Small Venues: Little Player, Big Field

By Stephanie Corbin -- Tradeshow Week, 5/14/2007

In a city with more than its share of giant venues, it may seem like the smaller ones wouldn't stand a chance, but they too have carved out niches of their own.

To the South Point Hotel Casino Spa, for example, the size and scope of the mega-venues couldn't matter less. It's all about booking the mid-sized and smaller tradeshows that consider the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sands Expo & Convention Center and Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino too big for them.

"We're the little guys," said Maureen Robinson, director of sales for South Point, "and you'd be surprised how many 75- to 100-booth shows can't find space in Vegas. So we're filling that niche."

The center's 80,000 square foot exhibit hall — and an additional 70,000 sq. ft. conference center with a grand ballroom that can be divided into breakout rooms — hosts several shows each year, including the American Specialty Toy Retailing Assn.'s ASTRA Academy & Marketplace and the Glass Craft & Bead Expo.

"We use every inch of square footage possible in the facility," said LeeAnn Short, director of operations for Las Vegas Management, which owns and produces the craft show.

Glass Craft & Bead Expo had a 26,000 net sq. ft. showfloor with 181 exhibiting companies March 28–April 1, its second staging at South Point. But it used the rest of the space for its more than 245 classes. About 8,800 people, which included exhibitors and people attending the classes, visited the tradeshow.

Before 2006, the event was at Cashman Center, which offers about 98,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space.

"We outgrew Cashman," Short said. "We could not grow the show at all. The next step was to go to the South Point facility."

The advantages of a venue like South Point don't begin and end with the ability to sell exhibit space. Many attendees prefer it too.

"It has a hotel attached to the exhibit facility," Short said. Cashman is downtown, so when the show was staged there it needed to provide extra transportation to and from the limited number of hotels in the area.

And the LVCC wasn't the right size: "It's so huge a show of our size would be lost," she added. It also helps that South Point has a bowling alley, movie theaters and an equestrian arena.

"There were several things that people accompanying our attendees could do (for entertainment) without even leaving the facility," Short said.

Robinson said South Point's size is a major selling point.

"We don't compete (with the bigger venues)," she added.

At the same time, area hotels prefer to have banquet functions in their large ballrooms because of the greater revenue stream. That leaves the smaller tradeshows and conventions looking for a place — any place — to stage their shows.

"That brings them to South Point," Robinson said.

A new event, Let's Play Hockey Intl. Expo, was at South Point for the first time this year after several at Paris Las Vegas, said Doug Johnson, show manager and president of J & P Hockey Ventures.

"Our first show was this past January, and everyone loved the new venue," he added.

Cost was the main reason for the move.

"(South Point) offered our people more affordable room rates, food and beverages, and quaintness," he said. The 2007 event used most of the exhibit hall, but still has room to grow. The 10th annual event will be back at South Point Jan. 29–30.

"We have three different markets we can go after," Robinson said of South Point's ability to attract events.

First, because of the equestrian center, it is one of the few venues in Las Vegas that can host horse shows. Next, there are all the small shows looking for space and, finally, there is the corporate business lured by all the available meeting space and low room rates.

The location on the south end of the Strip helps as well, particularly when Robinson is up against Cashman for a piece of business.

"I'm getting approached by a lot of the consumer shows they have," she said.

Although there is a well-established clientele for the smaller venues, it doesn't stop their owners from dreaming. And, in a city like Las Vegas, facilities are always looking toward what comes next.

For the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, the future is 8,124 more hotel rooms (giving it 10,000) and an additional 553,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space for a total of 600,000 sq. ft., expected to be completed in 2010.

"With a completely redeveloped property with 10,000 rooms and this size of meeting space, we believe that we will be able to compete effectively for convention and meeting business in the Las Vegas market," said Rich FitzPatrick, senior vice president and CFO.

Several other construction or expansion projects are underway in Las Vegas:

• The Grand Hyatt Las Vegas is building 75,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, to be finished in early 2009.
• The Las Vegas Expo Center at Echelon Place, a new facility, will have 650,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space completed in 2010.
• Project CityCenter, with the square footage not determined, will be completed in 2009.
• A renovation of the LVCC will add meeting space to the almost 2 million sq. ft. of exhibit space already available.