Giving Thanks for Cabbies, and a Good November

Diane Taylor -- Tradeshow Week, 1/18/2008 1:22:00 PM

November is a month to give thanks, and the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Executive Summary for November 2007 had gratitude written all over it.  

According to the summary, 602,605 conventioneers visited Las Vegas that month, an increase of 3 percent, compared with November 2006. 

The number of conventions grew by 10.8 percent, compared with a year earlier, and the month’s economic impact grew 7.7 percent. 

With the number of conventions topping 2,050 for the month, most were small. Only Reed Exhibitions’ Global Gaming Expo (G2E) and the Natl. Assn. of Realtors’ Realtors Conference & Expo reached tens of thousands in attendance. Other groups ranged in size from 10 to 8,000 attendees.

Good news for all the groups was a reversal of one long-standing trend: The average hotel rate for November 2007 was down 1.8 percent from a year earlier, to an average level of $118.45 per night.

Year-to-date, convention attendance in Las Vegas was down 1.1 percent in November, but the economic impact was up 3.7 percent. Among the newcomers to Las Vegas in November was the Word of Mouth Marketing Assn. Summit held Nov. 14-15 at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino.   

Members of WOMMA, founded in 2003, exchange ideas on how – in the modern world of blogs, chat rooms, texting and online customer ratings – marketers can harness the voice of the customer to create brand enthusiasm. 



WOMMA founders were not only interested in exchanging best practices ideas regarding word-of-mouth, but they were also concerned about shady practices and consumer deception practiced under the mantle of customers’ free expression. So, they formed WOMMA with ethics as an important part of their mission.

The meeting in Las Vegas featured an awards presentation, 50 industry speakers and a special session on Las Vegas, in which Teresa Buescher, WOMMA vice president of events, aimed to demonstrate that word-of-mouth marketing is even important in a city as robustly marketed as Las Vegas. 

Buescher, an event planner for 17 years, gathered a panel of Las Vegas marketing pros, but added a word-of-mouth expert, a Las Vegas cab driver, who drove onto the meeting floor and, with the meter running, gave an example of how his time with visitors can influence their consumer choices.

Buescher said Las Vegas was “a good location for our event, because our savvy members are well-traveled and love nice hotels, cutting edge restaurants and a variety of show options.” The 400-member group was growing, and its events had a lot to do with that, she added.

WOMMA will return to Las Vegas next November, according to Buescher.