Exhibit City News - November/December 2020

Jump-Starting 2021 with New, Exhibitor-Friendly Policies

November/December 2020 • VOL. 26 • ISSUE 6

LOOKING

Jim Kelley, Fern Expo VP, Marketing & Industry Relations

FORWARD TO

2021 12 TIPS FOR EXHIBITING AT VIRTUAL EVENTS THE VALUE OF CARPET FOCUS ON LOUISVILLE DAILY UPDATES AT EXHIBITCITYNEWS.COM

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

22

Jump-Starting 2021 with New, Exhibitor-Friendly Policies

November/December 2020 • VOL. 26 • ISSUE 6

LOOKING

26

12 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me about Exhibiting at Virtual Events

Jim Kelley, Fern Expo VP, Marketing & Industry Relations

FORWARD TO

2021

“Booth Mom” Candy Adams Shares Tips She’s Learned Doing Virtual Exhibits 12 TIPS FOR EXHIBITING AT VIRTUAL EVENTS

29

THE VALUE OF CARPET

Why Virtual Events Aren’t Popular and the Traditional Tradeshow Will Never Die

FOCUS ON LOUISVILLE DAILY UPDATES AT EXHIBITCITYNEWS.COM

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On Our Cover: Jim Kelley, Fern Expo VP, marketing & industry relations, introduces Fern1Rate and 100% Refund Policy for 2021

Highway 85 Creative’s Guy Zwick Believes the “Old Normal” Will Return

Feature Story

30

22

International Focus: AIPC

Fern’s 1Rate, Freeman, Tradeshow Logic & Nuvista Simplifying Exhibitors Costs

Shop to Showfloor Section

Yes, We Did & Yes, We Will!

Jump-Starting 2021 with New, Exhibitor-Friendly Policies

33

Columns

I&D and Event Labor

34-35

10

The Value of Carpet in a Tradeshow & Special Event Environment

Convention Center Snapshot

Kentucky International Convention Center

Emerald Carpet’s Patrick Putzer Explains Why Carpets are the Best Choice

12

As the Saws Turn 20 Years of Musings

14

34

Andy’s Apps A New App for Strange Days & Rebuilding

16

International Focus The New Face of International Tradeshows

18

Ask an Expert

MGM Introduces “Convene with Confidence”

19

Eyebolts: The Educational Saga Continues ...

38

Corp. Profile: Condit Exhibits Q&A with Jenny Koehn, VP of Sales at Condit Exhibits

40

Convention Center Spotlight

Kentucky International Convention Center

42

Association News: EDPA

The Don & Mike Show

Your Invitation to EDPA ACCESS 2020 & Chapter News From Around the U.S.

20

People on the Move

Seeks Path to Move Forward

Airport Snapshot

Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport

Departments 8 40 48 53 57 65

36

The Rigging World

Publisher’s Notes Eat, Sleep & Play The D.E.A.L. Regional Show Calendar Industry Service Guide Advertiser Index

46 47

In Memoriam David Nau (Access TCA/Earth Energy Art, Medford, Ore.) & Brian Phebus (Metro Exhibits, Naperville, Ill.)

6 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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Congrats on 25 years Exhibit City News… The best are yet to come! After 69 years we are still the foremost provider of all your exhibit flooring needs. D.E. McNabb Floooring proudly offers the most products, best service, and an experienced staff to help guide you into the best flooring solutions for all of your exhibits and events.

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PUBLISHER’S NOTES

Greetings to our readers!

CSAL

CONVENTION SERVICES ASSOCIATION

AS VEGAS

represent and protect our industry from outside forces and competition. Please consider joining industry associations... the cost of membership is small compared to the benefit to your company and the industry where you work!

Publisher

And From the Editor….

We’re looking forward to going to EDPA’s ACCESS in San Antonio. We truly enjoy the camaraderie, the friendship and the knowledge that we gain by attending both ACCESS and IAEE’s Expo!

Expo! Louisville, our focus city for this issue, looks fun!

On our cover is Fern’s Jim Kelley as our story details how Fern, Freeman and others, are changing the way drayage and exhibitor refunding are being handled to jumpstart tradeshows in 2021.

“Booth Mom” Candy Adams, shares tips about exhibiting virtually, while Highway 85 Creative’s Guy Zwick explains why he thinks virtual will never replace F2F. We want to congratulate Condit Exhibits on 75 years and hope you enjoy our Q & A with their VP of Sales, Jenny Koehn.

And industry veteran Patrick Putzer, VP Emerald Carpets, talks about how important and safe carpet is for tradeshows.

Enjoy our wonderful columnists and our tributes to treasured industry folks who have passed away, Metro Exhibit’s Brian Phebus and retired Access TCA designer David Nau. We pray for a safe, happy, healthy holiday season for all – and that we may all get back to work soon! Hope to see you in Louisville and San Antonio!

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jeanne Brei (702) 309-8023 ext. 103 JeanneB@exhibitcitynews.com MANAGING EDITOR/GAL FRIDAY Lisa Abrams (702) 309-8023 LisaA@exhibitcitynews.com ART DIRECTOR Thomas Speak Tom@Speak-Design.com FEATURES WRITER/EDITOR F. Andrew Taylor (702) 309-8023 FAndrewT@exhibitcitynews.com COLUMNISTS / WRITERS Calanit Atia Andrew Fulton Larry Kulchawik Jim Obermeyer Cynthya Porter CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Candy Adams, the "Booth Mom" Vince Battaglia Sven Bossu Mike Morrison Patrick Putzer Fred Tumas Gina Widney H.K. Wilson Guy Zwick PROOFREADER H.K. Wilson NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Christy DiGiambattista (702) 309-8023 ext. 111 ChristyD@exhibitcitynews.com CIRCULATION Manny Chico Mike Morrison Vol. 26, issue 6, copyright 2020 by EXHIBIT CITY NEWS, published six times a year by Mr. Tradeshow Communications, LLC, 1675 E. Desert Inn Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89169. Editorial views presented within this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher and no liability is inherent. To subscribe, go to ExhibitCityNews.com or call (702) 309-8023. Reproduction/reuse of this material may only be permitted with expressed permission of Exhibit City News. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to location listed above.

Photo by Allison Earnest

W

ell, as of press time, we don’t know who won the election, but we pray that everyone puts the divisiveness of the campaign behind us and joins together as Americans. Now that the elections are over we need fast action on two fronts: (1) to triple down on our efforts to bring back F2F industry faster than the bleak image in the crystal ball...saying mid-next-year at the earliest.

(2) follow through with PPP and other financial measures to help industry businesses stay afloat until the industry regains its footing...and orders start flowing.

Also of major note, is a proposal for the formation of a new industry organization called the Exhibitions & Conference Alliance (ECA) which will advocate for and promote the events industry so we no longer have to be “invisible” to our elected officials and health officials.

They are asking all industry associations to maintain a commitment to support and fund this effort.

I will take this moment to remind everyone that nothing of importance usually gets accomplished without funding (MONEY). And when you are talking government policy issues... “it’s ongoing, and it ain’t cheap.” Rumor has it that $25,000 is the annual minimum requested buy-in to get a seat on the ECA Board.

We have seen many industry leaders, as reported in the pages of ECN, step up and donate heavily to the efforts over the past six months. But more needs to be done.

Unfortunately, in time of severe financial downturn, many companies ditch their memberships to industry associations...making it more difficult to

PUBLISHER Donald V. Svehla Jr. (702) 309-8023 ext. 102 DonS@exhibitcitynews.com

8 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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11/6/20 11:15 AM

Design tips from CORT Events

“Safe, stylish and engaging spaces to sell? It is possible!”

Lilian Shen Director of Marketing, CORT Events

Picture: Bowery Chairs, Mesa Cocktail Table, 4’ Boxwood Hedge Hedge.

Come back with CORT Confidence.

As we navigate the coming months together, CORT Events is here to coach show organizers, designers and exhibitors on how to make the return of trade shows an absolute success.

We’re committed to providing you the most upto-date best practices and style tips to ensure a complete peace of mind. To schedule a oneon-one consultation, contact us today! Visit us at cortevents.com.

Picture: (L) Clear Divider, Powered Tech Tablet Chair, (R) Clear Divider, Lena Chair, Taos Accent Table.

Designing Trade Shows. Over communicate requirements and procedures to attendees before and during the show. Provide event floor plans and directions ahead of time to reduce onsite confusion. During the show, display prominent directional signage, floor decals and stanchions to seamlessly direct attendees. Reduce attendee congestion by extending hours and designating timed entrances and appointments. After the show, follow up with health and safety updates so attendees can remain confident in live attendance.

Designing Exhibits. Design booth spaces with one-way traffic by designating entry/exit points using stanchions, signage and floor decals.

Simplify designs to reduce possible blockages, while selecting on-trend furnishings to stand out from the competition. Incorporate colors, textures and faux greenery to amplify your brand’s style.

For more tips, or to schedule a one-on-one consultation, contact us today! | Visit us at cortevents.com.

We don’t just FURNISH SHows.

WE PROVIDE AHA-INSPIRING, COLLABORATION-ENCOURAGING, NETWORKING-BUILDING LAUNCH PADS.

So go ahead and call us what we are: your partner in executing unforgettable engaging trade shows.

Visit us at cortevents.com

Style & Service Delivered.

© 2020 CORT. A Berkshire Hathaway Company.

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CONVENTION CENTER SNAPSHOT

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The Kentucky International Convention Center 221 S. 4th St, Louisville, KY 40202 Year Opened: 1977 Square Footage: The KICC is nearly 300,000 sq.ft. and contains 234,306 sq.ft. of exhibit space in five exhibit halls and five ballrooms and includes a 40,000-sq.ft. column-free ballroom, 52 meeting rooms, and a 175-seat tiered conference theater.

Parking: Access to two nearby parking garages, Commonwealth PG and Cowger PG with a combined 329 spaces and several nearby parking garages/lots within reasonable walking distance that aren’t affiliated with the convention center.

Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is available throughout the facility for a fee which varies by event.

Hotels: There are more than 100 hotels in the city and nearly 20,000 hotel rooms are in the Louisville Metro area.

PLUS!

Where to eat, sleep and play near KICC on p. 40

Airport Info: KICC is 7.6 miles from the Louisville Int’l. Airport.

Fun Fact #1: When the CC reopened in 2018 following a twoyear renovation, it included colorchanging LED light walls and a bourbon tasting in the celebration.

Fun Fact #2: Originally called the Commonwealth CC; Kentucky is one of four U.S. states which are technically commonwealths, a distinction in name only.

Fun Fact #3: To save money, instead of building up, parts of the CC were built out, cantilevering over a nearby street.

Website: kyconvention.com KICC photo courtest of KICC, by Esto Photo, EOP Architects & HOK Chicago Architects

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ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 11

11/4/20 8:45 AM

COLUMN As the Saws Turn

20

th

ANNIVERSARY

20 Years of Musings

I

am writing this in late October. And I have to admit, this is one of the few times since I started writing this column that I have been affected by “writer’s block.”

I have been staring at this monitor for 45 minutes. The deadline for submitting this column is tomorrow morning.

I don’t normally wait until the last moment to submit. Usually something happens in my daily work life that triggers the subject of the column, and I end up having to edit it to keep it from getting too long.

But not this time.

In the last six months, I have written in this column about perseverance, restoration and personal branding,

all in an effort to maintain a positive approach to what life has dished out to us this year, and all in anticipation that times will change and things will improve. In March of this year, we thought everything would be back to normal

by June. When June rolled around, we were all hoping we would see a return by the fourth quarter of this year.

A few weeks ago, I researched and wrote a blog for the EDPA Alert newsletter on the global return of events and exhibitions. I’ll save you the long read: bottom line is no one really knows what to expect and when to expect it. While some countries around the globe are seeing

events and exhibitions start column struck me. Sometimes to return, others continue to I’d have an idea and write the postpone all activity, and piece well before the monthly there is no clear picture deadline. Other times I’d for the future. be staring at my moniSo, what now? tor desperately trying I scroll back to come up with a through past colkernel of a thought to umns looking for write about.

By Jim Obermeyer something that Going back and triggers a thought that can be reading through this library of turned into something worthwork, I realized two things: (1) while. Nothing is working for for industry folks, it is a bit of me. That’s when it hits me: a historical look at our indusIt has been exactly 20 years try and the issues—some serisince I wrote my first colous, some not so much—that umn for Exhibit City News. we’ve dealt with in the last 20 October of 2000. What were years; and (2) for family and you doing in October 2000? I friends, it gives a clue about guess I was sitting here trying just who I am, what I really do to decide what to write about for a living. in my first column.

For me, it has been an I ran into Don Svehla, puboutlet for what’s on my mind, lisher of Exhibit City News, what’s bothering me, what’s at a reception at the now-deinteresting to me and what funct TS2 show in Washingis important to me. Whether ton, D.C., in the summer of readers find it of any interest 2000. Somewhere during our has always been a question… conversation, he asked me if I But with all the change that would be interested in doing has occurred in our world and some writing for his tradeour industry and in each of show industry newspaper. our lives in the last 20 years— We talked about me doing and in the last 10 months— a monthly opinion column. this is one constant for me: I I agreed on one condition: I am still honored to be a part could write about anything I of this industry and to be able wanted, as long as I tied it to to share my thoughts in this the industry in some way. publication.

