March 11, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Hey, you know who’d make a great keynote speaker? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg!

 

That must have been what organizers of the South by Southwest, or SXSW, interactive media conference March 7-16 in Austin thought. And to draw out the notoriously tight-lipped 23-year-old who’s behind of one of the hottest technologies going, they enlisted the help of journalist Sarah Lacy, who was to interview him on stage. After all, the BusinessWeek reporter on the Silicon Valley beat has written a book on Web 2.0 (to be released in May), which includes a portion on Zuckerberg.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

...Read More
Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows

February 6, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

I learned something valuable about green exhibiting last week when I attended the monthly meeting of the Las Vegas chapter of the Exhibit Designers & Producers Assn. Where there's a will, there may not be a way – at least not one that's straight, clear and unobstructed.

The Las Vegas EDPA invited Harry Lewis, an attorney advisor with the U.S. Envrionmental Protection Agency, to speak at the meeting. Lewis is on an EPA committee charged with setting procurement standards that would require venues bidding to host government meetings to fulfill certain criteria of envirnomental friendliness and sustainability.

Lewis knows meetings and conventions, but, before he visited Las Vegas last week, he apparently knew little about exhibitions. An acquaintance of his from the Las Vegas EDPA took him to see the move-in of the ...Read More
Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows

January 9, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

I was saddened by the news of the death of Michael Hough. Of all the industry leaders who’ve passed away in the seven-plus years I’ve been covering the tradeshow business, Hough had the most direct impact on me.

His general industry influence may have been relatively small compared to, say, Bob Krakoff. But his opinions were huge and smart, and he shared them freely.

I hadn’t been at Tradeshow Week two weeks before my editor in chief got her first e-mail from Hough complaining about something in one of my stories. Although I was devastated then, I don’t even remember what it was now. I could’ve said something like a show was semiannual when it was actually biennial. He noticed those things – using “exposition” in a show name ...Read More

Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows

November 1, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

We had some bad news this week in Las Vegas. Over the weekend, as he ran for his life, a man was shot to death in front of his two children at a public park following a dispute with a woman who thought the victim had pushed her son off a swing. The shooter was thought to be the woman’s friend.

 

What, you’re probably asking, does this have to do with tradeshows? Bear with me.

 

Las Vegas is getting more violent. According to an FBI report released last month, violent crime in the city and unincorporated Clark County rose 32 percent in 2006, compared with the previous year.

 

Lots of cities have crime problems; t...Read More

Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows

October 11, 2007 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

An unfortunate thing happened on the way to press with my story, “Rival Shows Get Up Close and Personal” in the Sept. 17 issue. One of the rivals wouldn’t talk.

 

I hate to say “I told you so,” but the other Tradeshow Week editors and I have written past columns on the mistake of not commenting, and this story provides a good example of why.

 

While covering the fashion tradeshows that took place in August at the Sands Expo & Convention Center/Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, I noticed there were two lingerie shows overlapping there. It didn’t take long to discover that t...Read More

Industries: Associations, AV & Technology, Catering, Conferences, CVBs & Venues, Destinations, Destinations, Events, Exhibiting, Food & Beverage, Management Update, Meetings, People, People, People, People, Production Technology, Show Management, Site Selection, Speakers, Speakers & Entertainment, Technology, Tradeshows, Tradeshows