knows about that's not on the Internet, that's 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.599 not on some AI chat group or, you know, someplace. 00:28:22.740 --> 00:28:26.220 So I think, again, that shows the power. But 00:28:26.220 --> 00:28:28.579 all of that for the travel industry was enabled 00:28:28.579 --> 00:28:31.279 by the plumbing. And I think that's where the 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:33.319 attractions industry has to get to. They have 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:35.599 to have this ability that if somebody wants to 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:37.640 completely self -serve and get everything they 00:28:37.640 --> 00:28:40.460 want personalized and online and digital, they 00:28:40.460 --> 00:28:43.359 can do that. They can do, you know, hyper visualization 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:47.019 of the attractions and the restaurant before 00:28:47.019 --> 00:28:49.900 they go. And they can see a virtual layout of 00:28:49.900 --> 00:28:52.599 the ship. And, you know, I'll give you a great 00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:54.859 example as well. You know, we were on this cruise 00:28:54.859 --> 00:28:56.720 on the St. Lawrence. We were the Princess Cruise 00:28:56.720 --> 00:29:00.440 Lines. One of my former. vps is now over there 00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:02.400 he's working at princess and they spent the past 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:05.240 five years building a digital experience on their 00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:08.380 ships and you have a little a little tchotchke 00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:11.339 almost like disney's magic band you wear it as 00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:15.339 a little you know digital tracker it's it's uh 00:29:15.339 --> 00:29:21.119 uh rfid and near frequency enabled and so wherever 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:23.440 you are on the ship they know where you're at 00:29:24.090 --> 00:29:26.670 So I can pull up my phone. I can pull up my app 00:29:26.670 --> 00:29:28.390 and I can say, you know what? I want a martini 00:29:28.390 --> 00:29:31.289 right now. I want a lemon drop. They know where 00:29:31.289 --> 00:29:33.210 I'm at and they'll bring it to me wherever I 00:29:33.210 --> 00:29:36.650 am on the ship. I get to my cabin. My cabin door 00:29:36.650 --> 00:29:39.069 automatically opens for me when I walk in. I 00:29:39.069 --> 00:29:40.690 don't have to unlock it. I don't have to swipe 00:29:40.690 --> 00:29:44.490 something. You just walk in. I walk up to a bar 00:29:44.490 --> 00:29:48.210 and the bartender, because it has, you know, 00:29:48.210 --> 00:29:50.680 near frequency on it. He sees me come up, he 00:29:50.680 --> 00:29:52.339 knows that I've got the beverage package, and 00:29:52.339 --> 00:29:54.220 he saw that I bought a martini last time. He 00:29:54.220 --> 00:29:56.539 doesn't even ask me if I have a key card or how 00:29:56.539 --> 00:29:58.539 I'm going to pay. He just goes, hey, Mr. Smith, 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.319 glad to see you. I saw you drank a lemon drop 00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:03.079 last time. You want another one of those or something 00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:05.920 else? I said, I'll pick a whiskey on the rocks. 00:30:06.180 --> 00:30:08.559 Great, here you go. He doesn't ask for my credit 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:10.279 card, doesn't ask for my room cabin, because 00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:13.180 it automatically just gets billed. So I think, 00:30:13.180 --> 00:30:15.099 you know, there's, but all of that is infrastructure. 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:19.759 That's Wi -Fi adapters and it's network cables 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:23.579 and it's routers. You've got to have the plumbing. 00:30:23.660 --> 00:30:25.559 And I think that's where the attractions industry 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:28.140 has to learn is you've got to get the infrastructure. 