Top Association Show Managers: Masters of Multitasking
-- Tradeshow Week, 2/2/2009
As the economy slips into the second year of a global recession, managing a tradeshow is a challenge no matter what. What with retaining exhibitors, renegotiating venue and hotel contracts under suddenly “new” circumstances and coaxing buyers first onto the plane and then to the showfloor, it's rough for everybody.
Then there's the association show manager, who must drive revenue – and something to the bottom line – just like his and her colleagues in the for-profit show world. However, in the association show sphere, there also are members and boards of directors to deal with.
Although every association certainly is different, and every relationship between a tradeshow and the trade group it serves is unique, there are challenges that those in the for-profit world know nothing about.
And yet there are association show managers – at every level – who thrive in that atmosphere; who even in these difficult times are running profitable shows … and pleasing their constituents.
In a special feature this week, Tradeshow Week editors identify 15 top association show managers. These particular show managers have been singled out because they are doing all these things at the same time they are organizing – and growing – some of the industry's largest events.
Kathleen Blouin
NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention
Senior VP of conventions, seminars and forums
Natl. Business Aviation Assn.
Kathleen Blouin knows how to fly high, while keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground.
Responsible for all aspects of planning, implementation and promotion of the Natl. Business Aviation Assn.'s No. 10-ranked 2008 TSW 200 NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention, NBAA Business Aviation Regional Forums and NBAA Seminars, as well as managing the association's shows in Europe, Latin America and Asia, Blouin has taken the wheel to help guide these events in a successful direction.
“Kathleen Blouin is a consummate professional whose expertise and attention to detail have always ensured that NBAA shows are widely recognized as the industry's premier events,” said Ed Bolen, NBAA president and CEO. “Without question, NBAA's conventions, forums, conferences and seminars bear Kathleen's mark of excellence, and our industry benefits greatly from the information and opportunities these events provide.”
During her 17-year tenure at NBAA, Blouin has helped its annual meeting skyrocket, from 17,312 attendees and 636 exhibiting companies occupying 226,000 net square feet in 1992 to 32,053 attendees and 1,152 exhibitors on a 1 million net sq. ft.-plus showfloor at Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center in 2007.
Before assuming her current role in 2004, Blouin worked her way up the ranks at NBAA, from senior manager of convention services to vice president of her division.
As if she doesn't have enough on her plate, Blouin also oversees the management of approximately 25 NBAA seminars each year that cover all facets of business aviation. The events range from the NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference to the NBAA Flight Operations Manual Workshop. Her division also manages the NBAA Business Aviation Regional Forums.
Twelve years ago, Blouin was introduced to the industry when she went to work for McGraw Hill's Business & Commercial Aviation magazine and managed its Show Daily (now Show News, an event publication produced onsite at several aviation-related conferences and events, including NBAA).
Chris Brown
The NAB Show
Executive VP, conventions and business operations
Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters
Nice guys really do finish first – at least that's the case for Chris Brown, who joined the Natl. Assn. of Broadcasters in January 1999 and currently has responsibility for four departments: business development, operations and event marketing, meetings and conferences and the international and associate group.
Collectively, these departments handle most of NAB's non-dues revenue generating activities, including tradeshows (The NAB Show and NAB Radio Show), general advertising and sponsorship, member services (financial services/insurance, publications and merchandise), associate membership and international membership and events.
Prior to NAB, Brown spent three and a half years as vice president of conventions for the Personal Communications Industry Assn., which represents wireless communications service providers.
While at PCIA, he helped build the association's annual convention, the now-defunct Personal Communications Showcase, into the largest show serving the wireless industry and one of the fastest-growing events in the country.
The bulk of his career has been spent managing large tradeshows for associations, including the Food Marketing Institute from 1985 to 1994 where, as director of exhibits, he managed sales and exhibitor services for one of the largest shows in the United States.
