Internet retooling convention industry

By Richard N. Velotta / Staff Writer

Global Gaming Expo attendees walk past the WMS Gaming booth at the Las Vegas Convention Center in September. Photo by R. Marsh Starks

Just as the Internet has helped travelers become more savvy about booking flights and hotel rooms, it also is helping conventioneers get better prepared for trade shows and meetings, producing a more sophisticated customer.

The trend has some trade show experts rethinking how they prepare for their events and whether the show floor of the future will have a different look than it does today.

Michael Hughes, associate publisher and director of research services for Tradeshow Week, a major trade publication that covers the conventions and meetings industry, said the change means the stakes are higher for trade show vendors.

Hughes said researchers are watching how the Internet is reshaping the retail industry and how companies are reacting.

The meetings and conventions industry's view of the Internet contrasts with the outlook a few years ago. Many feared that the arrival of new technology and greater broadband access ultimately would result in smaller conventions and trade shows as decision-makers took advantage of teleconferencing to fight the high cost of travel.

"The changes happening in retail may not hit the exhibition market in the short term and all shows are already customized to their markets," Hughes said. "In fact, that's really the definition of a trade show. Also, the business-to-business market is simply much smaller and nowhere near as competitive. But trade shows and consumer shows will need to add more value and raise the experience level over time, especially to attract high-quality buyers."

Hughes also noted that people who use the Internet to research products they expect to see at trade shows also would be inclined to look harder for leisure activities to pursue while in Las Vegas when the show floor closes. He said developing a welcome presence online is getting more and more important for tourism enterprises and restaurants as Las Vegas rolls out the welcome mat for business travelers as well as leisure travelers.

Some of the issues Hughes and his peers are studying may become relevant to convention services companies in Las Vegas that would have to react as the industry changes.

So far, said Detra Page, a spokeswoman for GES Exposition Services, the city's largest convention services company, there has been no need to change how local companies prepare for shows.

"We're always trying to stay on the cutting edge of the industry, but so far, we haven't had to make any major adjustments," Page said.

Hughes said industry leaders are considering new ways to meet the needs of show exhibitors, including show floor layout, additional services and data and information collection.

"The symmetrical show floor is efficient, but there's no sense of wonder and anything unique about walking aisle after aisle," Hughes said. "What if booth footprints could be more circular than rectangular or if the show layout was closer to Main Street or Village Square than, well, a trade show?"

Hughes also said competitors don't like to be near each other on the trade show floor but that potential buyers may be better served by having them close so that it's easier to compare products and services.

He also said shows may want to employ information gatherers or guides to navigate the show floor for busy executives.

"Just as retailers provide personal shoppers, why couldn't show producers or other groups offer enhanced exhibition attendance and information-gathering services for time-strapped executives?" he asked.

He pointed out that exhibitors outsource booth staffing all the time.

Hughes said identifying show trends and recognizing that show attendees are using the Internet to be better schooled before they arrive for the event are key to helping the trade show industry grow, something Tradeshow Week celebrated in Las Vegas recently with its third-annual TSW Fastest 50 event at the Venetian.

The magazine identified the 50 fastest-growing trade shows using a formula of percentage increase and raw numbers of the square footage used for show exhibitions.

While Las Vegans often gauge a show's success on attendance, since higher numbers of people translate into gross gaming revenue and nongaming economic impact, the show industry looks more at how much space is sold to exhibit products.

"It's really the only way for us to do it," said Adam Schaffer, publisher of Tradeshow Week. "Attendance numbers are harder to verify. You can extrapolate attendance based on registration, but the square footage of a show is easier to verify."

Schaffer said he was "beyond happy" with the first TSW Fastest 50 show in Las Vegas, which is staged like an Academy Awards show and featured the recently relocated Blue Man Group onstage.

"The Venetian was very involved as a partner," Schaffer said. "They simply could not have been more accommodating. Everybody had a great time."

Tradeshow Week broke out the top awards to the three fastest-growing trade show, consumer show and association show -- one of which was recently staged in Las Vegas. The ABC Kids Expo, launched in 2002, was named the top trade show and was presented in Las Vegas last year.

Other winners were the Pennsylvania RV & Camping Show, the top consumer show, and the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting, staged in Washington, D.C., the top association show as well as tops overall for growth.

Other 2004 Las Vegas shows recognized among the 50 fastest-growing events were the ASD/AMD trade shows, Coffee Fest, Fencetech, the Global Gaming Expo, the International Pool and Spa Expo, International Security Conference West, KioskCom, the MemoryTrends trade show, the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE), the National Business Aviation Association annual meeting and convention, PACK Expo and the Specialty Equipment Market Association automotive show.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.

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