00:30:28.700 --> 00:30:30.980 And Disney has struggled with that. You've got 00:30:30.980 --> 00:30:35.039 Wi -Fi at all the parks now, but it's not ubiquitous. 00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:37.440 It's getting there. They've got the enabling 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:40.099 pieces. But you've got to build a foundation 00:30:40.099 --> 00:30:42.660 if you're going to build a truly immersive digital 00:30:42.660 --> 00:30:46.000 experience. Yeah. Oh. I love everything that 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:49.900 you're saying. I can't tell you how many times 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:51.859 we have parks come to us and they say, well, 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.500 we can't have internet in this part of the park. 00:30:55.599 --> 00:30:57.640 And we're like, well, you can. We got to just 00:30:57.640 --> 00:30:59.359 get you the infrastructure, right? You have to 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:04.079 build infrastructure around what you want the 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:06.240 guest experience to look like for sure. I think 00:31:06.240 --> 00:31:08.839 what's really interesting, if we can move to 00:31:08.839 --> 00:31:10.519 kind of a little bit of ticketing and point of 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.539 sale, because I know that you've got some work 00:31:12.539 --> 00:31:15.940 that you do with that. as well but you know i 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:18.819 think it's so fascinating and i appreciate you 00:31:18.819 --> 00:31:21.400 giving us that little plug there for gate master 00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:25.240 because one of the things that we get asked constantly 00:31:25.240 --> 00:31:27.880 is well what if what if this automation takes 00:31:27.880 --> 00:31:30.420 jobs away right and we mentioned that a little 00:31:30.420 --> 00:31:33.460 bit with this but i've not found that to be the 00:31:33.460 --> 00:31:35.920 case i found it to be more what you were talking 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:37.779 about with the princess cruise line where the 00:31:37.779 --> 00:31:41.119 bartender knows your name and has access to information 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:44.819 and they can just better serve you I think that's 00:31:44.819 --> 00:31:49.299 really where the attractions need to be looking 00:31:49.299 --> 00:31:52.220 is, is it a tool that can help your team better 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:54.119 serve the guests? Because I don't think the team 00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:58.700 is going away. The team can't go away. 100%. 00:31:58.700 --> 00:32:01.220 I'll give you a great example, again, on this. 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:04.039 We had an attraction that we worked with. We 00:32:04.039 --> 00:32:07.819 did analysis of their phone system. They were 00:32:07.819 --> 00:32:09.599 having a lot of guests coming in from overseas. 00:32:09.640 --> 00:32:12.180 It's a Florida -based attraction. They were missing. 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:16.339 $10 ,000 a week in sales because there was nobody 00:32:16.339 --> 00:32:18.660 there at night to answer the phone. And when 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:20.859 we initially said, hey, let's put an AI voice 00:32:20.859 --> 00:32:23.039 agent that can take the call, book a ticket, 00:32:23.220 --> 00:32:25.779 answer questions. AI can do that. Well, you're 00:32:25.779 --> 00:32:27.920 going to make me fire Susie. And Susie's been 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:30.299 with me for 20 years. And she answers our phone 00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:32.720 and she handles our ticket office. I said, I'm 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:34.799 not telling you to fire Susie. What I'm saying 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:37.940 is give Susie an AI assistant that can extend 00:32:37.940 --> 00:32:40.700 her reach, help her be more effective, answer 00:32:40.700 --> 00:32:43.910 calls 24 hours a day. sell tickets 24 hours a 00:32:43.910 --> 00:32:46.890 day, help you not miss any guests that want to 00:32:46.890 --> 00:32:48.970 come in and who's calling from the UK or Germany. 