Tradeshow Tales

February 1, 2010 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

I have written several stories in the past year about the struggles convention and visitors bureaus have had to endure with visitor attendance dropping in most locales, resulting in falling bed-tax funds.

In turn, a lot of bureaus have had to cut staff, institute furlough days, cut salaries and bonuses and slash marketing and advertising budgets.

It’s a Catch-22 situation, though, when a city’s bureau is tasked with promoting the destination, and their funds to do so are diminished.

Money has been so tight that a lot of cities have had to not only cut back on their travel to industry meetings where face time with tradeshow and meeting planners is crucial, but also, in a time when they should be more aggressive than ever, they’ve ...Read More

January 25, 2010 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

No one likes to see a city lose big tradeshows with their enormous economic impacts and badly needed jobs for thousands of people (except maybe the cities that the shows wind up in), but that’s exactly what’s been happening in Chicago.

 

Two high-profile tradeshows already have left the Windy City citing high labor costs, and it’s rumored that two more – the Intl. Home & Housewares Show and the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show – have yet to sign on past next year’s shows.

 

With all of this hanging in the balance, the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority, which oversees McCormick Place and Navy Pier, d...Read More

January 12, 2010 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Let's face it: People are tired of feeling down about this recession. Everyone's looking for proverbial the light at the end of the tunnel. At the Professional Convention Management Assn.'s Annual Meeting, Jan. 10-13 at the Dallas Convention Center, it seems like that light might just start to be shining. 

First off, the final numbers still need to be tallied, but attendance was up, compared with last year's event in New Orleans. That's definitely some good news in the wake of travel budgets being cut, meetings being canceled and several associations cutting back on their staffs. 

The other good news was association meeting planners I spoke to overwhelmingly said they, too, saw gains in attendance at their meetings in the past year. Why? Because their members were hungry for information and saw value in attending the meetings to get it. ...Read More

December 21, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

I recently went to Atlanta for the Intl. Assn. of Exhibitions and Events’ Expo! Expo!,held Dec. 8-10.

While there, one of the many gatherings I attended was a “Gone With the Wind” movie tribute party hosted by the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau at the beautiful Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta.

My co-workers and I took a shuttle bus over to the party, had a great time eating, drinking and networking, and then headed back to the hotel, where even more parties were taking place.

About a half hour later, I noticed that my wallet was gone. Beyond my I.D. being in it, I also was heading off to a week’s vacation in New York City the next day and all of my credit cards now were missing.

...Read More
Industries: Associations, Exhibitors, For-profits, International, Suppliers

November 9, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

In just four short days, the staff here at Tradeshow Week will be heading to Houston to take part in the seventh annual TSW Fastest 50 celebration.

 

This will be the fourth year I’ve gone to the event, with past events I attended being held in Baltimore, Atlanta and Boston, all cities I previously had visited.

 

On the other hand, I have never set foot outside of the H...Read More

Industries: Associations, Exhibitors, For-profits, International, Suppliers