Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Re: “Things to Ask in Las Vegas” (Dec. 10, 2007)

I wanted to commend you on your editorial in the Expo! Expo! (Intl. Assn. for Exhibitions and Events’ Annual Meeting & Exhibition) issue. I was so impressed that you took such a bold stand by asking show organizers to make the city more accountable on environmental and quality of life issues. The topics you addressed - water conservation, transportation and venue ownership - should remind people that business doesn’t have to only be about the bottom line; it can and should also be about doing the right thing.

Great work!

Kevin Miller

President

Frost Miller Group

Bethesda, Md.

Dear Editor:

Re: “Exclusive on Labor Ruffles Feathers” (Dec. 10, 2007)

The Dec. 10 issue of Tradeshow Week includes a quote from Scott Bennett of Nth Degree regarding the Offshore Technology Conference .

The antitrust case in question was Industrial Merchandising & Display Inc. et al. v. Offshore Technology Conference et al. (Case No. 3-83-1437 F in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas) that was tried in federal District Court in Dallas, Texas, in 1981. The primary issue was whether show management had the right to make and promulgate show rules governing access to the facility during their tenancy.

Contrary to Mr. Bennett’s quote, the plaintiffs (including the predecessor of Nth Degree) lost the case in question, and the defendants OTC and Freeman Decorating Company prevailed. The federal court ruled that the exhibition had the right to develop and enforce their own show rules notwithstanding whether certain parties agreed with them or not.

I do not doubt that the plaintiffs spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars.” You would think having spent that much time and money, they would remember the outcome.

Douglas L. Ducate

President and CEO

Center for Exhibition Industry Research

Dallas

(Editor’s note: Ducate was general manager of the Offshore Technology Conference from 1969 to 1995.)

Letters to the editor of Tradeshow Week are always welcome. Please send them to Editor-in-Chief Michael Hart (by mail) Tradeshow Week, 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 120, Los Angeles, Calif. 90036-5804; (by e-mail) hartm@reedbusiness.com; or (by fax) (323) 965-5306.