00:32:49.150 --> 00:32:51.690 Oh, by the way, the German speaks broken English. 00:32:51.890 --> 00:32:54.769 Put an AI in that's bilingual or trilingual or 00:32:54.769 --> 00:32:58.170 quadlingual. And so what we found when we did 00:32:58.170 --> 00:33:00.269 analysis and a deep dive on all their tool sets 00:33:00.269 --> 00:33:01.769 and their analytics, they were missing all this 00:33:01.769 --> 00:33:03.789 revenue opportunity and we helped them seize 00:33:03.789 --> 00:33:07.750 it. And Susie now is freed up to do other things 00:33:07.750 --> 00:33:11.180 around the park to help. guests that are there 00:33:11.180 --> 00:33:13.720 that are having issues let me resolve that customer 00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:15.779 issue and help you have a better experience here 00:33:15.779 --> 00:33:19.559 in the park so it is an extension it is not a 00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:23.380 replacement it's an augmentation um and it's 00:33:23.380 --> 00:33:24.940 going to have to be that way and so that you 00:33:24.940 --> 00:33:26.380 know when someone comes in they want a premium 00:33:26.380 --> 00:33:29.259 experience you can give that to them and you 00:33:29.259 --> 00:33:32.559 can charge for it and let the ai handle the the 00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:34.319 routine as long as you got all the plumbing done 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:36.319 and all the automation integration with your 00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:38.819 ticketing and your pos and people can pre -order 00:33:38.819 --> 00:33:40.940 their food and they can pre -order their experiences 00:33:40.940 --> 00:33:44.240 let the technology do that like we do in travel 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:46.339 and and i think you're going to have a much more 00:33:46.339 --> 00:33:49.160 profitable and and better experience for the 00:33:49.160 --> 00:33:52.039 guests yeah i love this and i love that you said 00:33:52.039 --> 00:33:55.059 a more premium experience because i think that 00:33:55.059 --> 00:33:58.240 is truly what is gonna you know you you mentioned 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:02.119 that uh what is it uh which generation prefers 00:34:02.119 --> 00:34:06.140 gen z gen z they love virtual and i'm sure alpha 00:34:06.140 --> 00:34:07.400 is going to be the same they just haven't started 00:34:07.400 --> 00:34:09.460 hitting on alpha for the uh you know the status 00:34:09.460 --> 00:34:12.099 well you know what i think about the alpha that's 00:34:12.099 --> 00:34:14.820 interesting is like they don't even look at stuff 00:34:14.820 --> 00:34:16.920 they don't even search stuff anymore they just 00:34:16.920 --> 00:34:19.440 go give me this information right now and i have 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:22.480 a feeling that's That is going to be the expectation 00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:25.900 from that generation. Oh, absolutely. Oh, my 00:34:25.900 --> 00:34:28.159 phone's actually trying to. There you go. See, 00:34:28.219 --> 00:34:30.420 it's talking to you. Talk to me and give me some 00:34:30.420 --> 00:34:32.320 information. But, you know, you mentioned the 00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:34.119 premium experience. I don't want to go a little 00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:36.019 bit back to that because I think that is really 00:34:36.019 --> 00:34:40.000 what this interfacing with technology is allowing 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:47.260 your everyday family run park to do. You know, 00:34:47.260 --> 00:34:49.840 we're buying time back with this technology. 