Is a New Paradigm Necessary?

A story in last week's issue of Tradeshow Week ("Do You Know the Way, San Jose?") pointed out the problems with what has been labeled a new kind of public-private model of drawing business to the Silicon Valley city that saw its robust tradeshow and convention activity drop off to almost nothing after the dot-com bubble burst.

You can go back and read the story to see what exactly was meant by a new model, how it may have been different and how or why it may not have worked.

It is a different model, but aren't they all? I have sat through my share of mind-numbing explanations by CVB and convention center CEOs of how their way of doing business is so different — and so much better — than any other city's. There are a few patterns that crop up in most cities, but the only real differences typically have to do with who is responsible for luring which kind of business. While each city has its own rationalization for the way it does things, dig a little deeper into the local politics and you'll see that the group (the CVB, the convention center, the something-or-other authority) with the sharpest elbows typically gets the most lucrative market.

Perhaps the one element that makes the San Jose situation remarkable is that the winners appear to have gotten almost every thing they wanted in exchange for promising more than most in their position would have had the guts to try — and then not delivering.

But as Team San Jose Chairman and CEO Dan Fenton told TSW, "You know how projections are; you do the best you can."

Granted, this isn't the first "new" business idea anybody ever came up with that didn't take some time to work out.

Other cities that also experienced tough times decided to skip embarking on a new business model altogether and just stick with the nuts and bolts of what anyone selling a city has to do — get their elbows dirty and book as many events as possible.