Pre-registrations are up for the Diamond Comic Distributors/Alliance Game Distributors' 2003 Retailer Summit, which will be held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas on November 3-4.  Attendance was also up at the first of the Diamond/Alliance 2003 Retailer Summits, which was held on September 6 and 7 in Fort Wayne Indiana.  Over 350 retailers representing more than 200 retail organizations attended the Fort Wayne Summit, a notable increase over attendance at last year's show.

Retailers who attend the Las Vegas Summit will have the opportunity to interact with fellow retailers, industry suppliers, and representatives from both Diamond Comic Distributors and Alliance Game Distributors.  So far 66 exhibitors have committed to the Las Vegas Summit, another solid increase over the number of suppliers attending last year's Las Vegas trade show.  Diamond's Las Vegas Summit comes on the heels of the inaugural Las Vegas Comic-Con, which will be held from October 31 to November 2.  Exhibitors who participate in both shows will receive $100 off the cost of their Las Vegas Comic-Con booth. 

In addition to literally hundreds of giveaway items (the DC Special Edition Variant Cover book given away at the Fort Wayne Summit is already going for over $100 on eBay), the Summit will provide retailers with free access to a number of workshops led by industry professionals.  Allan Caplan of Inkworks will lead a seminar on 'Guerilla Marketing,' while retailer David Wallace from the highly successful St. Louis-based Fantasy Shop, Inc. chain, will provide essential information on 'Cash Flow Analysis,' which will help retailers assess the financial health of their business.  Other workshops will cover 'Adding New Product Lines To Your Store,' using 'Diamond's Online Tools,' and making the most out of Free Comic Book Day (with retailers Joe Field and Bill Leibowitz).