00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:53.699 And for smaller attractions, they got limited 00:34:53.699 --> 00:34:55.900 staff, limited budget. They need as much time 00:34:55.900 --> 00:34:58.800 back as they can get. Yeah. Well, I want to talk 00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:01.559 to you a little bit. So we, we, we about, about 00:35:01.559 --> 00:35:06.719 this AI bot that you, you mentioned just a minute 00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:08.920 ago, because we, we, we've known each other for 00:35:08.920 --> 00:35:10.679 a little while going to Florida attractions, 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:14.400 which by the way, is one of the best associations 00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:18.440 on the planet. They put on a great event. So 00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:22.130 if you're watching. that is a a a plug for the 00:35:22.130 --> 00:35:24.170 florida attractions association it's a very great 00:35:24.170 --> 00:35:27.010 group of people and you know when we joined uh 00:35:27.010 --> 00:35:29.530 they welcomed us like like family and and that's 00:35:29.530 --> 00:35:32.650 really they become our friends um and so you 00:35:32.650 --> 00:35:34.550 know it's it's an event we look forward to every 00:35:34.550 --> 00:35:36.489 year and i agree they are a great bunch of people 00:35:36.489 --> 00:35:38.809 it's a great bunch of people it's one of those 00:35:38.809 --> 00:35:42.190 shows that i don't send my team i go personally 00:35:42.190 --> 00:35:44.590 because i i love it because it is like going 00:35:44.590 --> 00:35:46.869 and seeing family and friends every year but 00:35:47.289 --> 00:35:49.130 This year, we started talking about this bot 00:35:49.130 --> 00:35:52.250 that you have that is interfacing with customers, 00:35:52.389 --> 00:35:55.110 like you said, allowing people to have 24 -7 00:35:55.110 --> 00:36:01.349 access to attractions and conversations and getting 00:36:01.349 --> 00:36:03.590 questions answered and buying tickets. Can you 00:36:03.590 --> 00:36:05.250 tell us a little bit more about that? Because 00:36:05.250 --> 00:36:07.889 I think it's such a fascinating. Yeah, you know, 00:36:07.889 --> 00:36:09.570 so, you know, we have a lot of conversations 00:36:09.570 --> 00:36:12.030 in the team and with our customers about artificial 00:36:12.030 --> 00:36:14.510 intelligence. And, you know, so I think the big 00:36:14.510 --> 00:36:17.349 thing to understand is AI. has personalities 00:36:17.349 --> 00:36:20.670 um and i i have some very strong opinions about 00:36:20.670 --> 00:36:24.269 where i think ai is going to go um and i'll share 00:36:24.269 --> 00:36:25.989 those in a couple seconds here but i think the 00:36:25.989 --> 00:36:28.670 first part to talk about is that we've gone out 00:36:28.670 --> 00:36:31.030 with different attraction customers and we've 00:36:31.030 --> 00:36:34.530 helped them find the right ai to help them solve 00:36:34.530 --> 00:36:37.750 their problems and my favorite is you know we 00:36:37.750 --> 00:36:39.429 have a customer they're a renaissance festival 00:36:39.789 --> 00:36:43.289 They do, you know, jousting and, you know, beer 00:36:43.289 --> 00:36:45.690 halls and they have a Celtic day and they have, 00:36:45.690 --> 00:36:48.690 you know, lords and knights and princesses and 00:36:48.690 --> 00:36:51.969 the king. And so they needed an AI that could 00:36:51.969 --> 00:36:54.710 interact with guests and would understand medieval 00:36:54.710 --> 00:36:58.949 speak. And so we went through multiple AIs and 00:36:58.949 --> 00:37:01.489 we had to find one that could actually chat in 00:37:01.489 --> 00:37:03.650 AI speak. And so, you know, you call them and 00:37:03.650 --> 00:37:06.070 you talk to them or you chat online and the AI 00:37:06.070 --> 00:37:08.960 will say, you know, say. Good sir, how art thou 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:12.519 today? Fair maiden, how art thou today? And so 00:37:12.519 --> 00:37:15.699 it will talk to interact as if they're inside 00:37:15.699 --> 00:37:19.360 that universe of medieval times or Renaissance 00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:22.360 festival. And, you know, we got another festival 00:37:22.360 --> 00:37:23.820 that we're working with and we're helping to 00:37:23.820 --> 00:37:27.019 train. It's an annual Scottish festival. And 00:37:27.019 --> 00:37:30.360 we found an AI that speaks with a Scottish brogue 00:37:30.360 --> 00:37:33.519 and knows, you know, what's your clan and what's 00:37:33.519 --> 00:37:35.820 your kilt? I can do an Irish accent. I can't 00:37:35.820 --> 00:37:40.449 do a Scottish one. But, you know, AIs have personalities 00:37:40.449 --> 00:37:42.710 and some are good at some things and some are 00:37:42.710 --> 00:37:45.230 not so good. So, like, you know, if you want 00:37:45.230 --> 00:37:49.349 to have a legal document put together, use Claude. 