Mt. Rushmores

Bob Dallmeyer

President, RD Intl.

Renaissance man Dallmeyer is one of the most unusual people in the tradeshow industry, in that he's done it all: He has more than four decades of exhibition experience, working as a corporate exhibitor, show organizer, industry supplier and educator. A few months ago he was also inducted into CIC's Hall of Leaders.

Dallmeyer is past chairman of both IAEM and TSEA, as well as a former director of CEIR. He currently represents the Brussels (Belgium) Exhibition Center in North America, writes for TSEA's webzine (Trade Show IDEAS) and UFI's Exposition World Magazine, teaches Certified in Exhibition Management programs for IAEM, and is a mentor to many.

His articles, books, and audio and video presentations on exhibitions are in use around the world. He lectures at universities, consults and provides master training sessions on exhibition marketing.

Finally, TSW editors can vouch for the fact that Dallmeyer always seems to know everything that's going on everywhere.

Lee Knight

Owner and CEO, Exhibitor Magazine Group

Knight started his professional life as a magician. In fact, he got around to performing his tricks at tradeshows, using his magic act to help corporations like 3M promote products. (He was in on the debut of the now-ubiquitous Post-It note.)

That led Knight to ponder the dynamics of tradeshow exhibiting and, finding no real compendium of best practices, to educate exhibitors. That, in turn, led in 1982 to the publication of Exhibitor magazine.

In 1989, expanding the brand, he launched Exhibitor Show, a national conference and exhibition for tradeshow and event marketing. In keeping with his educational mission, Knight worked with others to create the Certified Trade Show Marketer program in 1992.

Knight said he still wants to help companies optimize face-to-face interaction as part of an overall marketing mix, and to provide tradeshow and corporate event marketers with the skills and knowledge they need. And that's no hocus-pocus.

George F. "Jeff" Little II

President and CEO, George Little Management

GLM is one of the exhibition industry's oldest family businesses, and Little, grandson of company founder George F. Little, got involved early. He joined GLM in 1971, following his graduation from Hamilton College with a B.A. in history.

Since then, he has served as show manager for many GLM-managed events, ranging everywhere on the spectrum from the Atlantic City China & Glass Show to the New York Intl. Gift Fair. Among the many titles he's held, he has been advertising director and production director.

These days, he oversees all corporate strategic planning and direction, and new business development. GLM, either solely or on behalf of dmg world media, organized eight of the shows in the 2006 TSW 200.

Little is a recipient of several tradeshow industry honors, including IAEM's Man of the Year Award in 2000 for his overall contribution to the tradeshow industry.

Ken McAvoy

Senior vice president, Reed Exhibitions

McAvoy's seen the best of both worlds: He's been a service contractor and a show manager. His career began when, working his way through Marquette University, he answered an ad for a summer job at McCormick Place in Chicago as a maintenance man.

That led to a position with United Exposition Services in Chicago as soon as he graduated. He's rarely been tempted to stray from the showfloor since.

In 1981, he moved to Atlanta as general manager for United Expo's Southeast region. Seven years later, he relocated to Orlando as executive vice president of GELCO Convention Services. In 1994, GELCO was sold to GES Exposition Services, and McAvoy became executive vice president of GES' Eastern division, handling 950 employees in 13 offices.

Reed Exhibitions lured him away in 1999. He is now a senior vice president based in Norwalk, Conn., responsible for more than 45 shows a year.

Frank Poe

Director, convention and event services, City of Dallas

After 32 years of working in convention centers, Poe knows that part of the business as well as anyone. He has spent most of his career in management roles at the Dallas Convention Center, with a two-year break as director of Orlando's Orange County Convention Center in the 1970s, and a seven-year run (1997–2004) as executive director and chief executive for Alabama's Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Authority.

Since Poe, a Texas native, returned to Dallas three years ago, the city's tradeshow industry status has held steady, despite the harsh competitive landscape. Recently, Poe and the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau got back an old customer, The FMI Show, scheduled to return to the city in 2009.

Poe is a 2006 CIC Hall of Leaders inductee, nominated by the Intl. Assn. of Assembly Managers, a group he is actively involved in as leader of its Safety and Security Task Force.

Spurgeon Richardson

President and CEO, Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau

Richardson ("Spurge" to his staff) is now entering his 16th year as president and CEO of the Atlanta bureau, making him one of the longest-serving CVB leaders still at the helm. Along with countless other feats, he has maintained Atlanta's status over the last several years in or near the top five cities in the TSW 200 and TSW Data Book, despite the city's loss of the massive Intl. Builders' Show/TecHOMExpo in 2005.

Richardson has led the bureau in the development of its Brand Atlanta campaign, which highlights new downtown developments, including the 1-year-old Georgia Aquarium and the future site of the new World of Coca-Cola.

He might have had plenty of time to get comfortable in his job, but don't expect complacency from Richardson, who is an active member of industry groups. One of his favorite quotes: "The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack."

Chuck Schwartz

Chairman and founder, ConvExx

Schwartz has been producing tradeshows since some people now entering the business were still in diapers.

When he founded his first independent show management firm in 1979, Epic Enterprises, he'd only been in the business three years. Since then, he's sold Epic to PGI and started another business, ConvExx.

From its headquarters in Las Vegas, the family-owned firm manages about a half-dozen events for the auto and motorcycle industries, including the fourth-largest tradeshow in the country, the Specialty Equipment Market Assn.'s SEMA Show. This monster fanned out into every square inch of usable space at the Las Vegas Convention Center last November and drew 76,048 attendees, according to the 2006 TSW 200.

But Schwartz seems to take the most pride in his industry service. His nearly three decades of membership in IAEM have included seven years on its board of directors and a term as international chairman.

John W. Spargo

Chairman, J. Spargo & Associates

Spargo founded J. Spargo & Associates in 1973 with the help of his father, John S. Spargo, shortly before the elder Spargo retired from a long career in the meetings industry.

But the younger Spargo's show experience started a few years earlier when he left a career in the corporate sector to work with his father managing events for the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Assn., which remains an important client after all these years.

JS&A provides a number of services — housing, registration, lead retrieval, exhibit sales, exhibit management and meeting logistic assistance — for more than 90 events annually. The company in recent years has been one the of top 10 show management firms in the TSW Data Book.

Spargo's American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting & Exposition ranked No. 105 on this year's TSW 200 and, most recently, the firm was chosen to provide housing services for the Newspaper Assn. of America's NEXPO 2007.

Wayne Stetson

Senior vice president, Natl. Assn. of Home Builders

In an age when many corporate higher-ups spend their careers transitioning in and out of jobs, Stetson is an anomaly, having spent the last 28 years straight with the very same association. NAHB hired him in 1978 as its vice president of the convention and meetings group, and he hasn't left since.

Stetson's baby is the Intl. Builders' Show/TecHOMExpo, which he has watched grow up over the years to the point where there are very few cities big enough to accommodate it today. The NAHB's 2,000-member board decided it was worth it to pay a termination fee to get out of its contract at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center in 2007 and 2008. The builders show will rotate between Orlando and Las Vegas.

The 2006 show in Orlando broke records by attracting more than 100,000 attendees to a 966,700 net sq. ft. showfloor with 1,681 exhibitors.