Managers Book Space at McCormick West

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 10/25/2004

Chicago's McCormick Place West may still be four years away from completion, but already bookings include 17 tradeshows (11 of them medical association shows) totaling more than 2.4 million net square feet.

The facility, which broke ground in May, will open in 2008 with 470,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, 250,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a 100,000 sq. ft. ballroom, will welcome over 236,950 attendees for the shows scheduled so far.

Some show managers and exhibitors, including those from several booked shows like the Direct Marketing Assn. Semiannual October North American Conference (Oct. 20–23, 2008), helped shape the design-build process by reviewing sketches and blueprints of the proposed facility.

A central attendee drop-off location and a higher than average ratio of meeting to exhibit space are some of the facility's answers to customer suggestions.

Colleen Phalen, exhibits manager for the Intl. Assn. of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference, which will occupy the hall Oct. 22–25, 2011, said she chose the facility after several walk-through previews and viewing renderings and presentations. The conference, in Chicago for the first time, will benefit from the facility's location, which Phalen said "would be very desirable for our attendees."