Over the last 20 years, There. I feel better now. the column has gone in a lot Another column in the books. of different directions, but All I need now is a nice glass always I tried to make that of bourbon and all will be link our industry. Sometimes good again. it was quite a stretch to make Please enjoy the upcoming the connection, but I have enholidays and see you on the joyed the challenge of trying show floor! to come up with something worthwhile to write about Jim Obermeyer has been in the each month. exhibits and events industry 39 I’ve written columns at years, both as a corporate tradehome, at work, in hotels, in show manager and exhibit house airports, in airplanes; wherevowner. He can be reached at er and whenever the idea for a jobermeyer903@gmail.com

12 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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COLUMN Andy’s Apps

A New App for Strange Days & Rebuilding

T

ypically in this column I discuss several apps that can assist in your event planning and management, but unprecedented times call for an unprecedented column focusing on a single app.

Azzumi is a new app designed to help meeting professionals digitize a lot of event management, and assist event staff with attendee outreach, social media marketing and compliance with CDC guidelines.

Obviously the inspiration for the app is the devastating events of 2020 which have adversely affected any business that includes gathering people in groups and virtually shut down the convention industry. Ironically, there has been some success with virtual events, but it’s impossible for those to truly replace the face-to-face interaction and interpersonal relationships that drive the convention and exhibition industry. All the fancy booths, flashy displays and branded swag can’t replace the human interaction that is at the core of the business.

As convention centers tentatively dip a toe back into the unsettled waters of meetings, Azzumi has stepped up to

smooth the process out a bit. In addition cluttered with funny cat videos, memes to assisting event planners, Azzumi is de- featuring Leonardo DeCaprio and endsigned to provide users with the ability to less political fighting, which are all swell chat with event attendees, post updates, in their own way, but distract from the leave reviews and more. actual business of conducting business.

Among the functions of the app Time will tell if Azzumi will beis updating ticket purchases, come a new industry standard or creating a platform in which the pandemic era’s “Ask Jeeves” subscribers can purchase tickets but it seems likely that it will be for either local or international more of the former than the latter. events 100 percent digitally. BeThe app tries to make things work

By F. Andrew Taylor yond ticket sales, event planbetter and smoother and these ners can also plan, manage, control and days, we could all use a little more of that. promote all through the convenience of P.S. Astoundingly, Ask Jeeves has been the Azzumi app. resurrected, at least in England. Strange For the time being, one of the primary days indeed. concerns for event managers today is adhering to CDC guidelines while planning an F. Andrew Taylor is an award-winning journalist, artevent. This can be a challenge, as many deist, photographer, cartoonist and illustrator working tails of an event are mercurial and dynamic for alt-weeklies, tourism publications, hyper-local during the planning process. Azzumi app papers and others for the last 23 years. He is also allows event planners to review a variety the illustrator for “Christmapus,” the tale of the of venues and stay on top of their current Christmas Octopus. His first fiction prose story was headcount with updates from the app. published in 2018 and was featured at the Vegas The subscriber platform allows planValley Book Fair. He also works in film production, ners to connect more easily to potential does local historical research and has been an attendees, functioning in some ways like amateur stunt driver and rodeo participant. Contact a social media app, but without being him at fandrewt@exhibitcitynews.com.

14 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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COLUMN International Focus

The New Face of International Tradeshows

by Fred Tumas, marketing dept., Boomerang Carnets

T

he international tradeshow is one of the most powerful tools in presenting products to new audiences and markets.

Though there are now a few trickles of life in Asia, Europe and the U.S., the trillion-dollar worldwide industry is, for the most part, still on hold. This past July, Richard Paullin of The International Trade Show Association of Greater Chicago invited Larry Kulchawik, a longstanding professional in tradeshow marketing, to discuss the new face of tradeshows in the ongoing give-and-take transition the industry is experiencing due to COVID-19. “International involvement is essential to future stability of businesses and for growth,” Kulchawik says.

The Global Association for the Exhibition Industry (UFI) released guidance on re-opening tradeshows with a frame-

work of recommendations on how to operate exhibitions/ trade fairs in a safe environment, addressing personnel and personal safety, physical distancing, health and safety measures, as well as implementation of crowd control and enforcement measures. A new accreditation system was also developed by Global Biorisk Advisory Council, GBAC STAR, as the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation for facilities. Many major hotels have already signed on.

Tradeshows are a theatrical experience for attendees with innovative booths, sounds, lights, displays and face-toface spontaneous meetings.

Adjustments of behavior, entry screening, spacing protocols and one-way aisles, sponsors offering their logos on masks and hand sanitizing stations throughout the space will be-

come the norm for now. There are also vendors devising new architecture of booths to accommodate distancing guidelines.

Hybrid events are also offering participants the choice to be present virtually, physically at the venue, or with a healthy combination of both.

With his many years of experience, Kulchawik believes that our emotional and tactile response to interacting with someone helps determine future business. “People like doing business with people who they like and trust,” he says, “and one of the most powerful elements that a tradeshow offers is meeting people in person face to face.” Kulchawik predicts that virtual call platforms will get better so that online interactions will seem more real but confirms that no matter how good they improve; they will never replace face-toface, in-person interactions.

Things that will certainly change are that less money will be spent and the industry will be operating on skinny budgets, digital communications will up the ante on clarity and sound, so that it is a more emotional experience for people; micro events with smaller venues and less people will happen more; and pre-scheduled meetings will be the norm.

International tradeshows will continue to grow and recalculating your strategy for global marketing is essential.

Shipping a tradeshow booth internationally is convenient and affordable with “The Merchandise Passport,” a.k.a. an ATA Carnet. The ATA Carnet is an internationally accepted customs document for the temporary import/export of goods which includes commercial samples, professional equipment and goods for exhibitions, providing you significant savings of import-duty and tax.

Its many benefits have assisted companies expand into new global markets and its flexibility can easily accommodate these changeable times.

Boomerang Carnets is an appointed ATA Carnet Service Provider to the U.S. Council for International Business, the national guaranteeing association in the U.S. Since 1987, Boomerang Carnets has specialized in ATA Carnets and Customs Duty guarantees.

Boomerang Carnets issues 9,000+ carnets annually in the U.S. and, as the only entity in the world providing carnets in two countries, issues 1,700+ in the U.K. Headquartered in Barrington, IL, and with dozens of Boomerang Carnet Distributions Centers around the U.S., Boomerang Carnets has grown to the largest carnet-issuer in the U.S. For more info, visit ATACarnet.com.

16 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 17

11/4/20 8:54 AM

COLUMN Ask an Expert

Pictured center: Stephanie Glanzer, senior vice president & chief sales officer, MGM Resorts, with examples of MGM’s Health & Safety Plan in action

MGM Introduces “Convene with Confidence”

L

as Vegas is getting ready tancing are implemented and for a very busy convenclearly indicated. tion season in 2021.

Cleaning and disinStephanie Glanzer, senior vice fecting: High touchpoints president & chief sales officer, are cleaned and disinfected MGM Resorts, discussed regularly, single-use their newly-anamenities disposed of nounced comprehendaily and hand sanisive plan designed tizer available in high to facilitate the safe traffic areas. return of meetings Physical distancBy Calanit Atia and conventions at the ing: Facilities and company’s properties in Las floor plans adjusted to meet Vegas and throughout the U.S. physical distancing requireThe “Convene with Conments and evolve as needed. fidence” plan results from Dining and Break Remonths of work with experts fresh: Various meal service and builds on the compastyles are offered, with an ny’s Seven-Point Health and extended menu of pre-packSafety Plan. aged options.

Planning: Virtual site inThis includes the option spections and careful pre-plan- for a multi-layered health ning of event, meal and break screening process using times to safely optimize guest CLEAR’s Health Pass and movement throughout meetutilizing onsite rapid, molecing spaces. Various types of ular COVID-19 testing that events offered include virtual, can deliver results within hybrid or in-person. approximately 20 minutes. It Arrival: Pre-registration also offers higher accuracy in provided in advance and digideducing the virus a bit soontally. Where registration desks er than the antigen testing. and queuing are required, “Convene With Confidence” scheduling and physical disis the complete process for

the meeting planner. It starts with planning an event, from the virtual site inspection, pre-planning of walking the spaces, the hotel helping with scheduling and determining the traffic flow before the attendees step on site. It is meant to give both the meeting planner and the attendee confidence to ensure that they will feel safe coming to an MGM resorts property.

The attendees’ experience will start with touchless checking into the hotel, keyless rooms and contactless registration by introducing the Health Pass. This is an offering for those groups that want to create safe perimeters around their meetings spaces, where attendees have the confidence that others have been tested each day. In addition to social distancing on the show floor, there will be a collaboration between the venues and the tradeshow organizer. During the planning stages, MGM will ensure there is a single flow of traffic within tradeshows, one way in, one way out, wider

aisles, as well as following onsite safety protocols.

“Since reopening, we have hosted many in-person meetings, as well as virtual and hybrid site inspections,” says Glanzer. “We have not slowed down our future production, people have continued to plan and think about their future programs whether if they are in 2021 or 2022 and beyond.

We’ve had very minimal impact, very minimal cancellation beyond the first quarter of 2021. The great news is that 2021 was already a very busy year, and now all of the groups that had to cancel their events this year rescheduled to 2021, so the second quarter of 2021 is becoming busier than pre-COVID.” For more info, visit www. mgmresorts.com.

Calanit Atia is the founder and president of A to Z Events as well as an Air Force Veteran, award-winning event planner and a member of the 2020 MPI Women’s Advisory Board, columnist and speaker. Contact her at (702) 212-2500 or Info@CalanitAtia.com.

18 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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INDUSTRY PODCAST

“The Don & Mike Show” Seeks Path to Move Forward

by Mike Morrison

A

s we move into the final chapter of the 2020 calendar year for The Don & Mike Show podcast for tradeshows, events and experiential marketing industries, much time has and will be spent discussing moving things forward for 2021 to attempt to rebound from this dismal, disappointing and wretched 2020 year. Complicated by governmental chaos in Washington over stimulus and overall handling of the COVID-19 coronavirus, election banter

to the extreme from all parties involved, states shutting down businesses and mandating seclusion for most of the year has only been surpassed by the industries we cover and, more importantly, we work in to make a living, have been all but completely decimated. In summary ... 2020 sucked.

At press time, election results were not determined; however, it will probably be some time before all things are sorted out and a path to move forward, if in fact that is the case at all, is deter-

mined. The Don & Mike Show continually interviews guests who have influence over these changes, can offer professional and relative information and speculate how the industries can sustain themselves moving forward.

One thing is for sure ... the industries inclusive of tradeshow, event and experiential will not look like those in the past for a long while ... if ever again.

The Don & Mike Show can be heard on Fridays at TheDonAndMikeShow.net; Ex-

hibitCityNews,com; Facebook (www.facebook.com/dandmshow); LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/groups/12096643/); Twitter (witter.com/DonAndMikeShow1) and most all podcast platforms including iTunes, Google, Spotify and many others.

Mike Morrison is the national sales director for WS Displays as well as co-hosting and producing “The Don & Mike Show” podcast, now closing in on more than 200,000 listens. Contact him at thedonandmikeshow@ gmail.com or mike@wsdisplay.com.

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AIRPORT SNAPSHOT

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Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport 600 Terminal Dr, Louisville, KY 40209 IATA airport code: SDF Year Opened: Built in 1941 by the Army Corp of Engineers and turned over to the Louisville Air Board for commercial operations in 1947. Major expansions in 1950, 1970, 1985-90, 1995 and 2005 and, in terms of cargo traffic, it’s the second-busiest in the U.S., and fourth-busiest in the world as a worldwide hub of UPS. Size: The airport covers 15,000 acres with three runways, and a single terminal with 23 gates split between two concourses.

Transportation To and From: Bus service, taxis, ride shares, courtesy vans and limousine services are available.

Fun Facts: Home to Worldport, the 5.2 million sq.ft. worldwide hub of UPS, capable of handling 115 packages/second, or 416,000/hr. With 20,000+ employees, UPS is one of the largest employers in the state.

Originally named Standiford Field after Dr. Elisha Standiford, a local businessman and politician who was a force in transportation issues and also owned part of the land the airport was built on.

Begun as a military field, in 1995 The Ky. Air National Guard moved its base to SDF so it is now a civil-military airport.

In 1995, its name changed to Louisville Int’l. Airport; in 2019, they renamed it Louisville Muhammad Ali Int’l. Airport.

Website: www.flylouisville.com ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 21

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LOOKING FORWARD TO 2021

Jump-Starting 2021 with New, Exhibitor-Friendly Policies

BY JEANNE BREI

As one of the largest service contractors in North America, Fern Expo is best known for its personalized approach to service and has been looking for ways to help the tradeshow industry come roaring back once the government gives it the green light.