00:37:49.369 --> 00:37:52.090 Claude's much better. If you want something creative, 00:37:52.210 --> 00:37:55.610 go use ChatGPT. But I think what's going to happen 00:37:55.610 --> 00:37:58.949 in that whole world is AIs are going to evolve 00:37:58.949 --> 00:38:01.690 and you're going to have AIs that are very specific. 00:38:01.889 --> 00:38:04.630 So we're building an AI today for a medical staffing 00:38:04.630 --> 00:38:08.429 company. That AI has to know everything about 00:38:08.429 --> 00:38:10.329 the medical industry. It's got to be able to 00:38:10.329 --> 00:38:13.489 speak in their language, use their terms, understand 00:38:13.489 --> 00:38:16.889 their slang. And so to do that, I'm training 00:38:16.889 --> 00:38:18.710 or we're training. I'm not training anything. 00:38:18.829 --> 00:38:21.530 Somebody on my team is. But, you know, we're 00:38:21.530 --> 00:38:24.630 training that bot to understand every aspect 00:38:24.630 --> 00:38:26.530 of their business. And, you know, and I think 00:38:26.530 --> 00:38:28.829 the one that showed up here most recently, you 00:38:28.829 --> 00:38:30.929 know, you know, I guess what is it? ChatGPT has 00:38:30.929 --> 00:38:33.480 spent 150, 200 million dollars. building their 00:38:33.480 --> 00:38:35.739 first large language model and then deep seek 00:38:35.739 --> 00:38:37.800 which the chinese bill costs five million dollars 00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:40.340 in five years it's going to cost probably half 00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:42.219 a million or a quarter million dollars to build 00:38:42.219 --> 00:38:44.980 yourself a large language model so big companies 00:38:44.980 --> 00:38:47.099 are going to be able to build large language 00:38:47.099 --> 00:38:49.739 models that run and understand their business 00:38:49.739 --> 00:38:53.179 so as we build out this technology we're trying 00:38:53.179 --> 00:38:55.360 to find the right solutions for companies and 00:38:55.360 --> 00:38:58.659 if you look at a small attraction so you know 00:38:58.659 --> 00:39:02.610 you can get a a you know a current on the market 00:39:02.610 --> 00:39:08.329 gpt claude you know gronk and you can rent those 00:39:08.329 --> 00:39:10.670 and you can go in and automate things like we 00:39:10.670 --> 00:39:13.090 just talked about for for a few hundred dollars 00:39:13.090 --> 00:39:16.630 a month let's put ai in front of your customer 00:39:16.630 --> 00:39:18.389 and answer questions so that you're relieved 00:39:18.389 --> 00:39:21.610 of those 90 or 75 percent of the questions 80 00:39:21.610 --> 00:39:24.429 20 rule have your your guest experience people 00:39:24.429 --> 00:39:26.889 your human deal with the tough issues um take 00:39:26.889 --> 00:39:29.170 that a on the back office help consolidate automate 00:39:29.170 --> 00:39:32.150 reconcile your books do analytics on where you're 00:39:32.150 --> 00:39:35.010 losing and making money help you uh deal with 00:39:35.010 --> 00:39:37.809 multiple payments that's stuff that a small business 00:39:37.809 --> 00:39:40.630 can leverage for a few hundred bucks it doesn't 00:39:40.630 --> 00:39:43.489 have to be tens of thousands of dollars so what 00:39:43.489 --> 00:39:45.650 we're trying to do is is help people step into 00:39:45.650 --> 00:39:49.769 this world learn uh what ai can and can't do 00:39:49.769 --> 00:39:51.869 you know separate the wheat from the chaff because 00:39:51.869 --> 00:39:53.510 there's a lot of misnomers out there and a lot 00:39:53.510 --> 00:39:56.730 of bs a lot of promises being made about this 00:39:56.730 --> 00:39:58.550 is going to make you a millionaire and save you 00:39:58.550 --> 00:40:00.909 millions of dollars or make you millions of dollars. 