According to Dennis Wharton, NAB executive vice president of media relations, Brown is respected and has affection from the NAB staff because of a self-effacing management style that stresses the importance of integrity and teamwork.
“Running a world-class convention of the size and scale of The NAB Show can be enormously challenging, but Chris is proof positive that nice guys can and do finish first in the business world,” Wharton said. “Chris is completely lacking in ego and would be very embarrassed to know I was saying such good things about him. And he's an excellent manager to boot.”
Brown currently is a member of the board of directors of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research and is a past chairman of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events.
Karen Chupka
Intl. CES
Senior VP of events and conferences
Consumer Electronics Assn.
Two out of three years – CONEXPO/CON-AGG's off years, that is – the Consumer Electronics Assn.'s Intl. CES sits squarely on top of the TSW 200 with Karen Chupka, CEA's senior vice president of events and conferences, in charge of it all.
Each January, the giant show regularly spans more than 1.7 million net square feet at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Las Vegas Sands MegaCenter, drawing upwards of 2,700 exhibitors, and, in the past, more than 140,000 attendees.
In the consumer electronics industry, it's the place to be to check out all the new gadgets hitting the marketplace, and Chupka is responsible for the sales, marketing, production and management of not only Intl. CES, but also all of CEA's events and conferences.
“Karen has helped grow Intl. CES and has been a major factor in our success,” said Gary Shapiro, CEA's president and CEO. “She has a wonderful strategic sense and can envision and enter diverse partnerships. She is always learning and striving to make us better.”
Chupka has been with CEA for 18 years, holding several roles within the organization, including vice president of business development, director of industry relations and education and director of marketing for Intl. CES.
As the industry has evolved, she's been tasked with ensuring the show stays relevant. At the 2008 show, Content@CES, which included exhibitors such as Sony and NBC Universal, was launched to provide a forum for next-generation, Hollywood-type content.
Also in 2008, Chupka led the charge to help out the environment by making the show a little greener.
Some of those efforts included CEA forming a partnership with Carbonfund.org to reduce the carbon footprint of the show, offsetting about 20,000 tons of carbon; encouraging attendees to offset their travel to the event through the show's Web site and onsite kiosks; introducing the TechZone, dedicated to environmentally and economically sustainable technologies; and making a “Greening CES” TV segment broadcast available in all attendee hotel rooms.
Peter Eelman
Intl. Manufacturing Technology Show
VP of exhibitions
AMT – The Assn. for Manufacturing Technology
The American manufacturing sector has been in decline for years, and the country is mired in a tough economy. So one would figure the biennial AMT – The Assn. for Manufacturing Technology's The Intl. Manufacturing Technology Show, which ran Sept. 8-13 at Chicago's McCormick Place, would have been hit hard, right?
Well, they'd be wrong. With someone as experienced as Peter Eelman, AMT vice president of exhibitions, at the helm, with 20-plus years under his belt in worldwide exhibitions in the manufacturing industry, the show not only did well, it posted record numbers.
Attendance increased from 91,985 in 2006 to 92,450 last year, the number of exhibiting companies bumped up slightly from 1,780 to 1,803 and the size of the showfloor increased by almost 70,000 net square feet to 1,233,878 net sq. ft.
“IMTS is successful because of several factors, and one is Peter's leadership abilities and his constant drive to always improve IMTS,” said Robert K. Simpson, president of AMT. “Peter's high energy level and enthusiasm for the show and the industry overall carries over to the entire IMTS team.”
Another reason for the show's success, he added, was that Eelman has built a team with “highly talented people who are dedicated to working with him to make a difference in the industry.”
Eelman, who joined AMT in 1996, is responsible for all its events, including tradeshows, open houses and special events in China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico and throughout Europe.
Besides running one of the top TSW 200 shows, Eelman takes time out of his busy schedule to give back to the industry with involvement in the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events, Center for Exhibition Industry Research, Trade Show Exhibitors Assn. and Assn.net.