Fern has announced in the last couple of weeks that they have changed their exhibitor refund policy to make it “much more comfortable and exhibitor-centric” (guaranteeing 100 percent refunds if a show cancels after the client makes a commitment) and they have debuted Fern 1Rate, simplifying their material handling costs so that it is now completely inclusive and based on a per-pound rate. They believe that “calculating material handling charges should not require an advanced degree,” and their new 1Rate provides exhibitors a single per-pound rate that is predictable and provides certainty and budget predictability. With no minimums, no overtime charges, no marshalling yard fees, no special handling fees, no small package fees, no late fees and no warehouse fees, the new 1Rate is the actual weight multiplied by the rate. That rate may change from show to

show as Jim Kelley, VP, marketing & industry relations, explains, “Pricing for 1Rate, as with most services provided

by Official Service Providers, is adjusted based on local market conditions, the facility, and the contract with the show organizer; that will not change. However, the simplicity of the model will allow exhibitors to predict their Jim expenses more Kelley accurately upon committing to an event and assist significantly in effectively managing their show expenses and budget. With the removal of weight minimums, overtime charges, special handling fees, and many of the other fees and surcharges typically associated with material handling, we have added a level of transparency that is important in business and in high demand by exhibitors.”

Kelley continues that “the inspiration and shift to 1Rate are based on our internal discussions, conversations with organizers as well as exhibitors, and in large part, postevent surveys. A large part of our core business approach is the continual evolution of the service offering we provide to both organizers and exhibitors. The release of OneView evidences this, [one of] the industry’s first true Exhibitor

Service Portals, in the spring of 2019. This year we followed with the announcement that we changed our Exhibitor Refund Policy to make it much more comfortable and exhibitor-centric. Then you add in 1Rate, which was released this month. While both the revised exhibitor refund policy and 1Rate were in the queue, the intentional release of both of these was primarily to help show organizers in their efforts to get exhibitors to commit to events as we head into 2021.”

On the hopes that tradeshows may be allowed to return as early as next year, Kelley adds that “1Rate is available now for any show organizer who would want to shift the Material Handling pricing model they are offering to their exhibitors. At the time of this announcement, the OneView Exhibitor Service portal for our remaining events through 2020 was already active and therefore utilized the traditional Material Handling model for those events. Moving forward, customers with events in Q1 of 2021 and beyond who we are in the planning stages with have overwhelmingly let us know they will be shifting to this model and having both Fern and NexxtShow offer 1Rate to their exhibitors. That said, we have had a handful of shows testing this model over the last couple of years and

have proven its effectiveness from efficiency and customer satisfaction standpoints.”

Sherry Johnson, VP, knowledge & business advancement at AmericanHort, the green industry’s leading association, has partnered with Fern for more than 40 years to produce Cultivate, their annual signature event. Says Johnson, “Cultivate is the horticulture industry’s premier professional development event with the largest all-industry tradeshow, best-in-class tours and workshops, and the most comprehensive professional, technical and staff development opportunities. We have had the pleasure of partnering with Fern for more than 40 years. We truly look at Fern as an extension of our staff, a true partner in our success.”

Regarding Fern’s new policies, Johnson says, “We are very happy with the new offerings Fern is providing and plan to share them with our exhibitors who will be very appreciative after enduring such a tough year. We are very optimistic that we will have the ability to conduct face-to-face events at least by the second quarter of 2021. I hope there is a quick return to normal,” adding that “we believe a virtual event and even a hybrid event will bring several positives to attendees that may not be able to travel and we plan to incorporate some

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aspects to our conferences after having a very successful Cultivate virtually in 2020. But we know, for our green industry, they will Diane never replace Vidoni the value of human connections at a faceto-face event. We will bring this much needed platform for our members to conduct business as soon as we can.”

Another Fern client, Diane Vidoni, COO, eMerge Americas, produces the annual eMerge Americas tech conference—which convenes more than 16,000 attendees from more than 40 different countries to connect startups,

@ExhibitCityNews

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investors, higher-ed, corporate enterprises and government officials to spur investment and innovation, and to help create a sustainable and thriving tech hub. Says Vidoni, “In my current role with eMerge Americas, we’ve been working with Fern/Nexxt since 2017. However, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the team as early as 2014,” adding that “the upcoming eMerge Americas conference is scheduled for April 26-27, 2021, in Miami Beach. We did not hold our event in 2020, as our original dates were March 30-31 and then pushed to early

November (needless to say, this was very disappointing all around).”

Vidoni continues, “I’m confident we’ll be using 1Rate, OneView and the updated cancellation policy. These impressive new policies provide a sense of assurance when engaging sponsors and exhibitors. We are very hopeful that we will be able to host our annual event in April 2021, and we know Fern/Nexxt will be with us and supporting both eMerge and our partners throughout the process.”

Even Fern’s competitors have begun simplifying material handling and refund policies. Freeman, one of the world’s largest brand experience companies with more

than 90 years as an industry leader, has also taken steps to simplify budgeting for the exhibitors. Janet Dell, who was named president and COO on Nov. 1, says, “We applaud Fern for joining Freeman in taking these steps to make returning to live easier. Last September, we launched the most comprehensive customer service enhancements in the industry, designed to improve and simplify the exhibitor experience. In our two-year pilot and in the months before COVID, we converted 150 events to our easy, single rate per pound material handling, serving nearly 30,000 exhibitors and handling 65 million pounds. That, combined with our greater empty return

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LOOKING FORWARD TO 2021

visibility, priority empty return, exhaustive library of health and safety best practices, 100 percent refund on many standard exhibit rental offerings, and deep cancellation discounts on many other services, is meant to make tradeshow exhibiting more simple. In fact, since March, we have had over 2,075 events cancelled and have refunded over $45 million to exhibitors.

The organizations we serve are faced with new challenges.

Freeman is ready to help them be successful!”

The Pack Expo and the NAB Show were two of the frontrunners in transforming the exhibitor experience. They understood, even before the pandemic, that it was time to challenge and change old industry paradigms, like drayage. COVID-19 just made it even more critical.

As ECN reported in July 2019, NAB ShowCares launched several Amanda Helgemoe new programs to increase exhibitor ROI and simplify participation. Their new programs included: Unlimited Material Handling, The Greatest Internet Pricing of the Decade, No Surprise Electrical Pricing and Hanging Signs Made Easy.

The Exhibitor Advocacy Group was established to advocate for exhibitors—to encourage the industry to work together to build better shows. Amanda Helgemoe, Nuvista Event Management Services CEO and a founding member of The Exhibitor Advocacy Group, says, “This wave

started with Tradeshow Logic and NAB ShowCares with programs that saved exhibitors 20-40 percent, and we’re excited to see Fern, Freeman and others joining the effort to drive change and increase exhibitor ROI. Exhibitors are looking for transparency and cost savings as they re-evaluate their programs moving into 2021.”

Tradeshow Logic CEO BJ Enright concurs and explains, “The combination of our divergent position in the industry and the Tradeshow Logic Multi-contractor model of producing shows gives us a unique view into the trends and directions of both the general contractors and the exhibit designers and producers. Within each community there are rising innovators.

Amongst the general contractors, Fern is one to watch—1Rate for material handling and their new cancellation policy are definitely steps in the right direction.

Tradeshow Logic has long been a proponent of simplifying and reducing (even eliminating) drayage rates. We have had TL Online for 20 years, which is an Amazon.com-like technology that powers our 'multi-contractor model.'

Additionally, The Expo Group has been providing 'one-stop shopping' for clients for 20 years, as well.”

Enright continues, “As show producers, the power lies with us to drive change for our exhibitors. It is critical that we review our exhibitor order

data to understand where our exhibitor pain points lie. One rate, while certainly simple and easy-to-budget, does not necessarily mean the rate is lower.

Be careful to capture and analyze your show ordering data and customize your pricing and package strategies based upon the needs of your exhibitors.”

Looking forward to 2021, Enright adds, “Education, networking, and bringing buyers and sellers together have always been and will always be a cornerstone of the event industry no matter the channel: physical, virtual or hybrid. I hope that when we ultimately return to producing physical events, no matter when that occurs, we will look back upon COVID-19 and see it as the watershed moment that it is—the dividing point which forced us as an event industry to look inward and make changes that have been debilitating our industry for decades.”

Also looking towards 2021, Freeman’s CEO Bob PriestHeck says, “We expect shows to open up gradually in different regions as restrictions change across the United States. Our proprietary data confirms this; confidence in returning to in-person events is trending up across all key segments (attendees, organizers, exhibitors and brand marketers), with Fall 2021 as the timeframe for most to return. Events may be smaller and more regional initially, as we are already seeing, which offers the chance to increase personalization for a truly impactful attendee experience. We expect to move away from the idea of live as a moment in time and

space, and instead think of it as an ongoing, multi-platform conversation. We now have the opportunity to deliver greater value and deeper connections than ever before.” eMerge Americas’ Vidoni is also “very hopeful that the industry will begin to bounce back in 2021. I believe we will have a gradual return, and hybrid meetings will be here to stay in some format. But I firmly believe that business is done face-to-face and our industry fosters this and we will do all we can to get back to some ‘sense of normal.’”

AmericanHort’s Johnson agrees and says, “We appreciate Fern taking a look at what they can do to help jump start the industry by introducing 1Rate and the new cancellation policy. Fern has stood by their clients and bravely taken the lead to help bring the event industry back up and get it running again. We are all ready to put 2020 behind us and get things back on track, together!”

Aaron Bludworth, Fern president & CEO, sums it up by saying, “At its core, 1Rate addresses what is perhaps the most confusing and frustrating aspect of the exhibiting experience, that of proper calculation of material handling. We feel strongly that it should not be that way. The new model provides the exhibitor a level of predictability when it comes to calculating their expenses associated with tradeshow participation. This financial predictability will be incredibly important as we head into 2021, and exhibitors begin to return to live events.”

24 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 25

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TRADESHOW MARKETING STRATEGIES

12 Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me About Exhibiting at Virtual Events

BY CANDY ADAMS, “THE BOOTH MOM®”, VEMM | CTSM | CME | CEM | CMP | CMM

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Since COVID-19 reared its ugly head in February, all my clients’ tradeshows have either postponed, canceled or gone virtual. But, like any exhibit pro worth their salt, I’ve been working on Plan B (see my last ECN article at https://exhibitcitynews. com/plan-b-whats-next-withtradeshows-and-events).

Since March I’ve become a professional student of virtual events from all perspectives— the show manager, the technology platforms, the attendee experience and the exhibitor/ sponsor. There’s a lot out there to absorb, but I’ve learned a dozen new lessons in morphing from an exhibitor at live events to virtual ones.

Thinking through this evolution before taking the leap into virtual events can save you time, money and hassles as you make the transition— hopefully temporarily—until we can move forward to hybrid (live + virtual) exhibits.

1

Go back to the “Why?” of exhibiting.

With our current moratorium on holding mass gatherings that’s forcing us to exhibit virtually, it’s a great time to start over with a clean slate to rethink exactly what we want to accomplish strategically as exhibitors.

How can we best show our products/services, educate our prospects, showcase our brand and build awareness using the virtual exhibiting platform provided by show @ExhibitCityNews

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management?

One advantage of virtual events is havCandy Adams ing the ability to collect additional attendee data online based on their interests and their online conference activities.

2

Don’t cut the budget…yet!

Although your live exhibit budget contained costs you know you won’t have exhibiting virtually like staff travel, exhibit design/build/ shipping, material handling, utilities and I&D, don’t be too hasty to relinquish these funds. With the sudden influx of virtual event business after the pandemic, platform providers have multiplied like rabbits. Based on the law of supply and demand, pricing spiked. Exhibitors aren’t used to budgeting for this level of technology— the increasing cost for all the production, computer resources and AV required, not to mention the technical staffing to run them. Until you’ve nailed down your virtual exhibit’s details— your goals, the scope of your virtual exhibit, your level of participation and sponsorship costs, and decided how you’ll need to up your game to engage your prospects through ancillary marketing—hold on to every penny of your budget that you can.

3

Identify and poll your (new) stakeholders.

There may be new corporate stakeholders who’ll want to

be involved in your transition to virtual events. Who—both internally and externally—will have input to share on their goals and objectives for your virtual exhibit? Other than your company’s internal marketing and sales management teams, who else should you solicit input from? For example, if you work with outside social media or experiential agencies, or promotional products specialists, bring them into the loop to get their feedback. Compile all stakeholder input and then share it with show management.The more they understand your overall goals and objectives, the closer they can align their exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities to your virtual exhibiting needs.

4

What data will be available to exhibitors?

The difference between information and data is that you’ll actually use data for future decision-making. Find out from show management what data they’ll provide, when you’ll receive it and in what format. Will it be shared as summarized totals, or will there be personally identifiable information (a.k.a. PII) that can be used for follow-up? Based on your goals and objectives, how will this information/data help you to prove your return (whether return-on-investment, return-on-objective, return-on-relationship or return-on-experience)?

5

How will you measure success?

What results will give your virtual event a thumbs up?

How will this change your measurement criteria from how you used to measure success at your live events? Will you attempt to compare your results from live vs. virtual show participation? Will you use it to improve your next virtual event?

6

Know how long your virtual presence will last.

One of my client’s tradeshows transitioned from three days live onsite to one six-hour/single-day of exhibiting, plus six months online. Understanding how long you can realistically milk your virtual show presence with a combination of show-connected marketing opportunities tied in with your other on-demand marketing content can increase your branding and awareness exponentially. And hopefully it will expose you to a much larger potential audience.

