JD Buys One Event, Postpones Another

JD Events is buying the fast-growing KioskCom.com just as it is postponing ShowBiz Expo, a Hollywood has-been it acquired a year ago with hopes of resurrection.

JD CEO Joel Davis said growth prospects appear strong for KioskCom.com, which connects buyers and sellers of interactive self-service machines. "It's a very hot industry that we feel is actually poised for potentially explosive growth in the future," he said. "The applications are increasing and so are the acceptance levels."

As part of the purchase of KioskCom.com from IQPC, a producer of more than 1,200 global business conferences, Lawrence Dvorchik will be staying on as COO and managing director.

"The skill set and expertise of those at JD Events is exactly what KioskCom.com needs right now," said Dvorchik. "They have proven to be an incredible show organizer in bringing in significant amounts of the right buyers in building a tradeshow."

The company holds two events per year: the decade-old KioskCom.com, next set for April 10–12 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Convention Center; and the KioskCom.com Fall Summit, scheduled for Nov. 7–9 at Eden Roc Hotel in Miami.

Dvorchik said the fall summit, which drew about 500 attendees and 18 exhibitors, was re-launched last year after being on hiatus since after the Sept. 11 attacks. KioskCom.com grew from 10,000 net square feet and 95 exhibitors in 2001 to 15,200 net sq. ft. and 88 exhibitors in 2003. Twice, it has been recognized as a Tradeshow Week Fastest 50 winner.

Meanwhile, JD Events has decided to postpone ShowBiz Expo after being unable to engineer a comeback for the 20-year-old event. Despite high levels of interest from attendees and entertainment industry groups, not enough space could be sold to make it worthwhile. "We just couldn't get the exhibitors to sign on," said Davis. "They were still too skeptical. It was too high of a mountain to climb."

JD Events was the sixth owner of the show, which was founded in 1983 by Bob and Nalini Lasiewicz, and by 1993 filled 347,000 sq. ft. of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Advanstar Communications bought ShowBiz Expo the following year, then sold it in 1996 to Reed Exhibitions, which expanded the conference program and enlisted the support of Variety and other entertainment industry publications.

Access Intelligence was the next show management firm to give it a shot, buying ShowBiz Expo in 2000 and bringing back Bob Lasiewicz to run things. But that apparently didn't help either, since three years later, the show was sold to Mindshare Ventures, which collocated it with a digital video event and tried to launch a Chicago version.

At the time it was sold to Advanstar, the Los Angeles version of the show drew 500 exhibitors and 23,000 attendees, and the New York version 325 exhibitors. Reed was able to add 150 new exhibitors and increase attendance by 20 percent at the Los Angeles show, according to reports published in TSW.

Davis said that he'd consider finding a new dance partner for the show, but would have a tough time because all the major organizers had already owned it. "We'd have to start a second round," he joked.

Buying and resurrecting distressed shows is part of JD's strategy, so Davis was philosophical about the postponement. "Our business model is to take risks and take chances," he said. "They don't all succeed."

AD:TECH is one example of a success. JD Events bought the interactive marketing conference from the now-defunct Imark Communications in 2002 and built it up enough to attract dmg world media as a buyer.

With ShowBiz Expo, most of the focus was on rebuilding the audience. Some 1,300 pre-qualified individuals were set to attend. Davis' strategy was to provide one event that attracted the industry's production, postproduction and distribution sectors.

Some participants had complained that the convention center wasn't big enough for displaying towering camera and lighting equipment, and that an outdoor location would be more appropriate. So Davis moved the planned Nov. 4–5 ShowBiz Expo from the convention center to the Barker Hangar Santa Monica (Calif.) Air Center.

It was the pursuit of an outdoor location that years ago caused a group of exhibitors to embrace the breakaway show Cine Gear Expo, held each June for more than 200 production sector exhibitors at Warner Bros. Studios.

Another entertainment technology show, Below the Line Expo, plans to launch indoors at Raleigh Studio next June. So far, the invitation-only show has commitments from about 20 exhibitors in the location, software, postproduction, art department, grip and indoor lighting segments.

Davis knew from the start that resurrecting ShowBiz Expo would be a challenge. "The writing was on the wall when exhibitors weren't signing up to the level we wanted them to," he said. "The economics just weren't there."