Hurricanes in Florida Disrupt Show Schedules

Little venue damage, but outages, airport closings were cause for concern

By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 9/20/2004

When Hurricane Frances ripped through Florida over the Labor Day weekend, tradeshows either were canceled, closed early or postponed for several weeks.

Despite the disruptions in show schedules, there was little serious damage to exhibition facilities. Pools of water at the entry of the Palm Beach County Convention Center and slight damage to Miami Beach Convention Center's rollup doors constituted the most extensive destruction to tradeshow venues along the storm's course.

Nevertheless, with the closing of airports, flooding and power outages in mind, show managers decided to adjust the schedules of their shows to best ensure their customers' success.

The Florida Restaurant Show, originally scheduled for Sept. 10–12 at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, was postponed until Oct. 22–24 at the same facility.

Steve Kalman, industry vice president for Reed Exhibitions, said the decision to change the show's dates was made to allow exhibitors the opportunity to put their best foot forward, especially since many attendees own and operate area restaurants that were without power for several hours.

"They need to be able to go to a show and have business (at their restaurants)," Kalman said. "At the very least, if we went forward, they would have been hugely distracted."

The 2003 Florida Restaurant Show covered 93,000 net square feet, offered 601 exhibiting firms and drew an estimated 16,000 attendees. Kalman expects the October show to deliver similar results for its customers. "I'm confident we'll be able to still deliver the audience as expected," he said.

The cancellation of an aerospace and aviation show — the American Bonanza Society Annual Convention — came nearly a week before its scheduled Sept. 8 opening at Orlando's Caribe Royale All-Suites Resort & Convention Center.

This early warning was welcome news to George Johnson, president of North Carolina-based Carolina Aircraft, an exhibitor who was about to travel to the event with three airplanes and nine staff members.

"They made a good call," Johnson said. "A lot of the members probably would have canceled anyway."

Unusable off-pavement parking, previous destruction by Hurricane Charley of the site of the show's hangar party — at Kissimmee Gateway Airport's Ranger Jet Center — and the scarcity of protection for the exhibitors' airplanes were key factors in the show's cancellation, said Tom Turner, the society's manager of technical services.

The annual show will take place in Dallas next year, as it rotates around the country based on membership concentration. Turner expects his show to return to Florida soon, as a large percentage of his members have already expressed interest in having it there.

The Miami Beach Convention Center had one show cancel due to Frances, the Sept. 3–7 Home Design & Remodeling Show. Another, Shoe Market of the Americas, was rescheduled from Sept. 12–14 to Oct. 10–12.

The remodeling show was canceled as exhibitors were moving in the day before the scheduled opening. "That was the only casualty," said Doug Tober, general manager for the SMG-managed center.

Tober said the series of hurricane hits to Miami is "just an extreme fluke" and show managers shouldn't fear siting their shows in his state.

"We're just as susceptible as any place along the East Coast and on the Gulf (of Mexico)," Tober said. "I think we roll on."

The shoe show and hurricanes have a history: The 1992 show was canceled because of Hurricane Andrew.