7

What sponsorship options are available?

Although show managers are experts at offering boring packaged stone (diamond/ruby/emerald) or metal (platinum/gold/silver) sponsorships, I’ve rarely seen a show manager who wouldn’t entertain ideas and offers to build your own custom sponsorship. Will you have access to the event’s full attendee list? To distribute a branded giveaway to either a physical or virtual SWAG bag? Create additional touchpoints like speakership slots, between session video clips, mentions by the moderator/host, presenting

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TRADESHOW MARKETING STRATEGIES

or sponsoring a breakout or networking session, hosting an entertainment—or health-related break—or gamification opportunities for prizes?

8

Know your options for “building” your virtual exhibit.

Contractually, are you bound to the show manager’s platform’s limited exhibit options? The “vanilla” ones only have an exhibitor profile listing with a generic 2D rendered exhibit that allow adding a logo and graphics, literature, a video and possibly access to a chat room. Or are you allowed to upload or link to your own custom, multi-dimensional (3D) exhibit with virtual walkthroughs, video conferencing with your sales reps, customized live demos and pre-set meetings? Just like show managers have controlled live exhibitors’ abilities to customize their show presence with their standardized rules and regulations, they are reluctant to relinquish control to exhibitors who want to go the extra mile to stand out for fear of making their vanilla ones look shabby.

9

Remember, your marketing options still extend beyond your virtual “booth” space.

Don’t let show management dictate what your overall brand’s marketing campaign will look like beyond whatever virtual exhibit package you are purchasing. Consider mailing your best customers and

prospects a custom SWAG box containing their selection of beer, wine, liquor or mocktail ingredients and “paired” snacks for a company-sponsored Zoom happy hour held the evening before show opening. Or consider a food-delivery e-gift card for lunch the day of the show.

You can also generate excitement (and even some social media buzz) using gamification like scavenger hunts or trivia quizzes for valuable prizes or bragging rights.

10

Plan your integrated pre-show promotion, at-show engagement and post-show follow-up with your booth visitors.

Consider offering your best customer/evangelists/influencers “scholarships” to attend the virtual event and post to social media about your offerings. Other opportunities to reach out to your customers can include speakerships on a panel in a break-out room that your company is sponsoring, gamification with leaderboards announcing winners on social media, sponsored entertainment breaks, etc.

Use all three opportunities to reach out.

11

Myth: Just because your exhibit’s “virtual,” you don’t need both planning and virtual onsite staff.

For an average virtual exhibit, you’ll still need to design it, and create and upload your profile, demos, videos and .pdfs of your sales literature. And based on your anticipated level of attendee traffic, you will

still need to staff—and, more importantly, train those staffers on the skills to best engage visitors virtually—to work in your exhibit during show hours. Who will greet your guests in your exhibit chat room, and what contact information will they gather via virtual badge scanning, and how? How will this contact information be passed on to a sales representative, who will qualify them to find out their needs and give them a virtual exhibit tour?

Will the same staff person share the self-guided demo you’ve uploaded, or can they move to a private chat room for a custom demo? Or can a one-on-one virtual meeting with a product specialist be easily scheduled online at a better time outside of the virtual show hours? And just like a live event, somebody has to get all these leads into the company’s CRM system for further analysis and follow-up.

12

Determine who will manage your ongoing presence on the show’s virtual website.

After virtual show hours, what will your visitors’ access to your on-demand virtual exhibit on the show’s website look like? Will they be able to access your staff to chat or schedule a video call for a demo, even if they are in a global—and vastly different—time zone? And once you’re back on the “show circuit” with multiple virtual exhibits online concurrently, how will you manage the traffic and inbound requests for information

from multiple virtual shows?

Is it possible to redirect your individual show presence to a landing page on your own company’s website, and build a more engaging, experiential exhibit there, for everyone to access that funnels all inquiries to a centralized staff?

Don’t give up on virtual exhibits too easily. There is potential there (although it sure isn’t equivalent to the excitement on our live show floors!). As our industry evolves through the pandemic, platforms allow more engagement, and show managers learn that what they’re currently offering us doesn’t help us engage with our target audience, expect to see improvements in how we can still reach our virtual booth visitors.

Candy Adams, known throughout the exhibit industry as “The Booth Mom,®” is a hands-on exhibit project manager who’s earned six industry certifications and has more than 495 shows under her belt. As an accomplished veteran exhibit marketing consultant and exhibit staff “boothmanship” and exhibit management trainer, she specializes in sharing her knowledge and experience to guide exhibitors through the tradeshow maze, assuring they maximize their return on investment while cutting exhibiting costs. A prolific, award-winning writer and trainer on exhibiting best practices, she’s published more than 400 articles and blogs and trained tens of thousands of exhibit managers on all aspects of tradeshow exhibit management in her 29-year career. For more info, visit http://www.BoothMom.com.

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TRADESHOW MARKETING STRATEGIES

Why Virtual Events Aren’t Popular and the Traditional Tradeshow Will Never Die

by Guy Zwick

W

hen COVID-19 hit with a vengeance and organizers started pulling the plug on their planned tradeshows, there was one “solution” on everyone’s mind: put the shows into a virtual format. I mean, the rest of the world was going virtual, so why shouldn’t they?

Wasn’t that the best, easiest solution in a time like now?

Well, most people seemed to think so—but I never did.

In fact, it’s my strong belief that investing in virtual tradeshows is an enormous waste of money for everyone. And I have precedent to back up my beliefs. Around 10 years ago, there was a virtual movement in the industry. Some people got together and started thinking about how much money they could save by putting on their own virtual program, inviting customers and doing things virtually. They figured they’d have access to the same group of people they would at an actual show, but spend way less money. So, did it work?

Eh, no. One of our customers (a tech company, no less) dropped their entire tradeshow program back then, thinking they could build a virtual event instead. Two years into the experiment, they scrapped the whole thing.

It simply didn’t work, and they went back to doing nothing but in-person tradeshows.

Of course, this is anecdotal, @ExhibitCityNews

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but this customer wasn’t the only one who had such an experience. The reason? Virtual trade shows don’t work.

Here’s why, and why traditional shows will come back with a roar when our world has COVID-19 under control.

Not a One-For-One Exchange It makes total sense that the industry would scramble to come up with another solution when COVID-19 hit, and I understand that. It sounds reasonable. Event owners still want their events to happen in some way, or else they lose a ton of money. They’re invested in the show already, so they want to get some sort of return on that. But, a virtual show, or a walk-through tradeshow with technology beaming in humans virtually is not equal to in-person shows. It’s just not a replacement.

It’d be one thing if virtual shows had been in the works for several years, undergoing extensive development and resulting in an entirely new way of doing shows. But this last-minute transition to a virtual environment was quickly put together and frankly feels like everyone is grasping at straws. No one wants to look at a computer rendering of a human being or a booth space, or sit through back-to-back webinars. Seriously, no one.

Instead of force-fitting a

formerly in-person show into a virtual environment, organizers would be far better off pivoting completely. Instead, fork over $100K to do some commercials or videos you can put on YouTube and direct people to. You’ll get way better engagement than you would with a virtual tradeshow attempt, where no one pays attention and nothing is gained.

More Than a Tradeshow There was a time when tradeshows were thought of as boring conferences with even more boring exhibit halls. Attending them was an obligation, not a privilege.

But businesses and marketers have increasingly upped the ante and the tables have turned. Until the new coronavirus, the tradeshow industry was booming because the shows had become so much more than “just” tradeshows.

Teams looked forward to banding together, going to Vegas or San Francisco or fill-in-the-blank-with-an-exciting-destination and hooting it up as a group. The idea of gathering with customers and vendors in person was exhilarating. Plus, tradeshow orga-

nizers were making the events larger than life. They became known for camaraderie, headlining concerts, comedic performances and energy as high as a playoff NBA game.

Wired for Connection All the excitement was great, but the number one reason that traditional tradeshows will come back with a boom is because people crave human interaction. Even before COVID-19, our person-to-person interactions were dwindling. We order everything on Amazon, and consider social media platforms to be the foundation of our social lives. People are wired to be together, and tradeshows present a perfect opportunity to come together and enjoy that togetherness.

Now, more than ever before, we’ve been stuck at home in isolation. After the new coronavirus is no longer a pressing concern, imagine how much people will want that face time. Even if it’s a slow climb back, with fewer attendees at first, the right attendees will be there. We saw something similar in the industry after 9/11, where post-9/11 attendance was down by 75 percent or so at many shows, but the people who were going were the key decision-makers.

It won’t happen all at once, but the industry will be back, bigger than ever. In the meantime, do your business a favor and consider holding out for the real deal rather than force-fitting something virtual.

It will pay off in the long run.

Guy Zwick is chief creative officer/ owner of Highway 85 Creative, a creative company based in Glendale, AZ.

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AIPC

Yes, We Did & Yes, We Will!

by Sven Bossu, CEO AIPC

A

t the end of September, AIPC brought its community together for the 2020 annual conference in Paris. Given travel restrictions, we decided to make it a hybrid conference which resulted in an event which was both intimate and global. The ambition was to provide our members with a holistic view on the future of organized events and that is exactly what they got.

Both the venue and the on-site participants were simply delighted to have a face-to-face meeting and be able to network as we all used to do. There was definitely a feeling of “yes, we can”—and more importantly: “yes, we must.” And that was also the key message we got from almost all the speakers —from the chief marketing officer of Deutsche Bank to the senior event director of SAP: physical events will come back, because they are needed to trigger innovation and relaunch the economy. At the same time, there is the acknowledgement that digitalization— which is nothing new—is now at the level everybody expected it to be … in 10 years.

As a result, all the models we have used until now are considered broken and all players in the event value chain are indeed re-inventing themselves. As an example,

Peter King

the CEO of ACCOR Europe explained how the group now rents out rooms as day offices, as in some cases working from home is simply not possible.

Sometimes it can be inspiring to look at other industries and see how they dealt with existential crises like these.

Mark Gallagher, who comes with a Formula 1 background, did provide that inspiration. In the last 30 years, Formula had to—as a result of circumstances out of its control—evolve from a tobacco-sponsored car racing business into a global technology business. Revenue sources representing 80 percent of total income for decades disappeared in less than three years and other business models had to be re-invented from scratch.

And time after time, Formula 1 re-emerged because the different teams—despite the fact that they are fierce competitors— came together in times of crises to come up with solutions.

In the event industry, we will go through a similar catharsis. Technology will no longer be an “add-on” to physical events. Instead it will be “digital first” and venues will become content incuba-

tors, offering event organizers multi-channel solutions to bring content in different formats to their community. And event organizers will need to redefine how they engage with their community and deliver content in formats which are in line with the desires and expectations of the customer.

Figuring out how this can be achieved in a way which brings value to all the different parties involved is still an area in full exploration. Even global technology companies, such as Cisco of SAP, have not fully nailed down the concept of hybrid events. But the common thread was that we—as an industry —can come out stronger out of this if we collaborate. In some cases, speakers were very explicit and actually reached out to the AIPC community to come up with solutions.

As the International Association of Convention Centres, AIPC has a mission to do exactly that: create a platform where knowledge is shared, offer opportunities to learn from each other and define how the next normal will look like—in partnership with all the stakeholders within the

ecosystem. And this annual conference was definitely a firm step in that direction.

Sven Bossu was appointed as AIPC’s first CEO on May 1. In his previous role, Bossu was the managing director for innovation at ESTRO, the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology. He also has eight years of experience in the meetings industry from his time at SWIFT, where he was responsible for the organization of their world-renowned SIBOS conference. Contact him at sven.bossu@aipc.org.

AIPC represents a global network of more than 190 leading centers in 64 countries with the active involvement of more than 1,000 management-level professionals worldwide. It is committed to encouraging and recognizing excellence in convention center management, based on the diverse experience and expertise of its international representation, and maintains a variety of educational, research, networking and standards programs to achieve this. AIPC also celebrates and promotes the essential role of the international meetings industry in supporting economic, academic and professional development and enhancing global relations amongst highly diverse business and cultural interests. For more info, visit aipc.org.

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Willwork Global Event Services is proud to support COVID-19 recovery efforts with our resources and solutions

www.willwork.com | 508.230.3170

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SHOP TO SHOWFLOOR An In-Depth Look into Today’s World of I&D and Event Labor

Condit Exhibit’s expert fabricator Phil Syman, who has more than 40 years of experience in the industry.

The Value of Carpet in a Tradeshow & Special Event Environment Pg. 34-35

The Rigging World: Eyebolts...The Educational Saga Continues Pg. 36

Corp. Profile: Condit Exhibits Q&A with Jenny Koehn, VP of Sales at Condit Exhibits Pg. 38-39

This section is dedicated to all exhibit house professionals, as well as all exhibit managers and tradeshow coordinators worldwide.

For advertising information and rates, please call our offices at 702-309-8023 and ask for sales. @ExhibitCityNews

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SHOP to SHOWFLOOR I&D and Event Labor

The Value of Carpet in a Tradeshow & Special Event Environment Patrick Putzer

by Patrick Putzer

F

irst, I would like to start by stating the fact that no one is more surprised than I am that I am sitting at my kitchen table crafting a letter about reopening tradeshows when September 2020 was going to be the biggest month of my tradeshow career with IMTS and MinExpo happening on top of the normally heavy September show schedule.

