LVCVA Takes Trade Mission to South America

Tradeshow organizers drum up business for city and its exhibitions

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 10/4/2004

Las Vegas—The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority has broken new ground in destination marketing with a recent South American trade mission, leveraging the city's brand to benefit its best tradeshow clients.

The mission took a group of organizers collectively responsible for 28 Las Vegas tradeshows to Sao Paolo, Brazil, Sept. 14–16. There, they participated in two days of press conferences and meetings designed to promote the city and its exhibitions to potential exhibitors and attendees, government officials and trade associations for the shows' respective industries.

Participants included representatives of CONEXPO-CON/ AGG, Intl. CES and NAB (the Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters' annual show), as well as show management firms Reed Exhibitions and VNU Expositions.

"I thought it was a great idea and made a lot of sense," said Dean Russo, a Reed Exhibitions industry vice president who went on the trip, "but I didn't know what to expect." He wasn't the only one.

Dick Lenahan, a senior counselor with the U.S. Commercial Service in Las Vegas, was also dubious about the mission at first. "This is the first time that something like this has been done by anybody," he said, "and Brazil is a complicated country to do business in. It was a real test for (the LVCVA), because if it can work there, it can work anywhere."

But, Lenahan added, the country also boasts Latin America's largest economy, explaining why the show organizers chose it as their first target market to try out the trade mission concept.

The LVCVA and Commercial Service collaborated on the mission's planning. Trade event managers from the Sao Paolo Commercial Service office generated publicity and sought out the appropriate local organizations to meet with the U.S. delegation. Meanwhile, the LVCVA picked up the tab for all of the meetings and events — estimated to be around $30,000 — and coordinated the participation of its clients.

Show organizers paid their own travel and accommodation expenses, and the trip was well worth it, according to those who went. Russo said it would have been worthwhile because of just one connection he made — with ABESE, the Brazilian equivalent of the Security Industry Assn., sponsor of the Intl. Security Conference West, which Russo directs. As a result, the U.S. and Brazilian counterparts, under Reed's guidance, are now planning to host pavilions at and co-market one another's security shows.

And beyond that, Russo had 21 other meetings over the course of two and a half days. "Now that I'm back, I'm liaising with the other industry vice presidents here at Reed and passing along the contacts I made for them to follow up on," he said. "The contacts I was able to make were of a very high quality, as were the meetings themselves."

That sentiment was echoed by Dan Cole, vice president of sales and business development for the Consumer Electronics Assn. and Intl. CES. Cole said he had three goals going into the mission: to support Las Vegas, to support the electronics industry and to tap the potential of the Brazilian market to the benefit of CEA members.

"The mission really exceeded my expectations in all those areas," Cole said, adding that almost everyone he met with showed interest in Intl. CES, and he returned with "some pretty solid commitments." Among them is Brazil's minister of technology, who plans to bring a delegation to the show.

Lenahan too was pleased with the outcome of the mission. "From my point of view, it was very successful," he said. "I was able to make a lot of people aware of who we are and what we do."

The U.S. Commercial Service last year launched a pilot program in Las Vegas called Showcase America. Led by Lenahan, the program is meant to assist overseas delegations at U.S. tradeshows and increase the exposure of American exhibitors to foreign buyers.

In addition, the government agency runs the Intl. Buyer Program, which each year identifies a group of tradeshows and helps them with overseas participation.

Riding the wave of this success, the LVCVA is already planning further, similar missions — most likely to Beijing or Shanghai, China. LVCVA Vice President of Convention Sales Chris Meyer said organizers have also suggested Russia and Singapore.

"We hit a grand slam with this one," he commented. "All that's left to determine now is how often we want to do it and where."