In addition, he's a member of the Chicago Advisory Council and the Chicago Labor – Management Council, organizations that have worked to build bridges between management and labor at McCormick Place.
In the future, Eelman said one of his goals is to make the show he oversees as green as possible. “Manufacturing has always taken a hit as not being environmentally friendly,” he added.
Sally Goldesberry
Offshore Technology Conference
Senior manager of meetings and exhibits
Society of Petroleum Engineers
As if managing what already was the largest tradeshow and conference for the offshore oil and gas industry isn't challenging enough for 20-year industry veteran Sally Goldesberry, she's also had to accommodate the tremendous growth of the industry during the past several years.
So far, she's met that challenge.
During the past five years, the Offshore Technology Conference has grown by leaps and bounds, from 50,921 attendees and 2,120 exhibiting companies occupying 397,750 net square feet of space in 2004, to 75,092 attendees and approximately 2,500 exhibitors on a 556,740 net sq. ft. showfloor in 2008, a 26-year high in attendance and an 11-percent increase, compared with 2007.
“With her ability to juggle thousands of details and manage a large team of very capable vendors and staff, Sally makes it all run smoothly,” said Stephen Graham, associate executive manager of the Offshore Technology Conference.
Since its founding in 1969, OTC has converged upon Houston each May. As the city's largest annual show, which was No. 34 on the 2008 TSW 200, it attracts energy professionals from more than 110 countries and exhibitors from more than 35 countries.
Besides managing the event for the Society of Petroleum Engineers on behalf of 12 sponsoring oil and gas societies, Goldesberry also must handle the logistics of the four-day conference and tradeshow spanning three Reliant Park venues – Reliant Center, Reliant Stadium and a pavilion built onsite each year, as well as an outdoor exhibition area for large equipment.
In addition, Goldesberry runs SPE's flagship meeting, the SPE Annual Technical Conference & Exhibition, a rotating event that also attracts a large international attendance. 1396927554
Mary Pat Heftman
Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show
Executive VP, convention
Natl. Restaurant Assn.
Mary Pat Heftman joined the Natl. Restaurant Assn. in 1990 and has worked with the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show in varying capacities ever since.
Almost four years ago, she spoke quite publicly of moving the show from its Chicago location if changes weren't made to the city's labor situation. In fact, she was the most visible tradeshow industry figure lobbying for changes.
The result? The unions that work on tradeshows have adopted new work rules that make sense to exhibitors and show management.
Plus, the show regularly draws high-profile speakers, including presidential candidates and other political figures.
“Under Mary Pat Heftman's leadership, each year the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is the food service industry's largest and most comprehensive event, drawing professionals from all 50 states and 100-plus countries,” said Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of NRA. “Her professional excellence and boundless energy have taken the show to new heights and maintained and enhanced its must-attend status for our industry. I look forward to Mary Pat's continued innovation and success at the food service industry's premier event.”
Heftman started at the NRA as exhibit sales manager for the show and has held several other positions, including manager, director and senior director of exhibit sales and marketing; and vice president and senior vice president of convention.
She previously has been chairwoman of the Major American Trade Show Organizers and continues to serve on the board. Heftman also has served on various committees of her chapter of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events and is a member of the Council of Hotel & Restaurant Trainers Advisory Council.
In addition to having full responsibility for planning, production and promotion of the NRA Show, Heftman does the same for the annual Intl. Wine, Spirits & Beer Event, held in conjunction with the NRA Show.1396927554
Marguerite Hoffman
AWFS Vegas
VP of tradeshows
Assn. of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers
Talk to Marguerite Hoffman about her career and the one word that keeps coming up is “teams.” When she was fresh out of San Diego State University with a speech and communications degree, Hoffman took a marketing position with what was then the San Diego Clippers, a job that introduced her to the work she grew to love, event planning.
