Just get done with several Retailer Roundtable seminars including Upper Deck's, Press Pass and Panini. The following is a brief outline of what each company brought to the mix.

Upper Deck: Upper Deck's newest creation is UpperDeckU.com, an ever-changing virtual world of online gaming in which players can use codes on a variety of UD products to create your own avaitar, exchange in real-time chats with others players, in-game e-mailing, play dozens of different games within the main game, collect and trade with other players. The basics of the game are similar to other virtual world gaming with the exception that the concept is collecting based and should help increase trading card collecting in the sports card categories as well as create a new demographic of young collectors which will ultimately grow the hobby.

While this idea isn't new and others have tried with other degrees of success, I now believe they have created a formula for success with their version, and from the numbers of users already on board, it seems to be a big hit even in its early stages. In the first six weeks of the game being live, more than 100,000 players have participated and more than 15% of those who played are now registering card codes for upgrades and more gaming options. While you didn't hear it here first, this is going to be big for the hobby, so much so that while here I plan to talk with the Upper Deck reps to see how we can partner up with this in some way because I believe it will succeed that much. Stay Tuned.

I was only able to catch a portion of the Press Press presentation but the jist of it was about an improved NFL product. Meaning more content, better autograph combinations featuring all of the big-named rookies-to-be and a redesigned look to the product itself. More on this later.

One of the most well-attended presentations of the day was for the new kids on the block, Panini. Many in attendance are curious as to what the sticker-based global company would be bringing to the table now that it has the exclusive rights to the NBA card category. Donruss/Panini execs admitted they're learning to adopt the practices of their new parent company on the fly and are ironing out details for future plans as they go with one basic concept remaining in place: they want to continue to produce and provide products with more value than their competitors, but they will also be implementing several formulas of success that Panini had in place for years. Panini's overseas philosophy has been to provide the masses with samples with their sticker albums and then sit back and wait for those same masses to come looking for the stickers to fill those albums. It's been working for them for 51 years and that, coupled with a huge promotional campaign, is in the future for their brand new Basketball card category formula.

The staff that was part of Donruss has now been given the financial freedom from the billion-dollar Panini company to implement the ideas and strategies that they couldn't previously. They plan to put stickers and cards in the hands of children across the country in much the same way that they have overseas to grow the category and get children back into collecting mode. The also plan to produce 6-7 new Basketball products by year end but that number is still a work in progress and is subject to change. That number and the question about how the exclusive players such as Jordan, Wade, Kobe and others and how they would be handled in the future with their rights belonging to UD and Topps. Panini execs said they are in talks with NBA officials to try and work out a deal but couldn't provide many more details at this point. My best guess is that a deal to purchase those exclusive rights are in the works with those companies but UD and Topps are holding out for top dollar because they are holding all the cards. We'll see.

Another important question addressed was that all Redemption cards offers in Donruss products will be fulfilled by Panini (if within the desiganted time frame). This was agreat relief to many of the dealers in attendance because slow sales have them sitting on a lot of product right now with no sales likely coming any time soon. Panini officials alos said there main objectives will now be Marketing, upgrading their existing websites while maintaining the quality and affordability of their products. Will see how that plays out but with the strong financial backing they now have I predict it won't be long before Panini becomes an even bigger player in the hobby.

Speed Retailing session is up next. The idea is to have retailers sit across from other retailers and share successful ideas they've had. They start in one chair and chat for a few minutes before moving onto the next chair and new retialer. Once the session is over they have a forum and discuss the best ideas of the bunch to implement in the future. We'll see how that goes and I'll get back to you with more details later.

If you have any questions please let me know and I'll do the best to answer them. Stay tuned.