Two Do Dallas-Las Vegas Switcheroo

With its central U.S. location, ample convention space, plenty of hotel rooms and flights to and from the city, as well as an aggressive sales staff, Dallas is among Las Vegas' top competitors. But in the big league of convention bookings, you win some, and you lose some.

Such was the case in August, when Dallas landed one Las Vegas refugee, CEDIA Spring Expo, while losing another, NSCA Expo, to Sin City.

Originally scheduled April 8–11 at Sands Expo & Convention Center/Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, CEDIA Spring Expo is the Custom Design & Electronics Installation Assn.'s spinoff of the established CEDIA Expo, an annual, rotating show taking place this week at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Ranked No. 70 on the most recent Tradeshow Week 200, the 2006 CEDIA Expo attracted 18,113 professional attendees to 568 exhibiting companies spanning 315,293 net square feet of space.

At the time CEDIA announced its new Spring Expo, association President Ken Smith told TSW, "Feedback from CEDIA members indicates that there is strong support for a second show that draws from a more regional electronic systems contractor base."

The association also indicated it was considering making Las Vegas the permanent home for its spring show.

Last week, however, CEDIA said it was moving the new event to April 29–May 2 at the Dallas Convention Center.

Spokeswoman Jamie Antcliff said, "Sands Expo was not able to accommodate our contract due to another organization there feeling that we were a competitor."

She declined to name the organization.

The most obvious competitor of CEDIA — a 3,500-member nonprofit trade association for professional designers and installers of home electronics systems — is EH Publishing. EH produces several events, including the semiannual, bicoastal Electronic House Expo, or EHX, next scheduled Nov. 7–9 at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention & Entertainment Center.

EHX is sponsored by the TechHome Division of the Consumer Electronics Assn., which produces Intl. CES. Since January — and into the foreseeable future, according to organizers — Intl. CES takes place at the Sands, in addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

What the Sands lost to Dallas, however, the Las Vegas Convention Center gained — in the form of NSCA Expo.

The Natl. Systems Contractors Assn. has struck a deal with InfoComm Intl. to consolidate the two groups' events beginning June 14–20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. NSCA Expo 2008 had been scheduled Feb. 21–23 at the Dallas Convention Center.

The NSCA is a 2,500-member nonprofit association of manufacturers, contractors, designers, engineers and other professionals in the low-voltage commercial electronics industry.

Chuck Wilson, CEO and executive director of NSCA, said that members increasingly need to know how to integrate what they do into larger audiovisual and telecommunications infrastructures.

That's where InfoComm comes in. The Fairfax, Va.-based trade association serves 4,300 member companies in the AV and information communications industry. Although it offers many services, its forte is tradeshow management, evidenced by the success of its annual tradeshow, InfoComm Intl. The 2006 show was No. 46 on the TSW 200 with 432,602 net sq. ft., 770 exhibitors and 18,074 professional attendees. The association has reported that the most recent show, June 19–21 of this year in Anaheim, drew 18 percent more attendees to visit 855 exhibitors filling 465,000 net sq. ft.

And it's about to get substantially bigger. In addition to absorbing NSCA Expo, InfoComm is also collocating with NXTcomm, the telecom industry's main show, starting in 2008 and possibly continuing in even-numbered years.

According to the deal struck with NSCA, InfoComm will take over ownership of NSCA Expo and bring it under its show's roof. NSCA will sponsor the pavilion for its members and do everything it normally does at its annual meeting during InfoComm.

Also, NSCA and Infocomm will co-produce a conference, NSCA TechWeek, starting in the fall of 2008 (they haven't booked a location yet). The trade-only event will consist of content from NSCA University and InfoComm Academy, the two groups' educational arms. InfoComm will stop producing its management conference, which competed with NSCA's, and support TechWeek instead, Wilson said.

"Essentially, what we're doing is repurposing NSCA," he added. "We'll stay completely separate (from InfoComm) and focus on conferences and education. InfoComm will focus more on the tradeshow side of the business."

The deal includes a revenue-sharing agreement, and NSCA does not expect to lose anything — including staff — as a result. Wilson said, "We have a good financial model. The business case for doing this was very strong."

Another element of the deal involves CEDIA, a partner, along with NSCA and InfoComm, in the limited liability corporation that produces Integrated Systems Europe, or ISE, an annual, rotating show.

InfoComm has bought out NSCA's one-third stake in ISE. NSCA will continue to sponsor the show and help develop educational content.

"This gives us at NSCA the opportunity to do what we really love," Wilson said.