00:40:01.349 --> 00:40:04.650 Not true in all cases. But step into it. Find 00:40:04.650 --> 00:40:06.909 those little areas where our customers and our 00:40:06.909 --> 00:40:09.110 attractions and our entertainment venues can 00:40:09.110 --> 00:40:12.389 have success, not spend a fortune, solve some 00:40:12.389 --> 00:40:14.809 real problems, get some more time back, get that 00:40:14.809 --> 00:40:17.510 leverage, and then invest in those premium experiences 00:40:17.510 --> 00:40:20.389 we talked about. Yeah, I love that. And you kind 00:40:20.389 --> 00:40:21.750 of reminded me of something. So, you know, one 00:40:21.750 --> 00:40:25.139 of my favorite movies is Cable Guy. Remember 00:40:25.139 --> 00:40:28.840 that movie with Jim Carrey? And when he brings 00:40:28.840 --> 00:40:33.219 his buddy into the jousting. And it's funny because 00:40:33.219 --> 00:40:38.139 you said the AI speaks the medieval language. 00:40:38.780 --> 00:40:42.539 There's that one point where the server breaks 00:40:42.539 --> 00:40:44.900 character. He's like, no, he's serious, buddy. 00:40:45.059 --> 00:40:47.719 He totally stops speaking in that language. And 00:40:47.719 --> 00:40:49.699 you don't have to worry about that with the AI. 00:40:49.900 --> 00:40:53.519 It's going to stay on character. i mean you know 00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:56.380 ai's do a better job of recruiting i mean we 00:40:56.380 --> 00:41:00.260 we've got proof if you let an ai do the interview 00:41:00.260 --> 00:41:03.300 it has no bias it doesn't care what the other 00:41:03.300 --> 00:41:06.099 person therein looks like sounds like uh that's 00:41:06.099 --> 00:41:07.940 going to ask the same questions of every single 00:41:07.940 --> 00:41:10.440 candidate it's going to analyze the the same 00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:12.559 way for every single candidate and so what we're 00:41:12.559 --> 00:41:16.500 seeing for ai agents that do the recruiting higher 00:41:16.500 --> 00:41:19.719 retention better candidates stick longer with 00:41:19.719 --> 00:41:22.570 a job um and perform better on the job when they 00:41:22.570 --> 00:41:27.730 start because the ai did all of the questioning 00:41:27.730 --> 00:41:32.030 in a completely unbiased way for every single 00:41:32.030 --> 00:41:35.250 candidate that came through the pipeline so it's 00:41:35.250 --> 00:41:37.940 it's it's it's going to be a very different world 00:41:37.940 --> 00:41:41.099 i mean you just blew my mind well i i have so 00:41:41.099 --> 00:41:42.519 many questions for you and i don't know if we 00:41:42.519 --> 00:41:44.400 have time for that and you've been so generous 00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:48.199 today with your time and and and i'm just blown 00:41:48.199 --> 00:41:50.980 away by this conversation but selfishly i do 00:41:50.980 --> 00:41:52.519 have a question for you because i know you've 00:41:52.519 --> 00:41:54.980 been kind of following gate master for a little 00:41:54.980 --> 00:41:57.840 while and from an outside perspective i just 00:41:57.840 --> 00:42:00.360 want to ask here right now you know what is one 00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:05.079 area that you maybe think platforms like ours 00:42:05.079 --> 00:42:08.630 or maybe you feel like we need to go this direction 00:42:08.630 --> 00:42:15.150 are uh innovating what direction do you see tickets 00:42:15.150 --> 00:42:17.809 innovating and point of sale innovating in the 00:42:17.809 --> 00:42:21.590 future for attractions so i i think i'm going 00:42:21.590 --> 00:42:27.769 to go back to um api robust api interfaces so 00:42:27.769 --> 00:42:30.210 that you know i'll go back and this this this 00:42:30.210 --> 00:42:31.989 term has been around forever but i'll it's the 00:42:31.989 --> 00:42:33.809 five innies and and i don't know if you ever 00:42:33.809 --> 00:42:36.550 heard this before but it's any application anytime 00:42:36.550 --> 00:42:42.710 anywhere any user any place okay and so making 00:42:42.710 --> 00:42:46.750 your platform highly flexible and open i think 00:42:46.750 --> 00:42:48.170 is going to be critical because the glue that's 00:42:48.170 --> 00:42:49.369 going to push all this stuff together in the 00:42:49.369 --> 