September Update

Market YOUR Place at Marketplace

Your Stage…Your Place…American Bus Marketplace!

We are inviting you to register to explore Tennessee and Marketplace 2006, where the stage is set for you! We know that Marketplace is an investment of finances and time – so it must meet your needs and exceed your expectations. As the premier member-driven show in the industry we have been developing new products and services to increase your return on investment.

These are just a few of the improvements we've made for you:

Research Databases: Company Profiles will now be able to be open in MS-Word for addition of notes, etc.
Directory of Participants: Will be printed in a scaled down format and available electronically on-line after the show.
Buyer Booklets: Will be printed with a larger area for notes and/or business cards.
Appointment Schedules: Will have booth numbers printed and you will also be able to export your schedule into Excel for notes and other comments.
How to Guides/References: Have been produced for appointment requests, appointment schedules, service centers, and education seminars.

We still have time for your ideas. Let us know how we can add value to your Marketplace experience. Email Us!

To register for Marketplace:

Company ID: [CmpNum]

Company Password: [CmpPass]

You Won't Want to Miss a Thing: Our "Gone To Texas" evening gives you the chance to see one of country music's true musical treasures - Country Music Star Mark Chesnutt. Mark Chesnutt was one of Billboard's ten most play radio artists of the 90's and has 14 No. 1 hits, 23 top ten singles, four platinum albums and five gold records. His string of hits include Brother Jukebox, Blame It On Texas and I Don't Want To Miss A Thing. You won't want to miss a thing either, so make sure you stick around for the Wednesday night party.

Hurricane Katrina: As you many have seen and heard from news reports, Hurricane Katrina has left miles and miles of devastation to the Gulf Coast. ABA expresses its deepest sympathies to those who are dealing with this aftermath. Many of ABA's members have been affected, including hotels, casinos, bus companies and other destinations.

ABA has created a forum on its website for members give and learn information about members affected in those areas. We have a list of members in the Gulf area on the site, CVB contact information in the area, along with information for motorcoach companies who want to help in the relief efforts, changes to hours of service rules for those operators who do help, and where to send relief donations. Information can be found at www.buses.org.

If you have heard from or about any of your ABA partners in the affected areas -- Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida -- please let us know at www.buses.org/forums.

Pre-FAMs: The State of Tennessee will be sending out Pre-FAM information to all registered delegates. There will be 4 Pre-FAMs all leaving at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, February 1 from the Gaylord Opryland Resort. Everyone is invited and details will be coming.

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Marketplace's HOT Ticket Program

Marketplace – It’s One HOT Ticket! We would like to extend some great southern hospitality monthly to one lucky registered delegate. Each month, every registered delegate will be eligible for a drawing for an exciting prize. Register early for more chances to win. Prizes are non-transferable. Winners will be contacted and posted on the Marketplace website.

September's Hot Ticket – Join us on the beach for fun in the sand and sun as Marketplace prepares to go to Virginia Beach in 2008. If you are a registered delegate before the end of September, you will be entered into a drawing for one reserved luncheon table for Wednesday’s All-Delegate Lunch sponsored by Virginia Beach CVB. Enjoy your stroll down beach street!

August’s Hot Ticket Winner- Judy DiPietro, Americas Best Value Inn, has won 4 reserved seats for the private performance of the Grand Ole Opry sponsored by the Grand Ole Opry and Opry Attractions . So sit back and enjoy the music that made Music City.

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Marketplace Microphone: Your Chance to Keep Marketplace Delegate-driven

The Learning Center Subcommittee is responsible for delivering data, reference materials, and research information to Marketplace delegates. The primary assignment of the Subcommittee is to develop and execute an on-site Learning Center, where delegates get to research companies and prepare for their appointments.

American Bus Marketplace has the Best Learning Center in the Industry! Your Learning Center resources can provide you valuable information to maximize your appointments!

Computer Research Database – Create a target Prospect List
Library: Operator Reference Materials
State & Provincial Information Network (SPIN)
DMO Mail Boxes provide additional leads for Prospecting

What services or products would you like the Learning Center to offer pre-Marketplace, on-site and post-Marketplace? E-mail us at meetingsdept@buses.org by September 23, 2005.

