Monteferrante Has Made Move to WMC

The World Market Center has lured Michelle Monteferrante away from a top post at Freeman and made her show director of the Las Vegas Market. Monteferrante replaces Brianna Mackey, who now manages events for dmg world media in Australia.

Monteferrante, Freeman's former national sales manager for Las Vegas, joined the Market Center Oct. 2. She is responsible for all planning, logistics and operations of the semiannual tradeshow, which reportedly filled 620,000 net square feet of exhibit space (not including showrooms) with 1,134 exhibitors July 24–28.

Dana Pretner, WMC director of marketing, said the company did not release attendance figures for that show, opting instead to give an average attendance of 50,000 over the last three shows.

Monteferrante is no stranger to the Las Vegas Market. It was one of 11 shows she oversaw at Freeman, WMC's general service contractor for the temporary (as opposed to showroom) exhibits at this year's January and July markets. (Champion was the contractor in 2005.)

Among her other 10 accounts at Freeman was the Specialty Equipment Market Assn.'s SEMA Show, No. 4 on this year's Tradeshow Week 200 with close to 1.1 million net sq. ft. of exhibits, 2,066 exhibiting companies and 76,048 professional attendees. At press time, Monteferrante said Freeman hadn't named her replacement yet.

According to a company announcement, Monteferrante will also work with WMC management on expanding the show into new segments and launching new shows. Asked what these would include, Monteferrante said, "Nothing I can discuss at this point."

Although it's not every day an executive switches from general contracting to show management (Ken MacAvoy, senior vice president at Reed Exhibitions, did it seven years ago), Monteferrante said it's not that unusual either.

"It's not uncommon for a show manager who works very closely with a contractor to tighten that relationship and want that contractor to come work with them," she said, adding that her true roots are in hospitality, having gotten her start with Sheraton, followed by a stint at Sands Expo & Convention Center. "I'm really completing the full circle of my career. It seems like a natural thing for me to do."

Despite the reduction in the number of shows she oversees now, Monteferrante will have her logistics work cut out for her. Due to Las Vegas' busy show calendar, the WMC has had to hold the temporary exhibition portion of the market in 350,000 sq. ft. of tents in the parking lot, as well as two different convention centers. With all other exhibit halls large enough for the show unavailable this coming January, the temporaries will move once again, this time to Cashman Center, the city's downtown venue typically used for public shows.

Meanwhile, the permanent campus continues to grow at a rapid pace. One 1.3 million sq. ft., 10-story building is already open; a second, with 16 stories and 1.6 million sq. ft., is expected to open concurrently with the next market Jan. 29–Feb. 2. The long-range plan is for 12 million sq. ft. of space in eight buildings.

The World Market Center isn't the first to turn to the tradeshow — rather than the home furnishings — industry for leadership. The High Point (N.C.) Intl. Home Furnishings Market Authority in March named Brian Casey president, replacing Judy Mendenhall, who retired.

Casey, who worked at SmithBucklin for more than 10 years before founding his own management firm, Next Generation Events, has already begun tinkering with the semiannual High Point Market, the Las Vegas show's larger and older competitor, which boasts 2,600 exhibitors spanning 12 million sq. ft. of showroom space and 100,000 registrants, compared with Las Vegas' 1,513 exhibitors and 1.6 million sq. ft. (including both showrooms and temporary exhibits).

Following changes in the show's branding and marketing, Casey announced an agreement with area hotels to improve service to market visitors. Most recently, the High Point authority said it would add new lounges and other amenities for both international and domestic buyers starting with its upcoming market Oct. 16–22.

Mackey, the WMC's former show director, has meanwhile moved to Sydney to become dmg World Media's commercial director for Australia. Joining her in the Sydney office is the newly appointed managing director, Ben Brougham, dmg's former business development director and a Miller Freeman veteran.

While Brougham oversees dmg's Australasian business group — consisting of 30 trade and consumer events — Mackey will focus on the company's Australian home interest and business-to-business products.