Suppliers Abound at PCMA

In between sessions at the recent Professional Convention Management Assn.'s Annual Meeting, held Jan. 13-16 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, the hallways were filled, of course, with attendees moving back and forth between educational sessions, but also a virtual sea of suppliers.

In the last few months, I've also been to the American Society of Assn. Executives & the Center's Annual Meeting in Chicago and Expo! Expo!, Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions & Events' Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Las Vegas. At all three of these meetings, there was a mix of suppliers and attendees; after all, that's what makes the tradeshow industry wheel spin round and round.

Two things set PCMA apart from the others, however: First, there was no showfloor at PCMA; and second, even without a showfloor, the number of convention manager attendees was actually lower than the number of suppliers. PCMA President and CEO Deborah Sexton confirmed this at a press conference during the meeting, where she was asked about the attendee-supplier ratio. I was stunned to hear it was 40 percent convention managers to 60 percent suppliers.

I know what you might be thinking: That's probably the case at most industry meetings. But without a showfloor, it just seemed odd to have all those suppliers milling about in the hallways with no booths to stand in.

All of it prompted me to ask my lunch companion one day, who was the convention manager of a sizable show, whether she felt she was being overrun by suppliers at the meeting. Her answer was not only no but, in fact, she liked the attention.

Rachel Wimberly is associate editor at Tradeshow Week. She can be reached at rachel.wimberly@reedbusiness.com.