After returning to school to earn a master's degree in sports management administration, Hoffman held a variety of event- and tradeshow-related posts with Outdoor Products, Advanstar Communications and the World Shoe Assn.
Ask her colleagues about the personal qualities Hoffman brought to the Assn. of Woodworking & Furnishings Suppliers two-and-a-half years ago and, along with “headstrong … in a good way,” and “sometimes silly, but always even-keeled,” the words “team player” are highlighted.
“You can't do a job without a great team, and we have the best,” Hoffman said. “Our last AWFS Vegas was a TSW Fastest 50 winner, and, this year, even though some in our industry say the sky is falling, our team expects a good show, perhaps down from two years ago, but better than our competitors and better than the economic forecasts might otherwise indicate.”
Hoffman said one of the highlights of July's upcoming AWFS Vegas is a special educational track on how companies can make their products and processes green.
“We also have a lot of wood waste at our show, so this year, as part of a destroy-responsibly effort, instead of 73 dumpsters of wood waste, we are shredding the wood and reducing our waste to just 20 containers,” she added.
Given the current economy, some of the show's ancillary activities are being toned down, Hoffman said, “but our marketing budget and our marketing message are staying strong.”
As preparations for the this year's AWFS Vegas grab more and more of Hoffman's personal attention, she credits Team Hoffman – husband Steve, a nanny (for 1-year-old Andrew) and other family members – for giving her the opportunity to balance work, family and an occasional competitive game of volleyball.
A good day at the office for Hoffman? “When our sales team reports lots of booth sales,” she said.
Kevin Johnstone
The NAMM Show
Director of tradeshows
NAMM, the Intl. Music Products Assn.
The NAMM Show, held each January in Anaheim, features more than 85,000 attendees on a 585,000 net square foot-plus showfloor filled with music product exhibits. It's ranked No. 30 on the 2008 TSW 200 and has grown more than 30 percent under the leadership of Kevin Johnstone, director of tradeshows for NAMM, the Intl. Music Products Assn., who also manages Summer NAMM.
Johnstone spent his life preparing to be a show manager. At 13, he organized bus charters that delivered children from the Chicago suburbs to events in the city. He said that's when he decided that show management was what he wanted to do when he grew up.
Still it took a while to get there. His career path included being a firefighter, a paramedic and a Navy medical corpsman. He was a corpsman in Vietnam assigned to the Marine Corps and then served a stint with the U.S. Secret Service.
Johnstone went to work for the Los Angeles Open Golf Tournament in 1977 and orchestrated every aspect of the nationally recognized public event, eventually becoming its general chairman. By 1983, he was a tradeshow service contractor at United Expositions, the largest contractor in the United States at that time. Initially an account executive in Southern California, he became vice president of sales.
In 1991, Johnstone made the jump to show management for Advanstar Expositions, first in sales and then as a show manager. Three years later, he left to take on his current role for the Natl. Assn. of Music Merchants, now NAMM, the Intl. Music Products Assn. Chief among his responsibilities is managing The NAMM Show.
“While there are many top-notch show managers among Tradeshow Week's readership, what makes Kevin special is his ability to make each one of our NAMM members feel like we put this huge production together just for them,” said Joe Lamond, NAMM president and CEO.
Johnstone said he has so much fun in his life and career that “if I wasn't me, I'd want to be me.”
Peter MacGillivray
SEMA Show
VP, events and communications
Specialty Equipment Market Assn.
Peter MacGillivray, vice president of events and communications for the Specialty Equipment Market Assn., might not live near the association headquarters in Southern California anymore – he relocated to his native Massachusetts a couple of years ago – but it hasn't impacted him one bit.
MacGillivray went to work for the association in 2001 and now heads up SEMA Show. Since he's taken control, the show's gone from No. 21 on the 2002 TSW 200 with 635,000 net square feet, 1,262 exhibitors and 45,677 attendees to No. 7 on 2008's listing, with 1,063,970 net sq. ft., 2,203 exhibitors and 80,200 attendees.