00:42:51.710 future is going to be ai so if you want to enable 00:42:51.710 --> 00:42:53.130 the future you got to make sure that you have 00:42:53.130 --> 00:42:56.309 a robust api api set and and gate master has 00:42:56.309 --> 00:42:59.590 that they've got that and the other part is real 00:42:59.590 --> 00:43:01.809 -time data infrastructure which you guys also 00:43:01.809 --> 00:43:04.920 have and i think that's also super important 00:43:04.920 --> 00:43:09.380 um you know everything now is instantaneous you 00:43:09.380 --> 00:43:11.199 were talking about the kids you know hey what 00:43:11.199 --> 00:43:12.679 what's happening you know and they're talking 00:43:12.679 --> 00:43:15.900 i do that i sit in my car and i yell at my my 00:43:15.900 --> 00:43:19.420 siri and chad gpt and claude the whole route 00:43:19.420 --> 00:43:21.260 in my wife screams at me you're not going to 00:43:21.260 --> 00:43:23.320 get the answers and i said but you're supposed 00:43:23.320 --> 00:43:26.179 to And to do that, you've got to have the APIs, 00:43:26.460 --> 00:43:28.300 you've got to have the real -time data, and you've 00:43:28.300 --> 00:43:31.659 got to have the connectivity. And so I think, 00:43:31.659 --> 00:43:33.420 you know, GateMaster is doing those things. And 00:43:33.420 --> 00:43:34.980 our partnership with you, I think it's one of 00:43:34.980 --> 00:43:36.719 those that's illustrating that. But I think it's 00:43:36.719 --> 00:43:38.380 the partnership that you do with, you know, a 00:43:38.380 --> 00:43:41.179 lot of the people that you work with. Yeah, no, 00:43:41.320 --> 00:43:44.340 I like what you said about infrastructure. I 00:43:44.340 --> 00:43:48.059 think that is the key for sure. You know, I just 00:43:48.059 --> 00:43:49.719 don't know if the hardware is caught up yet, 00:43:49.780 --> 00:43:53.420 right? it's going to get there quantum computing 00:43:53.420 --> 00:43:56.480 is coming and then you know my big question about 00:43:56.480 --> 00:44:00.340 quantum computing is where's all that manipulation 00:44:00.340 --> 00:44:04.599 happening in quantum space because even the guys 00:44:04.599 --> 00:44:07.119 that built it don't know i shouldn't say guys 00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:09.719 when i say guys i mean you know the scientists 00:44:09.719 --> 00:44:11.920 and engineers both male and female who are doing 00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:15.519 that they don't know how that quantum level mechanics 00:44:15.519 --> 00:44:19.260 is working it's still theoretical But what it 00:44:19.260 --> 00:44:21.739 can do and how it does it at scales that are 00:44:21.739 --> 00:44:23.980 just unimaginable. And that's why I get super 00:44:23.980 --> 00:44:27.300 excited as a nerd, you know, a Star Trek fan, 00:44:27.360 --> 00:44:29.659 a Trekkie. You know, I'm still waiting for, you 00:44:29.659 --> 00:44:32.460 know, warp drive, engage. You know, I'm looking 00:44:32.460 --> 00:44:35.420 for that warp bubble. Yeah, that's awesome. That's 00:44:35.420 --> 00:44:37.860 awesome. And yeah, we're going to have to have 00:44:37.860 --> 00:44:42.139 a whole other conversation on computing. that's 00:44:42.139 --> 00:44:45.000 i agree that's that's some wild territory right 00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:48.059 there well steve it has been so inspiring to 00:44:48.059 --> 00:44:50.179 talk to you today it's a very thought -provoking 00:44:50.179 --> 00:44:53.719 conversation and and you're always so much fun 00:44:53.719 --> 00:44:56.019 to talk to you you know every time i see you 00:44:56.019 --> 00:44:59.719 i i always enjoy talking to you and you've given 00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:03.400 us such a great window of what's possible for 00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:06.260 not only from not only a global perspective but 00:45:06.260 --> 00:45:10.239 for emerging technology, human centered design. 00:45:10.420 --> 00:45:13.179 I love that you're still keeping this human. 