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Marketplace Tool: A Resource to Make Your Marketplace Experience

Your Marketplace Passport is now available! Manage your Marketplace experience by utilizing your personal Marketplace Passport:

Update your registration information
Update your company profile
Send messages to other registered delegates via the Message Center
Research Buyers and Sellers using the interactive databases (available Oct. 1)
Make your appointment requests (available Oct. 24)
View your appointment schedule (available Jan. 13)
Manage your appointment schedule manually requesting and accepting appointment (available January 13)

To access your Marketplace Passport you will receive your delegate number and password upon registration.

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Southern Hospitality: Marketplace General Information

Important Dates:

October 1: Research Database On-Line/Buyer Early Bird Deadline

October 24: Appointment Requests On-Line/Deadline for Refunds

January 9: Appointment Requests Due

January 13: Appointments Scheduled/ Manual Appointment Scheduling Available

January 30: Manual Scheduling Closed

February 3: Marketplace Begins/Manual Appointment Scheduling Available

February 8: Marketplace Concludes/Business Follow Up Begins

Housing

So that you get a good night’s sleep before a busy Marketplace day, we have two host hotels for Marketplace 2006. Housing forms were in the registration mailing and available on-line.

Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel and Conference Center

2800 Opryland Drive

Nashville, TN 37214

Buyer Rate: $95 plus $5 per room per day resort fee.

Seller Rate: $159 plus $5 per room per day resort fee.

If you have received a confirmation staing a $10 resort fee, you will be receiving a corrected confirmation via mail for our $5 resort fee.

Radisson Hotel at Opryland

2401 Music Valley Drive

Nashville Tennessee 37214

Buyer Rate: $89.

Seller Rate: $99. (Block is sold out.)

*Airport and Shuttle transportation will be available from the Radisson

Sponsorships:

Looking for a way to get noticed at Marketplace? Contact us if you are interested in our many and varied exciting sponsorship opportunities.

Transportation:

Gaylord Opryland Nashville Resort will provide complimentary transportation between the Nashville International Airport and the host hotels. Vouchers will be sent to you prior to Marketplace.

Complimentary transportation will be provided from the Radisson to the Opryland Convention Center.

Shuttle service will be provided between the host hotels and all Marketplace events.

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Quality Appointments

Company Profile: The Research Databases contain company profiles from each company attending Marketplace. These profiles provide valuable company information, which is utilized to request quality appointments. Therefore, an updated profile is essential to marketplace success for Buyers and Sellers alike. Update your Company’s Profile through your Marketplace Passport prior to October 1, 2005.

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Limitless Networking

Nashville Fun Fact: Did you know...The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is located in what was formerly Nashville's main post office, a city landmark placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The Center went to great lengths to preserve the historical integrity of the building, as the building itself is a work of art.

On view at the Frist (through April) is Splendid Palette: Painting in France from Monet to Bonnard, an exhibition of extraordinary paintings by some of the most important masters of late 19th- and early 20th-century European art. Included are Impressionist paintings by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Henri Fantin-Latour and Camille Pissarro, as well as major works by other seminal modern painters such as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Odilon Redon, Maurice de Vlaminck and Georges Rouault.

You can pet the stingrays! Aquarium, a specialty-themed restaurant at Opry Mills Mall, recently unveiled Stingray Reef, a gigantic interactive touch tank that enables visitors to touch and feed live stingrays. In addition to stingrays – some of which are up to four feet in width -- a variety of aquatic creatures, such as piranhas, poison dart frogs and lionfish, plus snakes and tarantulas from all over the world will be on display. The Aquarium restaurant features a 200,000-gallon tropical fish tank which allows exceptional floor-to-ceiling viewing through its four-inch thick fabrication acrylic observation panels. Guests have a wonderful view of Aquarium’s seven marine biologists feeding various fish twice a day. More than 100 species of colorful, tropical fish from the Caribbean Sea, Hawaii, South Pacific and the Indian Ocean − some as large as six feet long − reside in the tank.

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Professional Education

Marketplace Resources: The following resources have been complied to provide our members with the most comprehensive Marketplace information available:

Marketplace Resources

Frequently Asked Questions
Past Marketplace Update Newsletters
Sample Profile Sheets and Guidelines
Caucus Information
First Time Attendee Information including STAR Packet

E-mail us at meetingsdept@buses.org if you have any additional suggestions for this area.

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