And with the recent economic turmoil, he tried to relieve costs for participants at the most recent show, Nov. 4-7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Exhibitors used to receive 500 pounds of free drayage. Last year, that amount was upped to 1,000 pounds.
“Peter is one of the most driven people I know. His work ethic is infectious; his problem-solving ability, amazing; and his ability to package programs is second to none,” said Tom Myroniak, SEMA vice president of marketing and member services. “Though the SEMA Show is an already well-established industry show, he works tirelessly to ensure that it remains successful and relevant for the industry, often making personal sacrifices to get the job done.”
And the show isn't his only responsibility.
McGillivray also oversees the association's public relations and publications, which include a monthly print magazine, SEMA News, and a weekly electronic newsletter, SEMA eNews.
He doesn't just work in the industry, either; he's an enthusiast. MacGillivray's competed in off-road racing. For two years, he was a member of the U.S. team in the Camel Trophy competition, which took participants over challenging terrain in foreign countries using Land Rover vehicles. MacGillivray also participated in the Baja 1000, an off-road race in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.
Phyllis Peterson
ReCon, The Global Real Estate Convention
Director, leasing and deal-making
Intl. Council of Shopping Centers
Phyllis Peterson may not have started her career with the Intl. Council of Shopping Centers in the show management department, but now that she's there, she's happy to constantly be in the process of remaking the show, now called ReCon, The Global Real Estate Convention.
Case in point? 2008 was the first year with the ReCon name. Previously, the show was the ICSC Spring Convention Leasing Mall & Trade Expo.
“Phyllis Peterson has given 30 years of incredible service to ICSC,” said Michael Kercheval, president and CEO of ICSC. “She truly is an essential part of our organization, as she takes the lead role organizing the tradeshow at ReCon, the largest retail real estate tradeshow in the world.”
Peterson first went to work in the public relations department; then, after a stint with the council's magazine ad sales, she moved to the Leasing Mall, where most of the deals between U.S. mall owners, developers and potential tenants have been made.
It was there, mentored by Marvin Morrison, senior staff vice president of programs and services, that Peterson found her calling.
She also has a unique title – director of leasing and deal-making, not the traditional tradeshow director or manager. It's because of the ReCon show's Leasing Mall and two other events she manages: the New York Idea Exchange and Deal Making, the only standalone deal-making event ICSC produces, in Chicago.
She's also an innovator, working to green the show long before it was a trend.
The show uses the same carpeting four years in a row – then recycles it. Recyclable products are in the exhibitors' kits, and recycled paper is used for printed materials. ReCon has specialized bins for badge holders, and dedicated bins for other separated waste.
In addition, the show has a section called “Green Zone,” which is totally recycled and recyclable with special flooring in it.
Jim Pittas
Pack Expo Intl., Pack Expo Las Vegas/Process Expo, Expo Pack Mexico
VP, tradeshows
Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute
Overseeing one of the top-ranked TSW 200 tradeshows every two years, Pack Expo Intl., would be enough for most people to take on, but not Jim Pittas, director of exhibitions for the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute.
He's also at the top of the heap of two other shows, Pack Expo Las Vegas/Process Expo and Expo Pack Mexico, the largest packaging event serving Latin America at 150,000 net square feet, 800 exhibitors and 30,000 attendees.
“Jim Pittas couples a can-do attitude with a get-it-done mentality,” said Charles D. Yuska, president and CEO of PMMI. “He's one of the best tradeshow managers in the business.”
Pack Expo Intl. launched in Cleveland more than 50 years ago, and, by 2006, it routinely attracted 75,000 attendees and 2,000-plus exhibiting companies to a 1.1 million net square foot showfloor.
Pack Expo Las Vegas, which Pittas said debuted in 1995 as an off-year alternative to the massive Chicago event, has grown so much it recently nabbed a spot, again, on the 2008 TSW Fastest 50 list.
