ShowBiz Expo Gets New Venue, Dates
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 1/10/2005
ShowBiz Expo, the entertainment industry show that JD Events is attempting to resurrect, will get new digs and new dates for its comeback this year.
The production industry conference and tradeshow is set for Nov. 4–5 at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica (Calif.) Air Center, a frequent site for entertainment industry productions, rehearsals, awards ceremonies and celebrity dinners. ShowBiz Expo was previously held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in a June time frame.
Meeting rooms and theaters will be constructed at the hangar, which has ample parking. "We're basically trying to reinvent the show and make it an event the industry wants to attend and needs to attend," said JD Events CEO Joel Davis. "It's very convenient for a lot of the folks to be in a Santa Monica location."
Besides moving the event to a flexible, nontraditional venue, Davis said he wants to limit the event to 2,500 buyers and 100 exhibitors, who will have access to a computerized appointment system. Only bona fide industry members will be allowed to attend.
Davis said he's been reaching out to studios to ensure their participation in the event, which is being dubbed "the show that means business." He said he's encouraged by the reaction of the associations, organizations and magazine representatives he's consulted.
"We're getting very, very positive feedback and a high degree of interest by everyone we've talked to so far," Davis said. "The industry really wants there to be a successful ShowBiz Expo."
The November dates will put the show far on the calendar from Cine Gear Expo, held on the Universal Studios backlot in early June; and Below the Line Expo, an invitation-only event being launched in June by the magazine of the same name.
The Trumbull, Conn.-based JD Events recently acquired the show from the now-defunct Mindshare Ventures. Husband-and-wife team Bob and Nalini Lasiewicz founded ShowBiz Expo and grew it from 9,200 square feet in 1983 to 347,000 sq. ft. a decade later. The couple sold it to Advanstar in 1994, which two years later sold it to Reed Exhibitions. In late 2000, Reed sold it to PBI Media, now called Access Intelligence. In early 2003, PBI sold it to Mindshare.
