RSNA Spreads Out at McCormick Place

Michael Hart -- Tradeshow Week, 11/11/2008 1:57:00 PM

The biggest, annual health care tradeshow in the United States is not about to get any smaller. However, it is undergoing some major changes this year to make attendees feel like it is.

“We’re always looking for ways to make our large party seem smaller,” said Tom Shimala, director of technical exhibit services for the Radiological Society of North America Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting.

With a 535,300 net square foot showfloor last year (at No. 33 on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200, the largest health care show on the list) and 61,980 attendees (making it No. 1 on the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Assn.’s list of the biggest), the show scheduled Nov. 30-Dec. 5 at McCormick Place in Chicago always has been a rough one to maneuver in and around.

“It’s been way too tight,” Shimala said.

But perhaps not anymore. The commercial exhibit portion of the meeting, previously jammed into Hall A of the South Building and Hall B of the North Building, will spread out to include Hall D in the Lakeside Center.

Conventional wisdom would indicate that would make for a larger total showfloor, but that won’t be the case.

“We’re creating a smaller footprint,” Shimala said, meaning it will be far easier for an attendee to navigate all the exhibit halls with ease. “The travel distance in any given room is going to be shorter.”

The educational exhibits and scientific poster area that previously were in Lakeside’s Hall D will be moved downstairs to Hall E to make room for the additional exhibit space.

Further altering that footprint in all four areas of McCormick Place will be roomy branches of something called Bistro RSNA, a culinary experiment being tried for the first time by the radiological society.

“We’ve been critical of the food service at McCormick Place for years,” Shimala said. “We’ve always pushed them for better quality, a better variety and a price we can live with.”

So, the convention center’s new catering vendor will provide new, enhanced restaurants spread throughout all the showfloors, offering a wide variety of choices in a buffet-style setting.

Exhibiting companies or attendees already can go to a dedicated Web site to reserve tables seating up to 10 for their own use for as short a time as a single meal or for as long as the entire run of the show.

“We’re going to be the first to try this at McCormick Place,” Shimala said. “We’ll probably learn a lot.”

The only part of the convention center complex that won’t be used is the year-and-a-half-old McCormick Place West.

“It’s just so far away,” Shimala said.