Besides keeping tabs on all the tradeshows, Pittas is responsible for Pack Expo Services, which supplies general service contracting services to exhibitors – something most shows don't dare take on.
According to Pittas, he got his start in the business 17 years ago when he applied for a job selling advertising space and ended up instead selling tradeshow booth space.
Prior to joining PMMI, he worked for VNU Expositions (now Nielsen Business Media) as group show director, annually heading up several shows supporting markets in the retail, automotive and manufacturing sectors.
In 2000, Pittas joined PMMI as director of expositions, and, when he's not juggling the association's portfolio of packaging shows, he serves on the board of directors of the Major American Trade Show Organizers and is a member of the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events and the American Society of Assn. Executives & The Center for Assn. Leadership.
The best part of his job, according to Pittas, is “the folks I get to work with – co-workers, exhibitors, vendors and suppliers.”
Mia Rampersad
Intl. Home & Housewares Show
VP, tradeshow
Intl. Housewares Assn.
In 1991, Rampersad joined the Intl. Housewares Assn., which owns and operates the Intl. Home & Housewares Show – ranked No. 17 on the 2008 TSW 200 and known as the world's largest homegoods and housewares marketplace – as the show's operations manager.
In 1994, she was promoted to show director and oversaw exhibit sales and all tradeshow operations. By 2000, her title had changed to vice president.
Rampersad began her career in the tradeshow industry in 1987 with the corporate sales group at The Freeman Companies. Throughout her career, she has participated in various industry organization groups such as the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events, the Major American Trade Show Organizers and Assn.net.
The Intl. Home & Housewares Show, which began in 1939, has been held at McCormick Place in Chicago since it opened in 1961. The show was the first event to open the McCormick Place South Building in 1997.
The IHA show attracts 61,000 professional attendees. More than 2,000 exhibitors from 30-plus countries participate, spread out on a 780,000 net square feet showfloor.
“In our book, Mia sets the industry gold standard for tradeshow organization and management,” said Philip J. Brandl, IHA president. “She has earned the high respect of everyone within the IHA organization, as well as our business partners. She is one of those very rare high-achieving individuals who makes everyone around her a better performer.”
Tom Shimala
RSNA Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting
Director of technical exhibits
Radiological Society of North America
Managing – and growing – the largest health care tradeshow and convention in the U.S. is no easy feat, but Tom Shimala, director of technical exhibits for the Radiological Society of North America Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting, is doing just that.
Since he started at RSNA in January 1998, Shimala has catapulted the RSNA Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting from just a large health care show to the biggest health care show.
In 1998, the show had 628 exhibiting companies on more than 405,300 net square feet. Ten years later, the show had grown to include 724 companies on more than 513,650 net sq. ft.
Reflecting on the increase, Shimala credits new health care product technology and company mergers, but no doubt hard work also was involved. “Net square footage sold has exceeded a half-million since 2006,” he said. “No other health care meeting has accomplished or reached that level.”
So what is Shimala's formula for success? Well, to start, he has 30 years of industry experience, including his duties for RSNA (overseeing exhibit sales, logistics and marketing of the RSNA Technical Exhibition) and past work in advertising, marketing and exhibition management (for McMillian Publishing, the American Dental Assn. and the Chicago Dental Society).
Shimala also looks at the big picture and applies his experience to his work. Among his success-enhancing tactics are monitoring other meetings, researching innovations and investing time and money in measuring attendee behavior and interests at shows (for one thing, through the use of radio-frequency identification technology and camera positioning).
“Tom has developed a wealth of knowledge and wisdom in the industry and the RSNA is most grateful for all of his contributions,” said Steve Drew, RSNA's assistant executive director of scientific assembly and informatics. “Tom's kind demeanor and professional approach when dealing with colleagues and clients serves as a great example for all of us.”
RSNA Director of Convention Operations Janet M. Cooper, who has worked with Shimala through the past decade, shared a similar view of his success.
