ID Program Doesn't Answer Challenges

Dear Editor:

Re: “ESCA Introduces New National Badge Plan” (Oct. 20, 2008)

I read with interest your recent article on the Exhibition Services & Contractors Assn.'s National ID Card program for convention workers. Access and showfloor security are important issues for our company, which provides labor management services, and I applaud the idea of a national program.

While I commend ESCA for their efforts to “identify” show workers, I was somewhat disappointed to learn that the ID system proposed is “not intended to be a security badge,” therefore, doesn't seem to answer the challenge presented to show organizers and buildings across the country.

The system, as it's described, conjures up a few important questions. For example, if the badge gains an employee entrance to the building, how does ESCA intend to monitor whether the worker has been called to work on that particular day and for that event? Who is going to cross-reference against a list of employees who have a right to be in the building on that day? A worker who has access to the venue without a formal offer to work would become a tremendous security and insurance liability to the organizer and the building.

The process of granting access to a worker at a convention site should be a two-part process. Initially, the employee should be identifiable to the facility and security with a photo ID, and, in fact, many convention centers already have programs of this type. Next, the worker must have a verifiable reason for being at the site, which would be substantiated by a labor call from a pre-approved contractor in the building.

The Exhibitor Appointed Contractor Assn. has had a system in place for the last eight years that answers both of these issues. The EACA system enables exhibitors to identify their chosen suppliers on an online system that provides data to all relevant parties in real time. It works with show organizers to review, vet and credential contractors on a show-to-show basis. Further, it requires that a contractor working on the show in question provide the service contracts, permits, licenses, labor contracts and certificates of liability insurance necessary to provide the contracted services. Once all documentation has been gathered and the contractor is approved, EACA, on behalf of the organizer and in collaboration with the building management, provides the contractor with the access credentials required to gain entry to the venue.

These credentials complement the existing photo ID issued by the building, and in some cases, the local union. They stipulate that the worker is known to facility management and they have a verifiable purpose for being in the building to work on the event in question.

While the effort made by ESCA is commendable, the real solution to create a one-photo ID system for our industry lies in an effort to organize facilities that are issuing these photo IDs to recognize other facility badges in order to make it easier for the industry workers to travel from city to city.

I look forward to more dialogue on this topic, as it's vital that the tradeshow community continues to move in a direction of true partnerships in an effort to offer the stakeholders of our industry the highest level of efficiency possible.

Steven Johnson

President

Renaissance Management Inc.

Letters to the editor of Tradeshow Week are always welcome. Send them to Editor-in-Chief Michael Hart at hartm@reedbusiness.com.