The ‘It’ Month for Conventions
Lisa Plummer -- Tradeshow Week, 1/18/2008 1:18:00 PM
While many markets endure a post-holiday slump, January is anything but quiet in the convention industry’s busiest city. Though January may not have the most tradeshows by number, it is the month of the biggest and brightest, with major Las Vegas venues hosting some of the best-known and longest-running shows in the industry’s history.
According to the Tradeshow Week Data Book, 22 shows are scheduled in January in Las Vegas – eight of them TSW 200 shows. Organizers from three of these, Intl. CES, World of Concrete, and SIA SnowSports Trade Show, claim that January is the best and only month for their mega-events. So how did the coldest month get to be the “it” time for conventions?
Chris Meyer, vice president of sales for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Assn., believes it comes down to a simple equation of destination, plus favorable weather, plus plain old business sense.
“January and the rest of the first quarter have become some of the most popular times … probably (because of) the start of a new budget cycle for many companies, and the mild weather compared to destinations in the Northeast and Midwest,” he said.
LVCVA spokesman Jeremy Handel added that, historically, January has been busy since CES and World of Concrete took up residency at the Las Vegas Convention Center in 1978 and ’76, respectively.
Ranked No. 1 in the 2007 TSW 200, CES demonstrates how the marriage of Vegas and January can be a fruitful one. The Consumer Electronics Assn., owner of the show, moved the winter edition of what had been a semiannual event in Chicago to Vegas after tiring of difficult Midwest weather.
Karen Chupka, CEA’s senior vice of events and conferences, said Vegas was just the right fit for the show and the industry.
“Las Vegas was eager to have CES’ business at the beginning of January, because (it) was typically a quiet week for tourism,” she said. “(Also) CES’ January dates historically fit the distribution cycle of consumer electronics.”
Hanley Wood’s World of Concrete also began coming to Vegas on a rotation, then made Vegas its permanent home in 2005. Ranked No. 18 on the TSW 200, the show provides another example of a show that seems to have found its ideal setting in Sin City.
Show director Tom Cindric said January was the perfect time for a show in the concrete business, because of slowing of construction during winter months. Even more important, it’s about being first.
“We prefer to be earlier in the year, and we really like being the first major construction show,” he said. “The January dates were available at the LVCC, so it worked out perfect for us. The combination of being in Las Vegas in January has certainly helped its success.”
First quarter dates are also significant to the snow sports trade, whose SIA show takes place at the end of the month at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. The show, No. 60 on the TSW 200, started at the LVCC in 1972, but switched venues in ’02.
SIA President David Ingemie said the association moved its show dates from March to January in 2001, after research revealed an earlier month to be more favorable for both buyers and exhibitors.
“The decision was based on fact and research,” he said. “We took an unbiased look at the buy-sell cycle and tried to pick a schedule that was ideal. In order to give small companies a chance to survive and grow, and in order to give retailers up-and-coming products, it was obvious we had to move the show earlier.”
Departing Vegas for Denver in ’10, SIA may keep its January dates for a while, Ingemie said, or it may consider moving to the first week February.
“There’s never a perfect date, but we’ll be doing extensive research that will either confirm what we’re doing or (show us that) we need to make changes,” he added.