“Tom is very energetic and compassionate about his work and is well respected within the industry,” Cooper said.
Megan Tanel
CONEXPO-CON/AGG
VP of expositions
Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers
What's it like to manage the biggest tradeshow in the United States – ever? Ask Megan Tanel – she accomplished that feat last year with the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers' triennial CONEXPO-CON/AGG, held March 11-15 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The show spanned a whopping 2.28 million square feet and drew 2,182 exhibitors and 144,600 attendees.
In the years that it runs, the show routinely nabs the No. 1 spot on the TSW 200. Tanel also oversees the Intl. Construction & Utility Equipment Exposition, ranked No. 2 on the 2008 TSW 200.
“Megan has a great ability to listen and understand the needs of the exhibitors, who are our members, and then deliver an exhibition with maximum value and return on investment,” said Dennis Slater, AEM president. “It is this customer-service focus, instead of strictly the bottom line for the show, that has made our exhibitions successful for all involved.”
Beyond that, he added, Tanel never is satisfied with the current level of success. “She is continually exploring opportunities to bring other customer groups from our industry into the events to further improve value to the participants,” Slater said.
Some of that drive most likely had to do with the fact that Tanel started on one of the bottom rungs of the ladder in 1995 as an exhibits assistant and held a series of exhibition-related posts that included exhibits manager and director of exposition services.
In 2001, she helped launch the AEM-produced World of Asphalt Show & Conference, which has snagged, so far, three TSW Fastest 50 awards.
Tanel also is responsible for AEM's international exhibit pavilions that provide turnkey services to help smaller, new-to-market companies participate in international tradeshows in Europe, China and Brazil, including Bauma and Intermat.
One more thing: Tanel has taken strides to figure out how the massive CONEXPO can leave less of a footprint behind on the environment.
After the 2008 show, 31 tons of excess publications were recycled by Greener Vegas and another 212 tons by Republic Trash Removal Services, among other efforts.
Diane Vidoni
IAAPA Attractions Expo
Director of conference and tradeshow operations
Intl. Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions
For most, saying that going to work is like being at a carnival would be considered a complaint. For Diane Vidoni, it's actually the truth.
As director of conference and tradeshow operations for the Intl. Assn. of Amusement Parks and Attractions, she oversees IAAPA's Attractions Expo and IAAPA's Asian Attractions Expo.
The U.S.-based version of the show was ranked No. 35 on the 2008 TSW 200, with a 500,000 net square foot-plus showfloor at Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, as well as 1,147 exhibitors and 15,404 attendees at the 2007 show.
And, according to IAAPA, the Asian edition is the largest in its region serving the amusement and attractions industry.
“Diane is one of the most talented convention managers I've worked with in my 35 years in the business,” said Charles Bray, president and CEO of IAAPA. “She is extremely organized, is tenacious in her pursuit of excellence and has built effective partnerships with our suppliers.”
Because she is so detail-oriented, he added, Vidoni's able to handle all the aspects of the showfloor, including “triple-decker carousels, live animal acts and high-flying thrill acts.”
Bray said, “Diane is calm under pressure and makes it look easy. She's a real pro.”
Before Vidoni signed on with IAAPA in 2001, she was exhibits manager for The Motley Fool from 1999 to 2001.
In that role, she managed every aspect of exhibiting, including determining what events to attend, booth sizes, budgets and pre-event marketing, among other duties.
For four years before that, Vidoni worked for Natl. Trade Productions, where she managed the operational aspects of multiple events.
All of her experience and even-handedness came to bear before the most recent IAAPA Attractions Expo, scheduled Nov. 18-21 at the OCCC – a month after the stock market went into full meltdown.
“Many of our exhibitors and vendors are family owned, so the face-to-face (interaction) is still very important to this industry,” Vidoni said. “I think, collectively, that will continue even as the economy may go up and down.”
