One Day a Year: Groups Take Their Best Shot

Springtime, the one-day annual show that will put association CEOs and meeting planners in front of hundreds of vendors, will provide a few crucial hours for smaller exhibitors that don't have sizeable budgets.

And although the May 25 edition will mark the show's 30th year, some pint-sized bureaus, convention centers, hotels, service contractors and other suppliers have just now scraped together enough funds for their first trips to the showfloor. Some are showing off new products or exhibit and meeting space; all are hoping the exposure will help their businesses prosper.

The 80,000 net square foot show, organized by the American Society of Assn. Executives & the Center at the Washington (D.C.) Convention Center, is expected to attract about 4,750 total attendees (including 2,500 buyers) to 850 exhibitors, including, for instance, first-time exhibitor St. George (Utah) Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

"I've always thought that the shows were for the bigger cities," said Pamela Hilton, marketing director for the bureau. "Our city is growing. We are just now looking at attending more shows."

Hilton said she was led to the show by conversations with other bureau marketing executives that had gotten promising leads at Springtime. Plus, she has some new space to flaunt.

St. George, 120 miles northeast of Las Vegas, is home to the recently expanded Dixie Center at St. George. Including its 22,000 sq. ft. of new meeting space, the venue offers 46,500 sq. ft. of exhibit space and 35,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. The city also boasts a new convention center-adjacent hotel, a 150-room Hilton Garden Inn.

Hilton said she hopes Springtime attendees will be looking for new destinations, like St. George.

Her bureau also recently exhibited in the two-day Hospitality Sales & Marketing Assn. Intl.'s Affordable Meetings shows in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and will be at the West Coast edition in Long Beach, Calif., in June. She is also considering booth space at Destination Marketing Assn. Intl.'s one-day Destinations Showcase events that take place in Washington and Chicago.

Another newbie to Springtime is the Central Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau. The group is located in State College, home to Pennsylvania State University.

Shirley Smith, the bureau's director of sales, said she decided to exhibit in the show to broaden meeting planners' impressions of the area beyond Penn State and its fabled football coach, Joe Paterno.

"We thought it was time to stretch our wings and see what's out there," she said. "Luckily for us, we were able to work it into the budget this year. This was an opportunity that we couldn't pass up."

The city, a three-hour drive from both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, offers the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, with 38 meeting rooms and a 10,000 sq. ft. ballroom. The hotel's sister property, the Nittany Lion Inn, will also be represented at the show, at the Historic Hotels of America booth.

Smith said, "We figure that, between the two of us (the bureau and the inn), we should be able to meet some meeting planners and get ourselves out there."

Like St. George, the Central Pennsylvania bureau has also exhibited in the Affordable Meetings and Destinations Showcase events. All of these shows are worthwhile, Smith said, because "you have opportunities to meet people that it would take weeks to call."

Another small bureau, the Tacoma (Wash.) Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau, will exhibit at Springtime for the second time since 2003.

Kathy Ono, the group's senior convention sales manager, said she stretches her dollars by rotating Tacoma's booth each year between Springtime, Affordable Meetings and Destinations Showcase.

The bureau will be touting the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, which opened in November 2004 with 51,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, and the nearby Puyallup Fair & Event Center.

These bureau reps are grateful that they could exhibit in this week's Springtime, and they should be, considering that ASAE & the Center this year is limiting the size of the showfloor. According to Amy Ledoux, vice president of meetings and expositions for the association, the show has a 90-percent exhibitor return rate, and has decided to concentrate on increasing attendance.

But in recent years, the showfloor has more than doubled. A 2005 Tradeshow Week Fastest 50 winner, it grew from 31,536 net sq. ft. and 754 exhibiting companies in 2002 to 77,650 net sq. ft. and 850 exhibiting companies in 2004.

The makeup of the showfloor is also changing. About 22 percent of it will be taken up by CVBs and chambers of commerce, compared to last year, when the category occupied 15 percent.

Hotel and resort groups will take up 51 percent of the floor, up from 35 percent in 2005.