For more than 44 years, Emerald Carpets has manufactured the safest and most sustainable carpets available to the tradeshow industry. These products are available through almost every general service contractor in North America. Unfortunately, we are all hurting through something out of our control and many of the great people in our industry have been furloughed or lost their jobs. Under normal cir-

cumstances, you can get answers from these professionals on all items including flooring products but in many cases there is not anyone to get these answers for you today. I wanted to take this time to provide answers or correct statements about the health and safety and sustainability of carpets in a tradeshow environment.

Emerald Carpets sponsored the Together Again Expo and supplied all of the aisle carpet for this event in an effort to support the industry with a proper event—after all, a tradeshow without aisle carpet has the appearance of a flea market and not a tradeshow! My team and I read and review as many articles, plans for reopening and publications as we can. The two takeaways I see from all of our associations and publications is that we all want to get back to work as soon as we safely can

and that there is inconsistency in the form of how we do this and what items and policies are safe and healthy. As a 25year tradeshow industry veteran, I have a good understanding of how our industry works and I have an even better understanding of flooring, most specifically aisle carpets and booth carpets.

In all of the research we have done there are two topics that come up when flooring is mentioned in the many resources available for the safe reopening of tradeshows. The first topic is health and safety of flooring and the second is sustainability of flooring when the industry returns. Below I will outline the health and safety benefits of carpet versus alternative flooring options and outline the truths and myths of carpet sustainability in a tradeshow environment.

Carpet Comparison to Hard Surface Flooring or Concrete Flooring in a Tradeshow Environment

The majority of airborne pollutants in public facilities such as convention centers, stadiums/arenas and schools are outdoor-sourced. Dust, pollen and potentially viruses

are introduced from an outside source. It is in the best interests of all of these facilities to have stringent cleaning policies to protect both the facility as well as the attendees and employees.

Below outlines the myths and realities of carpet and hard surfaces as it relates to cleaning and public safety: Reality – An equal amount of airborne pollutants are introduced to a tradeshow environment from the outside from all products necessary to produce a tradeshow. The majority of these products have been proven to emit low or no VOCS. These are tried-and-true products such as signs, graphics, furniture, pipe and drape, walls, floor covering and booth properties. The remainder of the air pollutants are from the exhibitors themselves.

Myth – Hard surface or concrete flooring is healthier than carpet.

Reality – Carpet traps airborne pollutants and keeps four times more pollutants out of the breathing zone.

Myth – Hard surfaces are easier to clean than carpet.

Reality – Carpets vacuumed on a daily basis remove more airborne pollutants than hard surface since they trap more of the pollutants than hard surfaces. Carpets can also be safely vacuumed with attendees present. If hard surfaces are not cleaned properly they are twice as likely to reintroduce pollutants in the breathing zone.

Reality – To clean hard surface flooring effectively moisture must be added to the process. This can be done directly to the hard surface in the form of a liquid cleaner or by some type of sprayer or fogger. Although safe for

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human contact, this is not an ideal cleaning process when attendees are present due to the additional safety concerns such as slipping and falling on a wet hard surface.

Additional benefits to carpet over concrete in a tradeshow environment not related to health and cleaning: Reality – Carpets add to the design and look of a tradeshow. Carpets hide the unsightly concrete floor in the convention center. Carpets can help separate areas or zones of a tradeshow by using different colors or designs in various areas of the convention center.

Reality – Carpet provides thermal insulation over the concrete floors which reduces energy consumption. The tradeshow floor is warmer in the cold months and cooler in the warmer months due to this insulation between the attendee and the concrete floor.

Reality – Carpet absorbs noise and allows for better face-to-face communications without any unnecessary distractions in a tradeshow environment.

Sustainability of Carpet in a Tradeshow Environment

Environmental concerns and how we produce “green” tradeshows has been a hot topic for almost two decades now. There are many companies and products that are presented as green, however, these products are not necessarily the most sustainable products available in a tradeshow application.

Below I will outline some realities and myths of carpet and flooring products used on the tradeshow floor.

Myth – carpets containing recycled content are ideal for tradeshow use. @ExhibitCityNews

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Reality - These carpets are marketed for residential or commercial applications where they are permanently installed and are designed to have a useful life cycle in these specific applications, typically years in length. When used on a tradeshow floor these products are used in booth space areas and most often only see one use or a life cycle of less than a week.

The energy required to recycle these products is equal to or greater than the energy necessary to produce the product originally. These are also the same flooring products that exhibitors leave behind that typically end up in the dumpster after the tradeshow.

Reality – Domestically produced aisle carpets that have been popular in the tradeshow environment are the most sustainable flooring option available. These aisle carpets have been engineered to be used multiple times. Aisle carpet available through general service companies reaches the tradeshow floor an average of five times and in many cases 10+ times depending on the types of shows which the carpet is used. Aisle carpets that are used a minimum of five times save over 80 percent in energy consumption over life cycle of the carpet versus onetime-use flooring that potentially can be recycled.

Myth – Carpet makes up a large portion of the landfill waste from tradeshows.

Reality - An estimated 3-5 percent of landfill waste is carpet. This is carpet that exhibitors leave in their booth space that does not belong to the general service contractor. Since carpet makes up a much greater percentage of the weight on a tradeshow

floor the real question is what is making up the other 95 percent of waste that goes to the landfill?

Nearly 100 percent of the carpet supplied by general service contractors is returned to their respective carpet depots. Although there is some percentage of waste on every tradeshow, the GC attempts to reuse all carpets. Reuse consumes less than 1 percent of the energy that is required to recycle carpet. The financial impact is just as important as sustainability when it comes to reuse of carpet. Carpet is an asset for the general service contractor just as tables, chairs, pipe and drape, and it is in the best financial interest of the GC to get the most uses out of any asset they own.

Myth – Needlefelt flooring produced internationally is a good “green” option to traditional aisle carpets.

Reality - This product is marketed as a 100 percent recyclable product. It is true that some of these offerings are recyclable and may not end up in the landfill, however, the energy necessary to recycle this one use product is not a true sustainable option for the tradeshow industry.

The energy necessary to recycle this product is about equal to the energy used to produce it originally. Compared to traditional multi-use tradeshow carpets this “green” needlefelt product can consume 10 to 20 times more energy to produce and recycle.

Most flooring products can be recycled but the cost to recycle is prohibitive. After the end of the carpet’s tradeshow life, repurposing becomes a better alternative than recycling.

The technology is available to

enhance the current multi-use aisle carpets into a 100 percent recyclable product that has a positive value once it has been converted back to its original raw material state. Emerald Carpets is making the necessary multi-million dollar investment in this technology. The question remains whether or not the industry is ready to invest in more than catchy marketing statements. Many show management companies request or demand a “green” flooring product but then use less sustainable options on their shows than the current multi-use aisle carpets. These companies are the same companies that demand sustainable products but are not willing to pay for true sustainable products.

In summary, Emerald Carpets will continue to produce the most sustainable flooring products for the tradeshow industry that can be obtained through your current general service contractors just as we have done for the past 44 years. As the only carpet manufacturer focused on the tradeshow industry we will be adding an anti-microbial sanitizing agent to all of our carpet styles to enhance an already safe flooring option. We will continue to invest in new technology that will enhance an already sustainable product for the tradeshow industry.

I look forward to the day I can see my friends and business partners in person instead of on my computer screen. Stay safe and hopefully I will see you all soon at the next industry event or on the tradeshow floor.

Patrick Putzer is a 25 year industry veteran and VP Emerald Carpets. He can be reached at patrickputzer@ emeraldcarpets.com.

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SHOP to SHOWFLOOR I&D and Event Labor

THE RIGGING WORLD

Eyebolts...the Educational Saga Continues!

L

ast issue I talked about the importance of always rigging with the correct eyebolts. Well, this educational saga continues with a real-life story that illustrates why using the correct eyebolts is absolutely crucial!

It was 2018. I was assigned the responsibility to design and manage the rigging installation for a very prominent exhibitor at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It turned out, my team and I would be working for the same company that the previous year, had rigged a CES booth 180 degrees out. As we were sitting in a production meeting with these folks, this company’s senior project manager started the discussion by

telling our team the story of the previous year’s fiasco and how that can’t happen again.

I explained that we knew all about the incident and provided assurance that the booth would be rigged in the correct orientation, and the conversation moved on. As the orientation and planning continued, we learned something interesting about the project: the 15K 100’ LED wall that would span the booth was to have a custom-made bumper that would be built by their shop. This raised immediate concerns with us.

I asked why the standard bumper that comes with the LED wall wouldn’t be used.

The reason? The exhibitor

wanted a white bumper to match the décor in the booth.

Fortunately, there are rules for this sort of thing. All custom-made rigging apparatuses to be used for overhead lifting (below-the-hook lifting hardware, for instance), must be designed by a structural engineer and must adhere to ASME Standards and OSHA CFRs. When I told the PM that it was critical that this bumper be engineered and built exactly to ASME Standards and OSHA CFRs, he assured us that it would be. I made sure to mention that detailed drawings had to be submitted, and that they had to have a structural engineer’s stamp from the engineer registered in the state that the custom rigging device would be used.

After leaving this meeting, I called the General Rigging Foreman for the General Contractor overseeing the tradeshow. It was paramount that the supervisor know about this custom bumper the booth builder intended to fabricate.

I recommended sending the

booth builder’s project manager the ASME Standards and OSHA CFRs pertaining to the requirements for custom “below the hook” rigging equipment. The foreman agreed and sent all the pertinent information to the exhibit house.

Fast forward to December 22 at the convention center: the booth was looking great; that morning we were waiting for the custom 100’ LED bumper to arrive. Not too long after starting the day, a forklift approached the booth, pushing a large skid across the floor. Strapped down to this pallet were five 20-foot-long pieces of 4’x6” HSS tube steel.

I immediately spied a serious problem with the fabrication.

The problem? The half-inch Chicago eyebolts that were intended for the “pick-up” points on the bumper’s top, that oneton chain hoists would attach to (in order to lift and support the LED wall), had been welded! Eyebolts are NEVER to be welded; a pad-eye can be welded, but not an eyebolt.

This is a terrible practice that should never happen.

Next issue will have the rest of this very serious story as the educational saga continues. For now and ‘till next time…RIG SAFE, RIG RIGHT, RIG FOR SUCCESS! Andrew Fulton is dir. of rigging/part owner of Rigging International Group, a Las Vegas-based rope access company that provides rope access training, rigging, welding, NDT inspection and highly-skilled technicians who specialize in challenging work at height projects for various industries.

Currently, he is the lead production rigger at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center and manages projects for the Las Vegas PRG office. He is available for consultation and training and can be reached at andrew@rigintlgrp.com.

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SHOP to SHOWFLOOR I&D and Event Labor

Condit’s manufacturing and fabrication floor in Denver.

The Condit shop employs a multitude of construction disciplines including wood, laminate, paint, metal, fabric, acrylic, and extruded aluminum.

Q&A with Jenny Koehn, VP of Sales at Condit Exhibits ECN: Condit is celebrating their 75th anniversary in 2020. What is the history of the company? What were the early days like?

William H. Condit (Bill for short) founded Condit as Denver’s first graphic design agency. As a World War II veteran, he recovered from illness and injury in the Estes Park area.

He made his way down the mountain after his recovery, and he set up shop in a windowless attic on Colfax with just one other employee.

Condit headquarters bounced all around Denver as the company grew and evolved—first into an ad agency, then a cabinet maker, and eventually morphing into the exhibit design and fabricator we are today. Bill, like Condit, was truly mul-

tifaceted—he flew planes, taught himself to play harmonica, and was a master watercolorist. The Colorado license plate is based off one of his paintings!

ECN: What challenges has Condit faced over more than seven decades in business?

Condit has weathered a number of storms throughout the years. Since the turn of the millennium, the aftermath of 9/11 and the economic recession of 2008 have been the most staggering, financially.

We’ve watched Colorado grow into one of the more populous states in the U.S., which has brought with it new opportunities, like a more diverse workforce and an expanded local client base, but also increased competition and

higher regional taxes.

As such a long-lived organization, Condit has been continuously challenged by shifts in advertising and business-to-business communicationas well as advancements in machining and manufacturing technology. The nature of faceto-face marketing and events has also undergone significant transformation since we built our first booth.

ECN: How has Condit changed since 1945? How does the company differentiate in a crowded market and achieve this kind of longevity?

Beyond the refocusing of our business toward exhibits, we concentrate on three key pillars to set ourselves apart.

The first is our commitment to quality. When you work with Condit on a project, you are getting a premium product in every sense of the word. From design through fabrication and all the way to labor, storage and maintenance, everything is white glove. Condit booths have a distinctive durability and a caliber of construction that customers notice and appreciate.

Over the years, we continue to perfect our inJenny house methodKoehn ologies to give our clients the best experience possible every time they exhibit.

The second is our customization. Our collaborative design process is extensive, fostering in-depth

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conversations between our design team and the brands and businesses we serve.

