Promoting Promotions

Flat attendance is not necessarily a bad thing for earlier PPAI Expo

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 1/15/2007

What show manager wouldn't kill to have exhibitors who, despite a date change they didn't want and a resulting slip in attendance, are still happy as clams to be on the showfloor?

That was the case at The PPAI Expo, the Promotional Products Assn. Intl.'s annual show held here Jan. 2–6 at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

"We would have preferred that it take place deeper in the year," said Brian Tegt of Select-a-Gift, who added that if attendance was indeed down, as many were speculating, it was "only a hair, and there's still the same quality of attendees, so it doesn't really matter."

In fact, the 392,100 net square foot exhibition drew 1,637 exhibiting companies and approximately 12,715 professional attendees, according to preliminary estimates. Last year's 378,800 net sq. ft. show drew 1,603 exhibitors and 13,777 attendees.

Darel Cook, PPAI director of expositions and meetings, expected the dip in attendance because of this year's shift to an earlier timeframe. The association did an exhaustive communication campaign to keep participants informed but, as with all date changes, Cook said, some were bound to fall through the cracks or have conflicts.

PPAI decided to change its dates in May of last year — just eight months before the show — when it became clear Intl. CES' overlap with The PPAI Expo would cause difficulties with rooms and events.

Intl. CES, the largest annual tradeshow in the United States, moved to a slightly later timeframe this year, Jan. 8–11, due to the New Year's Day holiday. Although CES doesn't use Mandalay Bay, it's known for taking over most of Las Vegas during the first week of January. Prior to the shift, PPAI had been scheduled Jan. 10–12.

Cook said he was aware of CES' dates before the May announcement, but that was when it became clear that the overlap would interfere with some of PPAI's plans.

"We have very vocal members. They shared their thoughts — some good, some bad — but we had very few challenges. ... People in this industry are good about stating their case and moving on," Cook noted.

The new Saturday date for the typically Tuesday–Thursday show posed a problem, he said, particularly for Jewish participants who preferred not to work on the Sabbath. Starting next year, the show will return to its usual pattern.

On the plus side, Mandalay was easy to work with, according to Cook. Having the show come right after the holidays allowed PPAI to spread move-in and move-out over 14 days, making it possible for exhibitors to do all-straight-time setup and dismantle. In addition, the new dates meant lower hotel rates for those staying in the room block.

Allison Avin, manager of marketing communications for flagship exhibitor Norwood, said people weren't crazy about the Saturday date, but the show is so important to the industry and the change was so well promoted by the association that few would complain.

Attendees agreed. Fifteen-year PPAI veteran Vickie Jackson, president of Promotivators, said, "Those of us who are buyers here, we don't care. We got the information early enough to make our plans, and it worked out well for me because this is my slowest time of the year."

The change did have a domino effect in the promotional products industry, causing PPAI competitor, The ASI Show Orlando, to switch its own dates from Jan. 3–5 to Jan. 18–20 in order to avoid forcing participants to choose between the two shows.

Despite PPAI's assurance that the change was strictly logistical, ASI organizers questioned whether the nonprofit association was making a strategic move against its for-profit competitor.

The date disagreement wasn't the first between PPAI and ASI. In October 2004 the former kicked the latter out of its organization over a dispute about industry standards and trademarks that led to claims of defamation.

Here too, attendees at The PPAI Expo seemed blasé. "Both shows serve the industry well — they're just different," said Jim Grosslight, creative director of Complete Promotional Resource. "We as an industry understand competition."

If there was one thing people weren't afraid to complain about at The PPAI Expo, it seemed to be the number of shows in the industry overall.

"We'll do 10 shows this year," said Select-a-Gift's Tegt. "From a supplier standpoint, there's too many slices in the pie."

The PPAI Expo is holding space at Mandalay Bay through 2015. It's next scheduled Jan. 14–18, 2008.