New Orleans Is Jazzed One Year After Katrina

By Rachel Wimberly -- Tradeshow Week, 8/28/2006

One year after Hurricane Katrina caused widespread devastation in New Orleans, the statistics alone are staggering.

The total loss in tradeshow and convention dollars citywide was estimated by the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau to be up to $1.5 billion. More specifically, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center had 87 events either canceled or rescheduled, close to 600,000 scheduled attendees affected, $60 million worth of damage to repair, and an undetermined amount of lost revenue.

But even with the physical destruction and financial loss, both the convention center and area businesses that depend on the tradeshow industry have made strides in the last year.

A number of shows — including the American Library Assn. Annual Conference & Exhibition, the largest post-Katrina event so far with close to 17,000 attendees — have gone off without a hitch.

"I guess the best way to describe it is, it's a time of incredible challenge, but passionate recovery," said J. Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans CVB.

The primary challenge facing the city, he added, was overcoming what he described as negative national media coverage.

"People don't realize that the hospitality industry is doing incredibly well," he said. "New Orleans right now is under a microscope unlike other U.S. urban cities. Every time there is a crime here, it's covered in the national press."

When Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco asked the National Guard to help out in New Orleans, Perry said, guardsmen were sent to outlying regions so the regular police force could focus their energies on the more populated areas of the city.

"I feel personally safer here than I have in years," he added.

Before Katrina hit, the bureau had just launched a new ad campaign with the motto "We're Jazzed You're Here!"

Now, more than ever, the motto resonates, especially for the convention center as it continues to work on its renovations and book events. There are currently more than 700,000 square feet of exhibit space available, about two-thirds of the total, and a top-to-bottom new look in store.

"Part of the marketing effort was to make sure the building had dramatic visual changes," said Sabrina Written, the convention center's director of communications.

The scenes of chaos that unfolded in the days after the hurricane, when stranded citizens converged on the convention center, are a reality that the center has had to cope with.

"There's not enough money that exists to buy enough advertising to overcome those images," said Jill Alexander, the center's director of sales and marketing.

She agrees with Kelly Schulz, vice president of communications and public relations for the NOCVB, who said, "We are not trying to take away from the human suffering part of this disaster. There were a lot of people who lost their lives and homes."

At the same time, with the one-year anniversary looming, everyone in the tradeshow and convention business wants things to get back to normal.

"The center is such a major part of the economic engine of the city," Schulz said.

Tourism accounts for 85,000 jobs and 35 percent of the city's operating budget, she added.

For shows that have already ventured back to the city, they've discovered for themselves what condition New Orleans is actually in.

"Everything ran so smoothly for the ALA event," said Paula Fauth, show director for Hall-Erickson, which manages the event. "Everyone said they were impressed by the level of hospitality and that complete strangers thanked them for bringing ALA there."

ALA has a longstanding relationship with New Orleans that began with its first show there in 1988. It has visited seven more times over the years.

"I didn't know what to expect, but honestly it (New Orleans) didn't look that different," said Carol Brey Casiano, a past president of ALA who had previously attended four shows in the city. "It's always been one of my favorite places."

Most convention-goers shuttle from the airport to the tourist corridor in and around downtown. Brey said that, while she saw FEMA trailers and home repairs, she did not witness ruined neighborhoods, such as the Ninth Ward. "It's not a place we would normally go," she added.

REALTORS Annual Conference & Expo, also managed by Hall-Erickson, is set for Nov. 10–13. In a nod to the city, it's being billed by the National Association of REALTORS as "NARdi Gras".

Fauth said the key to overcoming any misconception or trepidation on the part of the association's members has been to communicate as much as possible.

"We want to highlight all the progress New Orleans has made," she said.

Sue Gorley, vice president of the convention group for the NAR, has heard concerns from members.

"But everything is clean and fine," she said. "There have been security questions also, but those have been answered."

Attendance at last year's conference in San Francisco set a record with 26,477, and Gorley said registration for the New Orleans show so far is on track to beat that.

"There may always be a reason people might not go," Gorley added. "I've had e-mail comments from people who are not going, but very few."

The convention center was only one sector of the tradeshow business that suffered economic losses. Restaurants and hotels have also been hurt.

"There's no way of recouping that," Perry said. "A night in a hotel room or dinner at a restaurant is a perishable commodity."

The good news is, 103 of 140 metropolitan area hotels are now open, as well as more than 700 restaurants.

Service contractors GES Exposition Services and Freeman were also affected.

Two out of three GES warehouses were irreparably damaged, and more than 70 employees were displaced. Jeff Quade, executive vice president of sales and marketing, said the biggest trial now is having only one warehouse reopened and having to share resources, staff and equipment with the Dallas office.

"We've been able to get our legs underneath us from the people-employee perspective, but we still need our legs on the facilities side," he added.

Freeman was in the process of moving EMS Expo out of the convention center as the storm approached. Along with show management company Cygnus Expositions, Freeman employees had to move fast to get staff and exhibit materials out of harm's way.

More than 60 Freeman employees were originally relocated, though many have now made their way back, just in time for five major shows the company has booked between now and December.

"Continued new bookings into 2007 are very encouraging," said Ellen Beckert, director of marketing.