Truck Shows Put Brakes on Lawsuit

A truce has been called in the latest disagreement between a tradeshow manager and an industry association.

The California Trucking Assn.'s suit against the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority and the former organizer of its Intl. Trucking Show was dismissed April 20.

The CTA's 2003 complaint, filed in Yolo County, Calif., claimed breach of contract, business interference and unfair business practices, and sought a temporary restraining order. It stemmed from a disagreement between the association and the longtime show producer, now called Independent Trade Show Management, on the best time and place for the show.

After eight years in Las Vegas, the CTA in 2003 decided to move the 2004 Intl. Trucking Show to a fall date in Anaheim, where it had been off and on since 1969. ITSM, convinced the move was a mistake, stayed in Las Vegas and launched the Truck Show Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center, owned and operated by the LVCVA.

The defendants in the lawsuit said they couldn't comment on the dismissal, according to agreed-upon terms. During the LVCVA's monthly board meeting, however, legal counsel Luke Puschnig described it as a "win" for the authority that was achieved through a "minimum contact argument."

CTA CEO Joel Anderson said, "We all basically agreed that we were wasting a lot of money, and we were better off getting back to the business of competing." He said nothing in the dismissal would affect either show.

Both the CTA and ITSM will move forward with their tradeshows as planned: respectively, the Truck Show Las Vegas June 16–18 at the LVCC; and the Intl. Trucking Show Sept. 8–10 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The split in support is manifested in the shows' performance so far. In 2003, the Intl. Trucking Show, still managed by ITSM, drew 22,792 total attendees to a 161,130 net square foot show-floor — putting it at No. 158 on the 2004 Tradeshow Week 200.

Last year, the Anaheim show pulled 15,000 total attendees to a 100,000 net sq. ft. exhibition, according to the CTA; while ITSM reported the Truck Show Las Vegas attracted 17,000 attendees and also filled 100,000 net sq. ft.

Roger Sherrard, president of ITSM, said he knew the first two years would be tough. "But the Anaheim show was one of the worst tradeshows I've ever been to, so I thought we'd get a little more interest this year," he added.

Yet at press time, the 2005 Truck Show Las Vegas was right on track with last year. It hadn't wooed any new major exhibitors, and pre-registration was at the same level as a year ago.

"Next year should be a breakout year for us," Sherrard said.

Anderson, on the other hand, is busy retooling the CTA show to lure more qualified buyers. Tradeshow management, he said, "wasn't my background, and I had to learn by doing. We tried something different last year, and there were some mistakes."

Among them were a heavy reliance on trade-publication and Web-based advertising for attendance promotion, which resulted in a weak turnout on the show's business-to-business-only days (on the third day, the show is open to the public, in order to encourage driver recruitment).

This year, Anderson said, the CTA will use the more standard approach of sending direct mail to a targeted list of 100,000 qualified buyers. For its new attendance promotion campaign, the association hired Marketing Design Group, based on the firm's success with the Specialty Equipment Market Assn.'s SEMA Show.

To run the show, the association also appointed Mary Ellen Christian as director of events, replacing Kimberly Read, and contracted operations consultant Libby Durfy of Pisces Planning, whose resume also includes work on SEMA Show.

According to Anderson, Intl. Trucking Show is on track to draw 250 exhibitors and span 100,000 net sq. ft. His goal is to double attendance.

In any case, both shows have a long way to go to catch up with the Mid-America Trucking Show, managed by Exhibit Management Associates. In March, that event drew 75,650 professional attendees to a 746,809 sq. ft. showfloor, according to figures reported to Tradeshow Week research.