Nothing is too outside the box, and our design team thrives on the wild and the strange, whether it’s a new component material, an unusual centerpiece or an allaround extraordinary idea.

In 70 years, we’ve manifested, refined and reinvented more custom designs than we can count!

The third is our culture.

It’s become a bit of a trendy expression these days, but we mean it: we’re a family.

For us, that translates to both the fun (the road trips, the group hikes, and the after-work drinks—sometimes all in the same weekend!) and the tough (holding each other accountable, cutting back when necessary and quashing disagreements before they start). Through the decades, we’ve worked (extremely) hard, and we’ve played hard, too.

ECN: What is Condit’s plan for future growth and expansion?

In late 2019, we acquired Exhibit Source, Inc., based in Chicago. This acquisition added new markets, clients and capabilities to the portfolios of both organizations. As a result of the new partnership, the door is open to a whole range of services which were previously not easily available to ESI’s clients. Sculptural metalwork, advanced presentation technologies like digital signage and holograms, and direct printing on glass, metal, wood or whatever you can imagine are now part of the offering. With a secondary @ExhibitCityNews

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Condit’s Creative Campground in Denver. In this innovative space, Condit’s design team explores how texture, material, lighting, graphic hierarchy, and space planning contribute to the successful communication of their clients’ brands.

warehouse and manufacturing facility in Chicago, Condit can now better service our clients and prospects east of the Mississippi.

Additionally, Condit is focusing on the permanent installations arm of our business this year—echoing back to our cabinet-making days of yore.

Tradeshows have traditionally been our “bread and butter,” but we’ve always had these capabilities behind the scenes. In fact, we do a significant number of projects for museums, nature centers and educational facilities in the Mountain West region. We also design, fabricate and install quite a few corporate projects—like office timelines, 3D graphics and custom furniture.

We are working to develop our presence in the millwork space and give our expert woodworkers and metal workers, most of whom have been with us over 20 years now, a chance to really shine! We’re pleased to have some contracting and subcontracting opportunities in the pipeline there too.

ECN: How is Condit weathering COVID?

COVID-19 certainly took Condit (and the rest of the world) by surprise, and we are doing our best to pivot where possible. We’ve cut back where we can (and where we must in some cases), and we are diligently pursuing several new and innovative offerings we can share with our clients and prospects to add value to their event marketing program as it evolves.

In the third quarter, we launched our own full-service virtual exhibit platform.

With detailed 3D renderings, interactive functionality and integrated analytics, we believe this will be a fantastic resource for businesses and brands that are exhibiting virtually or simply looking for an experiential standalone digital marketing piece.

In anticipation of events and mass gatherings like tradeshows and conferences resuming, our design team is constantly thinking up new layouts and features to adhere to the latest social distancing parameters and government-mandated health requirements. They are also refreshing existing client

booth designs to be more safety-forward, particularly for those companies in the food/beverage space and the healthcare industry.

Lastly, Condit is also crafting a couple of solutions for offices, schools and other facilities. These include products like sneeze guards, floor decals, masks, environmental signage, sanitizer stations, antimicrobial flooring and the like. On a larger scale, our temporary structures can also be used as testing centers, waiting rooms, and more.

ECN: In closing, what are your thoughts on the future of the events industry and faceto-face marketing?

Overall, we are hopeful for the eventual rebound of the exhibitions industry.

While we do believe that face-to-face marketing has been forever altered by the pandemic, we are optimistic for the return of safe live events and grateful for the opportunity to engage in new marketing technologies and event techniques like virtual exhibits, hybrid events and everywhere in between.

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CONVENTION CENTER SPOTLIGHT

EAT

By F. Andrew Taylor

T

he nearly 300,000 sq.ft. Kentucky International Convention Center opened in 1977 just two blocks from the Ohio River in Louisville’s historic downtown. The land had previously been the Tyler block; a large building had stood there for a century and was an impressive structure in its own right, reflecting the architectural style of its time. KICC replaced the previous convention center, now called Louisville Gardens. That facility went by the name the Louisville Convention Center in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

In 2016 the KICC shut down for a two year renovation and expansion, lead by EOP Architects, global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK, and Hunt Construction Group. More than 60 sub-contractors worked on the $207 million expansion which increased the size of the structure by a third. The facility reopened in 2018 with much fanfare and now includes a 40,000-sq.ft., column-free ballroom, 52 meeting rooms, and a 175-seat tiered conference theater.

Levy Restaurants operates several venues within the KICC, notably Oak & Brew, a “coffee by day, bourbon by night” concept. It serves grab-and-go items in the morning and transforms

into a bourbon bar later in the day with sampling sessions available from area distilleries.

Despite its lack of a permanent arena, the facility has hosted several sporting events. These include both mens and womens basketball games, held in one of the exhibit halls temporarily converted into an arena with approximately 7,000 seats.

In May of 2020 the KICC earned a LEED Silver certification based on green changes made during the recent renovation. The upgrades included low-flow plumbing fixtures, reducing water usage throughout the facility by 32 percent, LED and occupancy sensor lighting. The certification was bestowed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Levy Restaurants, which partners with the KICC, also implemented their own green changes, reducing food waste through local donations and composting.

The KICC recently received GBAC (Global Biorisk Advisory Council) Star accreditation, the gold standard in outbreak prevention, response and recovery. The KICC and Kentucky Exposition Center are the first centers in Kentucky to have received this accreditation.

SLEEP The Galt House, 140 N Fourth St. is on the waterfront and calls itself the “official hotel” of all that matters. It is centrally located and unusual enough that it is hard to miss. For those seeking a truly unique hotel experience, 21c Museum Hotel Louisville - MGallery, 700 West Main St., is a boutique hotel and contemporary art museum.

For a more intimate setting, there is the Vu Guesthouse, 822 S Floyd St., which is located in the historic Smoketown neighborhood. It was created from the historic remnants of a tobacco warehouse decommission in 1865 and transformed into a 34-room, contemporary boutique hotel.

PLAY The museum district is a must, with the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, the Kentucky Science Center, The Mohammed Ali Center and more. There are, of course, attractions highlighting the area’s distilling tradition, including Kentucky Peerless Distilling, Angel’s Envy Distillery and the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience. Fourth Street Live! offers shopping just blocks from the KICC. For those looking for something you can’t do just anywhere, Belle of Louisville Riverboats offers excursions on the Ohio including a one hour Harbor History cruise, longer sightseeing cruises and dining cruises.

Photo courtest of KICC, by Esto Photo, EOP Architects & HOK Chicago Architects

KICC Features Include a Bourbon Bar

If you’re going to eat in the area around the KICC, you should be prepared to drink, or at least be around people for whom the bourbon is just as, if not more, important than the bouillabaisse. Jack Ruby’s, 1007 Bardstown Rd. was opened in 1933 by Fry and his wife, Flossie. Fry was a bit of a man’s man and it became a sportsman’s hangout. Doc’s Bourbon Bar, 129 W Main St. has a relatively small, but flavorful menu ranging from popcorn (with maple roasted peanuts and bacon) to beef tartare.

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COMPLETED IN 7 DAYS

WAREHOUSING MATERIALS

DISMANTLING LABOR

DISMANTLING THE BOSTON CONVENTION CENTER INTO BOSTON HOPE WITH OUR PROFESSIONAL INSTALLATION & DISMANTLE LABOR.

A new story is being written about Detroit and the meeting industry we all care deeply about. As we dedicate ourselves to the new realities of meetings, our customers’ safety has become The Center of it All. Now, we look to what is important beyond our 723,000 square feet of exhibit space and being the 17th largest convention center in the country. The new story being written is one about the character of our community and the places we gather.

We look forward to meeting again.

@ExhibitCityNews

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tcfcenterdetroit.com | 313.877.8214

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ASSOCIATION NEWS

Your Invitation to EDPA ACCESS 2020 is Here!

By H. K. Wilson

E

DPA Executive Director Dasher Lowe recently announced that registration for EDPA ACCESS 2020, the organization’s signature annual event, is now open. This year’s hybrid live/ virtual event will take place Dec. 1-3 at the La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas.

“All necessary safety precautions are being implemented to ensure that ACCESS is held in a sanitized and thoughtfully-planned environment,” says Lowe. “Because of this, we will be capping registration for

the live event at 175 attendees so that our use of space is compliant with local social distancing guidelines.”

This year’s focus is on exploring solutions for getting the industry back to business. “EDPA is committed to providing our members—and the industry—with tools for reopening the industry and strategies for strengthening our member companies as we move forward,” he adds.

The roster also includes two powerhouse keynote speakers. Jim Gilmore, author of,

CONCERTS CONVENTIONS DINING ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT SHOPPING SPORTING EVENTS

ROSEMONT’S IMPACT FIELD

“The Experience Economy,” will explore the topic: “Are We Still Experienced? – Reflections on the Experience Economy in and Beyond the Corona Crisis.” Also, 360 Live MediaFounder and CEO Don Neal will present: “What’s New. What’s Not. What to Do. Adapting to the New Model for Business Events in 2021.”

EDPA ACCESS will also include a golf outing, Segway tours and a gala focused on giving and supporting.

Due to the hardships brought about by COVID, fees for ACCESS 2020 have been greatly reduced. Lowe encourages those who can to join them in San Antonio.

“More than ever, it’s crucial that we come together to show the business community that we are committed to the relaunching of face-to-face events. Please make plans to join us now,” says Lowe.

For more info and to register, visit edpa.com/access.

EDPA Upper Midwest On Oct. 14, EDPA Upper Midwest chapter hosted a Zoom presentation featuring EXHIBITOR’s senior writer Charles Pappas. Pappas provided an update on COVID-19 and a summary of its impact on the face-toface marketing industry here and abroad. He answered pressing questions about how tradeshows are overcoming the challenges of the pandemic by implementing measures including face masks, temperature testing, rigorous hotel room cleaning and contact tracing. The discussion was moderated by EXHIBITOR’s CMO John Pavek.

EDPA Texas The stresses caused by COVID are contributing to a spike in depression and mental health concerns around the world. On Oct. 30, EDPA Texas chapter hosted a Zoom mental health panel. Contributors included psychotherapist and director of operations at Chupik Counseling, Cindy Cassell; the director of clinical services at WellBridge Hospital Greater Dallas, Megan Hickman; and CEO of 15 Degrees North Consulting, LLC, CW Tillman. They each offered information and resources relating to suicide, suicide prevention, grief, depression and survivors’ remorse. The event is now available via video on all of the chapter’s social media platforms.

In addition to its regular Wednesday Zoom meetings, EDPA Texas is also organizing a “Share Your Holiday Traditions” project for November. “This will be a conversation where people can share family recipes and traditions before the holiday season,” says Matthew Little, chapter president.

EDPA Midwest Chapter On Oct. 15, EDPA Midwest hosted a Zoom discussion called “Refocus Now” presented

by Julie Couret, who detailed what everyone can do right now to refocus and remain relevant in their careers, whether they are employed, furloughed or seeking employment...

Due to space limitations, to read the rest of the EDPA Chapters Roundup, please visit ECN’s website and type EDPA in the search box.

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

People on the Move

I

nforma Markets is bringing together its North America-headquartered brands, which include Natural Products Expo, World of Concrete, Supplyside West and MAGIC, under a single leadership team, led by Nancy Walsh (right), who has been promoted to the role of president, North America, for Informa Markets.

Reed Exhibitions has created a unified and single management team called Reed Exhibitions Latin America (RX LATAM).

Claudio Della Nina, currently CEO of Reed Exhibitions Brazil has been named managing director, LATAM. Michael Mandl, currently CEO of Reed Exhibitions Mexico has been named COO, LATAM. Janine de Nes, currently finance director of Reed Exhibitions Brazil has been named CFO, LATAM, and Roxana Gil, currently marketing director of Reed Exhibitions Mexico has been named marketing director, LATAM. Freeman, a leading provider of live events and brand experiences worldwide, named Janet Dell (right) as president and COO as of Nov. 1, following the retirement of 14-year Freeman veteran Albert Chew.

Tim Armstrong has joined Czarnowski, a multidimensional marketing agency, as a real-time tech artist out of their Portland, Maine, Visualization Studio and Jon DeGorsky joins Czarnowski as associate creative director in their Plano, Texas, studio/office.

Hamilton Exhibits, with 73 years of experience creating immersive brand spaces, welcomes Chip Carman as client team director.

Orbus Exhibit & Display Group, a wholesale supplier and manufacturer of display, exhibit, graphic and event solutions, welcomes Kyle Hayes, a custom fabric architecture expert, to the team per its recent acquisition of Fabric Images.

Global event and experiential market-

by Exhibit City News

ing agency Impact XM welcomed STAKDesign principals Stan Zalenski (principal) and Holly Zalenski (VP, sales) to its team.

Moss, a leading global provider of experiential marketing solutions, announces that Jason Popp (right), formerly president of international at GES, joins the company as president/CEO, succeeding Dan Patterson who is retiring.

Milestone Equipment Holdings, a national leader in transportation equipment leasing solutions, announced the addition of Martin Stammer as executive VP/CFO, to be based at the St. Charles, Mo., corporate headquarters.

NOISE Inc., a premium consumer brand activation agency, has appointed James Shulkin to the position of SVP & chief brand officer–Healthcare.

