A Tale of Two Shows

Library, CTIA Wireless shows skew second-quarter performance

By Jillian Dauer -- Tradeshow Week, 8/21/2006

Quarters come and go, tradeshow statistics rise and fall, typically for the same reasons: economic cycles, show rotation and location choices. In the second quarter of this year, the latter played a more significant role than usual as two shows in particular had a dramatic impact on the overall report, but for quite different reasons.

Praised in the press for being the first large tradeshow held in New Orleans since last summer's hurricanes, the American Library Assn. Annual Conference & Exhibition nevertheless experienced substantial decreases in every index tracked by Tradeshow Week. In contrast, CTIA Wireless, back in Las Vegas for the first time since 2001, saw some of the strongest increases across the board.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last August, the American Library Assn. was already selling space for its 2006 show, scheduled eight or nine years earlier, to take place June 24–27 at New Orleans' Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The ALA felt it had some experience in dealing with catastrophes: It faced a similar situation in 2003, when the event was booked in Toronto amidst the SARS epidemic. Described by Show Director Paul Graller as a socially responsible move, the ALA board decided to honor its commitment to Toronto. This year it did the same with the Big Easy.

While only a handful of exhibitors who had already booked space before the hurricane struck changed their plans, it was hard to interest those who had not yet committed. As a result, there was a 29.1-percent decrease in exhibiting companies and 9.3-percent decrease in net square footage. But it was the show's 42.9-percent drop in attendance that had the greatest impact on the tradeshow industry's overall performance in the second quarter.

According to the TSW Quarterly Report of Tradeshow Statistics, shows held in April, May and June experienced a 3.4-percent increase in net square footage, 1.5-percent rise in exhibiting companies and 1.3-percent decline in attendance.

Remove the ALA show from the total and average net square footage reveals a 3.6-percent increase, exhibiting companies a 2.2-percent increase and attendance goes down only 0.3 percent.

In last year's second quarter, total net square footage rose 3.9 percent, exhibiting companies increased 2.9 percent and attendance soared 6.7 percent.

According to Graller, his show's decreases were not a surprise, but Hurricane Katrina can't take all the blame.

"New Orleans is usually a softer show because we don't get as much drive-in traffic," he said. "It's not as a big a market. There aren't as many libraries, so there aren't as many librarians."

Plus, the 2005 show in Chicago was a record-breaker, attracting 21,232 attendees and 906 exhibiting companies to a 161,710 net sq. ft. showfloor. The 2006 show spanned 146,676 net sq. ft. with 642 exhibitors and 12,127 attendees. Graller said that, even before the hurricane, he had anticipated the New Orleans showfloor would be 10 percent smaller than Chicago's and there would be somewhere around 11,000 full-conference attendees.

In addition to the safety and health concerns, Graller said exhibitors and attendees worried that the hotels and convention center would not be clean and ready in time for the show. Exhibitors were also unsure whether there would be enough labor to set their booths up.

"In the end, everything went as smooth as it could have," he said. "The association was overjoyed with what happened."

In fact, Graller said the show was "lucky" to be the first large event in New Orleans.

"We were a very important show for the city. It needed to be successful," he said.

Kelly Schulz, vice president of communications and public relations for the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the ALA show was a "remarkable success for us economically and emotionally. Everything we heard from their exhibitors and attendees was that they couldn't have had a better time."

But the city is still fighting to overcome rumors and misconceptions. Graller had customers who, before their visit, thought the mold was so bad you couldn't breathe. And the day the show moved in, the city announced it was bringing in the National Guard to assist with ongoing violence.

To help get accurate information to exhibitors and attendees, a dedicated Web site was updated weekly, Graller said. The CVB also worked hard to do its part — and continues to do so with other groups.

"We ask, 'What are the concerns of your group? How can we address them?'" Schulz said.

It's also letting the city speak for itself by bringing people in for site inspections.

"We've done more site visits in the past nine months than in history," she said. "When they see it for themselves, they're pleasantly surprised and see that New Orleans can handle their meeting."

But the question of whether shows are sacrificing their success to support the city still remains.

Helen Brett held its second post-Katrina show there in the second quarter, the Intl. Jewelry Merchandise Fair — Spring, which also experienced across-the-board decreases.

"That's something that we want to make sure doesn't happen," Schulz said.

Although it will take more time for things to return to normal, Schulz is looking forward to Katrina's one-year anniversary.

"We're planning activities so there's an accurate commemoration, but it's also a day of rebirth and looking forward, looking at the successes of the year's challenges," she said.

The American Library Assn. Annual Conference & Exhibition will return to New Orleans June 23–29, 2011. Graller predicts next year's show in Washington, D.C., will be another record-breaker.

CTIA Wireless on the other hand, experienced overwhelming success at its April 5–7 show in Las Vegas.

"Previously the show was held in New Orleans quite a bit, but the airport didn't have the lift," said Robert Mesirow, vice president of business development. "Attendees couldn't get a flight 60 days out. Being in Las Vegas was a big bump for us in terms of getting more attendees."

In addition to a 22-percent larger showfloor, the show grew 13.5 percent in number of exhibiting companies and 25 percent in attendance. Consequently, the inclusion of this show skewed the quarterly report results in an upward direction. When CTIA is removed from the survey, overall net square footage experienced a 3-percent increase (rather than the actual aggregate 3.4-percent increase), exhibiting companies rose 1.3 percent (rather than the aggregate 1.5 percent) and attendance dropped 2.2 percent (rather than the aggregate 1.3 percent).

Still, Mesirow wasn't completely satisfied. While 20 percent of the show's attendees were from outside the United States, he would like this number to be closer to 35 percent.

"This is important because there is no one computer that is 100-percent assembled in one spot on the planet," he said. "Companies should be thinking more global or they won't be able to compete."

The allure of Sin City wasn't the only reason for the show's triumph, he said; it's also the new ways in which companies want to demonstrate their products and services.

"Exhibitors had a need for more meeting space, so the show built custom meeting rooms on the showfloor," said Mesirow.

Those meeting rooms were sold on a square-foot basis, just like booths. Mesirow believes visitors were able to double the number of meetings they could get to, because everyone was in the same place, rather than spread out in hotel suites across the city — a good option, he said, for those who don't need to showcase a product, but simply want to talk about a concept. In addition, the meeting room area was open before and after exhibition hours.

Mesirow also emphasized the impact that the growing wireless industry has had on the event. For instance, he said, "wireless now represents one-third of the music industry's revenue."

As wireless works its way into more industries, he expects the show will continue to see growth.

"We can build the event — the industry will support it — to have one of the 10 largest shows in the country over the next five to seven years," he said. "We're not just producing a show, we're building a marketplace."

Next year's event, scheduled March 27–29 at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, is already 95-percent sold. CTIA is holding dates in Las Vegas for the even-numbered years until 2024.