00:45:13.179 --> 00:45:15.219 You're still humanizing all of this. It's all 00:45:15.219 --> 00:45:17.739 about the people, Sandra. Nothing works unless 00:45:17.739 --> 00:45:20.480 it works for the people using it. Right. And 00:45:20.480 --> 00:45:23.260 I love that. And, you know, I think that's exactly 00:45:23.260 --> 00:45:24.900 where we're going to see a lot of attractions 00:45:24.900 --> 00:45:28.099 heading. And again, you know, just really want 00:45:28.099 --> 00:45:30.179 to thank you for being here. If somebody would 00:45:30.179 --> 00:45:32.159 like to get ahold of you directly, and I hope 00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:34.320 that's okay, what's the best way? And we can 00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:36.909 post it in the chat too. Once you tell us. Shoot 00:45:36.909 --> 00:45:40.989 me an email, ssmith at telanus .com. And if I 00:45:40.989 --> 00:45:42.929 don't answer, I'll probably answer, but then 00:45:42.929 --> 00:45:44.269 I'll hand it off to someone who can do a much 00:45:44.269 --> 00:45:46.789 better job answering than me. Again, I'm good 00:45:46.789 --> 00:45:49.889 at kissing babies and shaking hands and painting 00:45:49.889 --> 00:45:51.650 a big vision, but there's people on my team that 00:45:51.650 --> 00:45:53.050 are a lot smarter than me that get stuff done 00:45:53.050 --> 00:45:55.690 every day for our customers. So they can definitely 00:45:55.690 --> 00:45:58.590 help you figure out a problem. And listen, it 00:45:58.590 --> 00:46:00.269 doesn't have to be something that's a paid engagement. 00:46:00.369 --> 00:46:01.989 Just have questions. You want to knock around 00:46:01.989 --> 00:46:05.039 some ideas. We're happy. I'm happy to jump on 00:46:05.039 --> 00:46:07.219 a call, get on a Zoom, and we'll just have some 00:46:07.219 --> 00:46:09.800 conversation because this is just too exciting. 00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:11.380 There's too much happening. There's too much 00:46:11.380 --> 00:46:14.219 opportunity. This is going to be one of the most 00:46:14.219 --> 00:46:16.119 exciting times for the people that are alive 00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:19.719 today in human history. So I'm just along for 00:46:19.719 --> 00:46:21.840 the ride. Yeah, I'm along for the ride, too, 00:46:21.900 --> 00:46:24.219 and I'm really excited to see where we go. So 00:46:24.219 --> 00:46:26.599 thank you again for being here. No, thank you. 00:46:26.699 --> 00:46:29.039 See you soon. All right. See you. Take care, 00:46:29.079 --> 00:46:33.829 Steve. All right. Well, once again, thank you 00:46:33.829 --> 00:46:36.050 to Steve for being here. I hope you guys enjoyed 00:46:36.050 --> 00:46:39.769 that show. I did. I'm also probably a Star Trek 00:46:39.769 --> 00:46:45.250 sci -fi nerd myself. So sorry, I'm not calling 00:46:45.250 --> 00:46:47.630 Steve a nerd. I'm calling myself a nerd. But 00:46:47.630 --> 00:46:49.329 I used to have a shirt that said I love nerds 00:46:49.329 --> 00:46:53.300 in my 20s. So maybe that is. is is a theme for 00:46:53.300 --> 00:46:56.960 me but you know i i love this conversation and 00:46:56.960 --> 00:46:59.159 where we're going with technology and i hope 00:46:59.159 --> 00:47:01.320 that maybe you took something away from today's 00:47:01.320 --> 00:47:03.519 show that helps you maybe understand what the 00:47:03.519 --> 00:47:05.260 future looks like a little bit more maybe how 00:47:05.260 --> 00:47:08.599 you can create more personalized experience in 00:47:08.599 --> 00:47:12.019 for your guests and your attractions so once 00:47:12.019 --> 00:47:15.059 again i want to thank gate master our sponsor 00:47:15.059 --> 00:47:19.260 for making today's episode possible If your attraction 00:47:19.260 --> 00:47:22.920 is ready to integrate smarter systems, streamline 00:47:22.920 --> 00:47:26.360 operations, and prepare for the next wave of 00:47:26.360 --> 00:47:29.659 innovation, visit GateMaster .com and see how 00:47:29.659 --> 00:47:32.940 they're helping attractions embrace the future 00:47:32.940 --> 00:47:36.539 today. I want to thank you all for watching Live 00:47:36.539 --> 00:47:39.639 with Sondra. And until next time, keep innovating, 00:47:39.739 --> 00:47:44.000 keep creating unforgettable experiences, and 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:45.920 keep leading with the heart. And I'll see you 00:47:45.920 --> 00:47:47.929 all soon. Take care, everybody.