John Hogan has joined The Inception Company, home of the new virtual platform known as PANDO Meetings, as executive director, business development.

Volan Technology, the leader in AIbased safety and contact tracing software, named Shannon McCallum as VP of hospitality.

Simpleview, the worldwide leading provider of CRM, CMS, website design, digital marketing, revenue generation, and mobile technologies to DMOs, has promoted Kevin Bate to VP of global sales.

In association news, Didier Scaillet, CIS, CITP, has resigned as CEO of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence and the SITE Foundation after almost three years at the helm. PCMA named Jaime Bennett EMEA business director, and Ross Weitzberg, CEO of Exhibit Potential, joined the the EDPA SoCal chapter Board of Directors as vice president.

2020 International Exhibition Logistics Association elections were held by Zoom & email as four new exhibition logistics leaders were added to the IELA Board of Management, Lena Widman joins the IELA Committee and Guido Fornelli has been elected as 2020-2022 IELA chairman.

The American Society of Association Executives has promoted Mary Kate Cunningham, CAE, to senior VP of public policy and announced that 132 professionals Earned CAE this fall while the Event Industry Council welcomes 92 new CMPs. Michael Massari, chief sales officer for Caesars Entertainment, has been appointed co-chair of the Meetings Mean Business Coalition effective January 2021, joining co-chair Fred Dixon, president/CEO of NYC & Company.

In convention center/CVB news, David D. Ellis, president/CEO of Entergy New Orleans, has been appointed to the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority.

Royce Chwin was named president/CEO of Tourism Vancouver from Travel Alberta; the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority Board of Directors selected Charles Harris to be their next president/CEO as of Nov. 16; former North Carolina tourism executive Victoria “Vic” Isley will be president/CEO of Explore Asheville CVB starting Dec. 1.

Visit Anaheim’s Mindy Abel will bring 35 years of tourism, hospitality and event experience to the Anaheim CC as the new deputy director and David DiSalvo (left) has joined the team at the Owensboro CC as the director of sales.

In international news, real estate expert Martin Ecknig was named CEO of Messe Berlin, succeeding Christian Göke who left after 20 years.

46 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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IN MEMORIAM

David B. Nau May 17, 1949 – Oct. 18, 2020

D

avid Barry Nau, 71, an award-winning creative designer/manager, passed away Oct. 18 of natural causes in Medford, Oregon. He had moved there from the Washington, D.C. area in 2015.

Originally from Boston, he attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., with an Advertising Design & Visual Communications major, studying industrial, graphic and package designs. His career included positions as director of design, owner of an exhibit design company, salesman and senior exhibit designer. From his first job creating a stellated dodecahedron for a local artist to his time at Pratt Institute, he demonstrated the insights and skills that unfolded throughout his career as an industrial and commercial display and design artist. However, he never left his love of painting far behind.

His company, Earth Energy Art, featured “Paintings to enhance body, mind, and spirit using genuine gemstone and organic pigments - painted by watercolor artist David Nau." Colleague Keith Guyer wrote in his online guest book: “Dave and I first met and worked together at Sacks & Co in ‘86, he was the big shot custom exhibit designer that came to work for the portable & modular exhibit company. We often ventured @ExhibitCityNews

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Brian E. Phebus across the street for a couple adult beverages, this is where I first came to know David Nau as a person. We then joined forces again in the ‘90s at Access TCA. David was our go-to designer for all big projects, he always rose to the occasion with inspiring, cutting-edge design. We pitched many exhibits during our tenure at Access, and yes, we still went out after work once in a while to decompress. Glad to hear he had some retirement years in the beautiful Northwest to do what he loved. Fare thee well ole’ friend—eternal wisdom is at hand!”

Kevin Peetz, a fellow exhibit designer who also worked with David at Access TCA years ago, shared, “When you had to compete against him, you knew you were in for a battle. He forced you to work hard, to get the best out of you. He was a great friend and I’ll miss him.”

He leaves behind three sons: Sean, Adam and Timothy, his older brother, Richard (Kathy), his sister Kristen and her mother, Maryann. David was predeceased by his sister Diane, his mother, Ruth, and father, Dr. Otto S. Nau Jr. To honor him, his family asks you to see the beauty all around you in the natural world. To share a message in his guest book, visit https:// www.hillcrestmortuary.com/ guestbook/7185635.

Feb. 3, 1969 – Sept. 21, 2020

M

etro Exhibit Corp. owner Brian Everett Phebus, 51, of Naperville, Ill., passed away on Sept.

21. Born in Downers Grove, Ill., he earned a BS in Marketing & Exposition Mgmt. from University of Nevada-Las Vegas in 1991 and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. He received a Certificate in Business Administration at the Univ. of Illinois Chicago in 1997 and joined the family business Metro Exhibit Corp., a one-stop shop for tradeshows, museum installations and custom rental exhibits.

When the company expanded and moved to Romeoville in June 2016, he reached out to Lewis University and its career services department. At the time he said, “We have an aging workforce and I’ve been a firm believer in training the next generation. Lewis Univ. and Joliet Jr. College were both extremely responsive.

They returned calls and emails and invited me to career fairs.” Metro Exhibit Corp. became a sponsor of the Sales Excellence Program at Lewis.

On Nov. 6, 1993, he married Brenda Cross and they had three daughters, Brittany, Emily and Amy. He enjoyed gardening, fishing, spending time in the North Woods, but, most of all,

spending time with his family.

Mike Faase wrote in his online guest book, “Hey Brenda and the girls, Your husband/ father was a great guy to work with and have fun with. Brenda, I cannot tell you how many times I had a chance to break bread with you and Brian and all those times will always remain special to me. You two are and will always be a favorite of mine. Christy and I will add prayers to our thoughts about you and Brian.”

Friends Julie and John Rutter/Schulz also wrote, “Our thoughts are with you Brenda and girls. You couldn’t find anyone more devoted to family than Brian. He was a truly wonderful person in every way and he will be sadly missed by so many.”

Stephen & Lynne Holder wrote, “Words can not express the loss of a good friend I had in Brian. Rest in Peace my dear friend!”

He is survived by his loving wife Brenda; cherished daughters Brittany, Emily and Amy; beloved brother Richard Phebus, sisters Nikki (Patrick) Walsh and Tina (Jim) Mrozek.

Known as Funcle B of Ryan, Collin, Kari, Brendan, Shannon, Michael and Grace. He was preceded in death by his father, Richard C. Phebus.

Memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.dignitymemorial.com/ obituaries/lisle-il/brian-phebus-9375057 for the Phebus family.

Donations may be made in honor of Brian to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 47

11/8/20 10:10 AM

THE D.E.A.L. By Jeanne Brei

Dining, Entertainment, Attractions & Lodging

Brown Hotel’s English Grill

DINING

Louisville’s Neighborhoods Offer Southern Culinary Delights Louisville, Ky., may be on New York time but its rich Southern heritage and gentility put it squarely in the South as a hot spot for bluegrass music fans, bourbon drinkers, horse lovers and Derby Day revelers.

Louisville, like most cities, is made up of neighborhoods— but in addition to the usual Downtown, Old Louisville, East End and West Side, there are colorful descriptives such as the Highlands, Germantown, Butchertown, NuLu and Clifton & Crescent Hill. Louisville’s culinary star was on an upward trajectory prior to the lockdowns, and here’s some of the signature restaurants in Louisville that I hope will still be open when this miserable 2020 is finally over.

Of course, as a time-traveling afficionado, I recommend starting at the legendary Brown Hotel’s English Grill, one of the finest restaurants in Louisville.

They serve contemporary American cuisine with a Kentucky twist, including the famous Hot Brown—an open-faced turkey sandwich with bacon, tomatoes, and a delicate Mornay sauce—a dish they invented back in 1926 which is now a culinary musthave for visitors. “With dark oak paneling, lead glass windows, tracery ceilings, and equestrian paintings, this refined room has the atmosphere of a private club and its exceptional service and extensive wine list have earned the English Grill the coveted AAA Four Diamond Award for many years,” says their website. They also offer the Classic Chef’s Table, a seven-course meal prepared together with wine pairings from the English Grill’s sommelier.

Also downtown is Proof on Main, located within the 21c Museum Hotel, which opened

in 2006. The museum galleries spill into the dining room where rotating contemporary art exhibitions provide the backdrop to enjoy the amazing dishes created by Chef Levon Wallace.

Another fine-dining Louisville staple is Jack Fry’s in the Highlands neighborhood on Bardstown Road. Opening as a saloon in 1933 converted to an upscale restaurant in the ‘70s, Jack Fry’s still has live jazz and is consistently voted as one of the romantic restaurants in Louisville. They define themselves as American bistro fare with Southern influence and recommend making reservations a week in advance. Their long list of awards means the food is consistently delicious—especially the steaks and pork chops.

Other highly recommended restaurants in the Highlands neighborhood include Seviche (Latin-fusion cuisine), the Holy Grale (a century-old small church converted to an artisanal pub with locally sourced,

gourmet pub fare), Dragon King’s Daughter (sushi) and Lilly’s Bistro (Chef Kathy Cary specializes in “locavore-style, farm-fresh, and locally grown food” with an extensive wine list, desserts and dessert drinks). Another pioneer in Louisville’s farm-to-table movement, the Mayan Café, is in the NuLu neighborhood.

Louisville’s signature steakhouse, Pat’s Steakhouse, opened 50 years ago on Brownsboro Road in the Clifton neighborhood, and they’re known for their variety of side dishes served family style, as well as their aged, hand-cut beef, frog legs and pan-fried oysters.

If it’s BBQ you’re craving head to the St. Matthews neighborhood for a visit to the Frankfort Avenue Beer Depot.

Their two large smokers use the low-and-slow method to grill up some of the very best barbecue in town. They also have corn hole and makeshift mini-golf out back to go with your cold beer or bourbon.

If you’re in the Old Louisville neighborhood, you’ll find 610 Magnolia, Louisville’s only restaurant with an exclusive and ever-changing prix fixe-only menu. And next door to Churchill Downs, Wagner’s Pharmacy has been serving simple, homemade and hearty breakfast and lunch since 1922.

Finally, in the Germantown neighborhood is the wellloved, “best dive you’ll ever set foot in,” Hammerheads. Despite its tiny kitchen and frequently selling out of the daily specials before 8 p.m., Hammerheads smokes everything on site and serves up fresh entrees such as lamb ribs, PBLTs (that’s a pork belly, lettuce, and tomato sandwich) and duck breast tacos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

From Bourbon Tours & Bardstown Road to the Palace Theatre & 4th Street Live!

Begin your quest for fun at Fourth Street Live!, an entertainment complex housing the Hard Rock Café, the Improv Comedy Club, TGIFriday’s, Maker’s Mark Bourbon House and Lounge, Borders Books and Music, Hotel Nightclub, Saddle Ridge and others. Located on the section of Fourth Street between Muhammad Ali Boulevard and Liberty Street, it’s one of the premier nightlife hotspots in the city.

While Fourth Street Live! is the typical nightlife destination for out-of-towners, Bardstown Road is where the locals go. Bardstown Road, Louisville’s original “Restaurant Row,” is situated in the city’s Highlands neighborhood, the cultural heart of Louisville. You’ll see Victorian homes, turn-of-the-century

@ExhibitCityNews

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architecture and a bounty of local breweries. Great Flood and Cumberland Brewery offer their own brews, and the Holy Grale serves rare beers from around the world.

Louisville has been home to many distillers since Evan Williams marketed his first whiskey in the city in 1780.

Until the 1920s, a portion of Main Street was known as “Whiskey Row” when as many as 50 distilleries were active.

For the epitome of Kentucky uniqueness, there are several official bourbon offerings. The Kentucky Bourbon Trail (statewide), the Urban Bourbon Experience (citywide bars, restaurants, distilleries and events) and the Urban Bourbon Trail (citywide bars and restaurants—created in 2008 before Louisville had any distillery “experiences”).

Here’s their pitch: “Morning, noon or night, bourbon can be found in its natural environment…the Louisville bars and restaurants serving up America’s only native spirit in drinks and innovative dishes from mint julep pancakes to bourbon barrel smoked

salmon or treasure. a bourRededibon ball cated in milkshake.

1994, it now All of the hosts the Fourth Street Live! stops will have finest in touring their own version of Broadway attracLouisville’s two signature tions, classic films and drinks: The Old Fashioned, shows and concerts featuring created here in the 1880s at contemporary, gospel, R&B, the Pendennis Club, is Louvariety, comedy and country isville’s official cocktail. And artists. The dynamic exteriof course, the Mint Julep has or facade is followed by the been the official drink of the immensity and spectacular Kentucky Derby since 1938.” design of the interior with Each of the nearly 50 stops its 2,800 seats and Spanish along the trail has at least 60 Baroque motif.

Bourbons on its menu.

The Kentucky Center for But as your tour guide to the Performing Arts, the time travel, I recommend W. L. Lyons Brown Theatre, checking out what’s playing at and Old Forester’s Paristown the Palace—the Louisville Pal- Hall are more contemporary ace Theatre, that is. Listed on showcases for the performthe U.S. National Register of ing arts. From Broadway to Historic Places, this marvelballet, from blues to blueous venue has been among the grass, from Big Bands to best places for live entertainrock bands, their stages are ment in the city since 1928. the home for Louisville’s Originally built as a Loewe’s arts scene, including performovie palace, it's one of two mances by PNC Broadway in that survived urban renewal.

