Invisible Men and Women

The fact that the industry is still undergoing an identity crisis should be fairly obvious to the handful of data junkies who attended the Center for Exhibition Industry Research's recent Exhibition Industry Senior Executives Summit in Washington, D.C.

There, during her presentation of the Convention Industry Council's economic impact study, CIC President Mary Power pointed out that those present were members of an "invisible" business who talk to each other about what they're doing, but not to the outside world.

Just look at what happened following Hurricane Katrina. Observers were quick to point out the poor planning for and response to the disaster by government agencies — and rightly so.

But why wasn't there a tradeshow-industry spokesperson to step up to the plate, gather crucial information and send out statements to the national press on behalf of show managers, convention centers, hotels and service contractors? All these members of one, "invisible" team could have used a point person when reporters from CNN and the Washington Post were scrambling for news.

Granted, throughout the Katrina aftermath, New Orleans Metropolitan CVB President J. Stephen Perry did an exceptional job of keeping visitors to the bureau's Web site updated on what was going on in his city. But where was an industry leader to communicate not just Perry's situation, but that of other members affected, to those outside the tradeshow business?

The closest thing we saw to a concerted effort was a press conference on relief efforts organized by the American Society of Assn. Executives & the Center three weeks after the hurricane.

On Sept. 19, TSW Editor in Chief Michael Hart returned from a trip to Shanghai. Among other cultural differences, he observed that several members of the Chinese press, whose full-time responsibility is covering the tradeshow industry, attended a media dinner given by the organizers of Furniture China 2005.

It seems the Chinese news media understands the exhibition industry's importance to the country's economy in a way that the American mainstream financial press has not yet begun to appreciate.

Several U.S. newspapers send reporters to cover tradeshows, but few, if any, have people assigned to the events industry as a specific beat. Organizers continually struggle to get coverage of their shows that is broader and more meaningful than trade journal reports and 30-second gadget spots on local TV news.

But they don't get much help from their industry associations.

Back at EISES, during a question-and-answer session, one puzzled attendee stepped up to the microphone and said, "I've heard today that this is an invisible industry. Aren't tradeshows being taught in school? Isn't there some college degree people can get in tradeshow management?"

No, not really.

The closest thing is a bachelor's of science in hotel administration with a major in meetings and events management, offered at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

"That's criminal, y'all," said an incensed Galen Poss, president and CEO of Hanley Wood Exhibitions, who sat on an EISES panel addressing the future of the industry.

Poss is right. What future does an industry have, if it has no corresponding academic discipline to which recruiters can point the next generation of smart people?

With the kind of data presented at EISES, it would be fairly easy for someone to call up the editors of the Wall Street Journal every month or so and point out that, for instance, the industry made an economic impact of $122 billion in direct spending and 1.7 million full-time equivalent jobs last year (per CIC's economic impact study).

It would also be easy for that person to visit university marketing and business administration departments and point out to them that, with 13,000 events taking place in the United States and Canada each year (per CEIR's census), any school that doesn't offer some program in event management is denying its students exposure to a whole world of satisfying careers.

Oh, and by the way, there's already a textbook for their first class: the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management's "The Art of the Show."

The information is there. Will it remain as invisible as those who produce it?