Louisville, Kentucky Opera, In the early ‘90s investors unLouisville Ballet, Louisville dertook a multi-million dollar Orchestra, and StageOne restoration to recreate the Family Theatre, as well as a opulence of this architectural host of community theater.

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11/8/20 10:11 AM

THE D.E.A.L. By Jeanne Brei

Dining, Entertainment, Attractions & Lodging

ATTRACTIONS

Strolling Through History, Museums & a Mega Cavern in Louisville Revel in Southern charm, hospitality, history and architecture by just strolling through Old Louisville—the largest collection of grand Victorian homes and the third largest National Preservation District in the U.S. Within its 48-block area, there are examples of Romanesque Revival, Beaux Arts, Queen Anne, Italianate, Chateauesque and Victorian mansions. The Conrad-Caldwell Museum, a historic house museum located on St. James Court, features a large collection of original period pieces.

Some of the city’s most notable historic homes include the Thomas Edison House, the Farmington Carriage House and Whitehall. Edison’s home is preserved as a museum with a collection of artifacts and inventions from his life. The 200-year-old Farmington Carriage House

and its surrounding buildings are fully restored to reflect its days as a hemp plantation home. Whitehall was transformed from a two-story brick house into a southern-style, Greek mansion in 1909 and is open for tours and events.

In addition to historic homes, Louisville is home to many museums and galleries including the Speed Art Museum, the Frazier History Museum (weaponry), Louisville Science Center, Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, Glassworks, Zephyr Gallery, and the museums you can’t find anywhere else, including the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory (tour the factory, see the world’s biggest bat, a 120-foot replica—six stories tall, 68,000 pounds— of Babe Ruth’s bat and in the Bat Vault put on gloves and hit with replica bats of legends like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Derek Jeter), the Muhammad Ali Center (shadow box with the champ, watch boxing clips in a model ring) and the Kentucky Derby Museum (there’s two floors of exhibits and displays which explore the history and traditions of the Kentucky

Derby, as well as the history of thoroughbred racing).

Visitors to the museum can watch The Greatest Race, a documentary, in a 360-degree theater. Plus, the track is included in the tour by walking or van-guided tours.

Louisville’s Churchill Downs is best known as the home of the Kentucky Derby, the city’s biggest annual event. Held the first weekend in May since 1875, the Kentucky Derby draws an average of 160,000 visitors each year. The opening event for the Kentucky Derby Festival is Thunder Over Louisville, a 28-minute fireworks show preceded by the Thunder Air Show, one of the top five air shows in the country, with

more than 100 planes performing six hours of diving and acrobatic stunts.

But if you’re looking for some adventure you can do year-round, check out the Louisville Mega Cavern.

Encompassing about 100 acres with more than 4million square feet of underground space, the Louisville Mega Cavern is part of 17 miles of corridors and passageways beneath the city of Louisville.

It’s a man-made cavern, originally a limestone quarry with an average temperature of 58 degrees year round, and has been open to tourists since 2009. This former limestone mine offers tours by tram or zipline, a mountain bike park, and a ropes course.

50 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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LODGING

The Storied Past of the Seelbach Hilton Louisville Not every city has a hotel that can say it was an inspiration for The Great Gatsby, or has rooms with hidden doors and secret passageways that were used by bootlegger Al Capone, or has a rathskeller with medieval architecture that hosted the USO during the war. But the Seelbach Hilton Louisville, built in 1905 in the heart of downtown Louisville’s business and entertainment district, now directly across from Fourth Street Live Entertainment Complex and seven blocks from the KICC, can.

The Seelbach was the manifestation of the American Dream for immigrant brothers Louis and Otto Seelbach, two native Bavarians who came to the city in the mid-19th century. In 1905, the “Seelbach Hotel” celebrated its grand opening with 25,000 visitors.

Designed by W.J. Dodd and F.M. Andrews, the Seelbach @ExhibitCityNews

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boasted a lavish, turn-of-the century Beaux-Arts Baroque architectural style, embodying the “Old World” opulence of Viennese and Parisian hotels. Equally grand, the hotel interiors featured a lobby furnished with marble from Italy, Switzerland and the U.S., along with mahogany and bronze in a classic Renaissance style, and a vaulted dome of 800 glass panes atop the space. Arthur Thomas, the most famous Indian painter in the world, decorated the lobby with huge mural paintings of pioneer scenes from Kentucky’s history. The hotel has changed hands numerous times, with more than $50 million being spent in renovations over the years, including adding an 18,500 sq.ft. conference center in 1990 and taking the Hilton name and management in 2007.

During the Roaring Twenties, The Seelbach was considered the most glamorous spot for cards and leisure. Situated in the center of bourbon and whiskey country, the hotel attracted infamous underworld kingpins and gangsters during

Prohibition including Lucky Luciano, “Beer Baron of the Bronx” Dutch Schultz, and the legendary Al Capone. Capone often dined in The Oakroom, where he would play cards in a small alcove within the venue.

The gangster’s favorite room has two hidden doors behind special panels that led directly to a few secret passageways.

It even still displays the large mirror Capone sent from Chicago so that he could watch his back. Cincinnati mobster and “King of the Bootleggers” George Remus also spent time at the Seelbach, where he became friends with writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald visited the hotel while training for the U.S. Army at nearby Camp Taylor. In 1925, F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalized both Remus and the hotel in his novel, The Great Gatsby.

Remus served as the inspiration for the novel’s title character, Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald used the Seelbach and its Grand Ballroom as the inspiration for the novel's wedding scene.

The Rathskeller, the only room in existence made of Rookwood Pottery, has a

red-tinted, terracotta ceiling, with columns ringed by Rookwood-Pottery pelicans—a sign of good luck. Tile designs on the Rathskeller’s walls depict walled cities in the Rhenish region of Germany, where the Seelbach’s founders, Otto and Louis Seelbach, were born.

During the war, many servicemen came to the Rathskeller as the USO provided the entertainment.

The Oakroom has celebrated an unparalleled tradition of excellence since it opened in 1907. In 1998, The Oakroom received Kentucky’s first AAA Five Diamond Restaurant rating and, for 14 years, has remained the only restaurant in the state with such a treasured distinction. The Oakroom also maintains the largest wine cellar in the region with wines from the legendary vineyards of Central Europe to the small artisanal producers of Sonoma County and the Finger Lakes region.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, The Seelbach Hilton Louisville has been a member of Historic Hotels of America since 2015.

ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 51

11/8/20 10:12 AM

“2020”

“Would Not Recommend!”

#VEGASSTRONGER

Have your reviews of 2020 been?

Missing our TradeShow Brothers and Sisters Hope we can all be together soon. Until then, know we’ll be here for you when you return.

888.674.4033 • 702.534.6995

Champion Logistics Group has a transportation divison specializing in the coordination of trade shows and special events. Champion provides the most reliable and flexible trade show transportation in the industry.

52 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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*Disclaimer: All shows are subject to cancellation, check the official event website on the ECN Tradeshow Calendar for the latest information.

Tradeshow Calendar

Att = Attendance | CC=CC | Exh = Exhibitors | Nsf = Net Square Feet

U.S. CENTRAL Show Meeting Professionals International - MPI - WEC Experiential Designers and Producers Assoc. - EDPA Access Fugitive Emissions Summit Americas Western & English Sales Market - WESA Together Again Expo Denver Boat Show Missouri Veterinary Medical Association - MVMA Build Expo Iowa Pork Congress INDO EXPO - The Premier Cannabis Trade Show Texas Computer Education Association - TCEA SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference Iowa Power Farming Show

All Information Is Subject to Change*

Start 11/03 12/01 12/09 01/14 01/15 01/15 01/21 01/26 01/27 01/30 02/01 02/02 02/02

End 11/06 12/03 12/10 01/17 01/15 01/17 01/24 01/27 01/28 01/31 02/05 02/04 02/04

Venue Gaylord Texan Resort & CC La Cantera Resort & Spa Royal Sonesta Houston Dallas Market Center Kay Bailey Hutchison CC Colorado Convention Center Holiday Inn Exec. Ctr. Palmer Events Center Iowa Events Center Denver Mart Kay Bailey Hutchison CC CityPlace Marriott Iowa Events Center

City Grapevine San Antonio Houston Dallas Dallas Denver Columbia Austin Des Moines Denver Dallas Houston Des Moines

St TX TX TX TX TX CO MO TX IA CO TX TX IA

Att 4000 400 1181 4462 5000 450 1500 5000 9109 2000

Exh

Nsf Industry 77300 Exhibition & Meeting Ind. Exhibition & Meeting Ind. 90 49 7298 750 109K Apparel Exhibition & Meeting Ind. Boats Healthcare Building & Construction 100 400 90000 Agriculture & Farming 476 94180 Computers & Apps 120 Energy Agriculture & Farming

U.S. MIDWEST Show Bands of America Grand National Championships Chicago Boat, RV & Sail Show Indiana Green Expo Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police - IACP Mid-Winter Conf.

Michigan Shoe Market Mid-West Truck Show Chicago Shoe Market Great Lakes Ice Cream & Fast Food Association Trade Show CannaCon Fort Wayne Farm Show Chicago Travel & Adventure Show Chicago Auto Show Ohio Health Information Management Association - OHIMA

You Built It!

All Information Is Subject to Change*

Start 11/12 01/06 01/19 01/27 01/30 02/05 02/10 02/11 02/12 02/12 02/13 02/13 02/22

End 11/14 01/10 01/21 01/29 02/01 02/06 02/11 02/13 02/13 02/14 02/14 02/21 02/24

Venue Lucas Oil Stadium McCormick Place - East Bldg Virtual only Crowne Plaza Hotel Embassy Suites Peoria Civic Center Embassy Suites by Hilton Kellogg Arena Donald E. Stephens CC Allen County War Mem.Coliseum Donald E. Stephens CC McCormick Place Hilton Columbus at Easton

City Indianapolis Chicago Indianapolis Indianapolis Livonia Peoria Lombard Battle Creek Rosemont Ft. Wayne Rosemont Chicago Columbus

St IN IL IN IN MI IL IL MI IL IN IL IL OH

Att 85K 54K

Exh

Nsf

297

7000

200 130K

37K 13K

410 105K 20K 150 900K

952

Industry Art, Music & Culture Boats Police Apparel Automotive & Trucking Apparel

Agriculture & Farming Travel Industry Automotive & Trucking Healthcare

Now Flaunt It! SHOW OFF YOUR GREATEST EXHIBITS WITH THE GREATEST PHOTOGRAPHY!

@ExhibitCityNews

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ExhibitCityNews.com November/December 2020 53

11/4/20 9:20 AM

Tradeshow Calendar U.S. NORTHEAST Show ABCExpo - America’s Bus & Coach Expo Ocean City Resort & Gift Expo Keystone Farm Show Surface Navy Annual National Symposium Virginia Farm Show New England International Auto Show New York Podiatric Clinical Conference - NYSPMA Motorsports New England Water Environment Assiciation - NEWEA New York National Boat Show TOTAL PRO Landscape Expo & Conference Vinexpo New York Pittsburgh International Auto Show

Start 11/15 11/15 01/05 01/12 01/13 01/14 01/21 01/22 01/24 01/27 02/02 02/03 02/12

End 11/17 11/17 01/07 01/14 01/15 01/18 01/24 01/24 01/27 01/31 02/03 02/04 02/15

*Disclaimer: All shows are subject to cancellation, check the official event website on the ECN Tradeshow Calendar for the latest information.

Att = Attendance | CC=CC | Exh = Exhibitors | Nsf = Net Square Feet

Venue Pennsylvania Convention Center Roland E. Powell CC York Fairgrounds Hyatt Regency Crystal City Augusta Expo Boston CC Virtual only Greater Philadelphia Expo Center Virtual only Javits Center New Jersey CC Javits Center David L. Lawrence CC

All Information Is Subject to Change*

City Philadelphia Ocean City York Arlington Fishersville Boston New York Oaks Boston New York Edison New York Pittsburgh

St PA MD PA VA VA MA NY PA MA NY NJ NY PA

Att 1785 1600

Exh Nsf Industry 132 56390 Transportation 150 20000 Gifts Agriculture & Farming Military Agriculture & Farming 5000 50 430K Automotive & Trucking 2000 Healthcare 20K Automotive & Trucking 2100 200 Water 80K 400 263K Boats Landscape & Garden 200 60K Food & Beverage Automotive & Trucking

U.S. NORTHWEST Show Silicon Valley International Auto Show Wild Sheep Foundation Convention & Sporting Expo HAWAIIAN EYE Pacific Telecom Council - PTC American Contract Manufacturers Association - AmCon Seattle International Boat Show Worldwide Spring Trade Show - Independent Retailers’ Buying Group California League of Food Processors Expo - CLFP Association of Aquatic Professionals SPIE Advanced Lithography Oregon Logging Conference & Equipment Show Portland International Auto Show BIOMED Device San Jose - MDM

All Information Is Subject to Change*

Start 01/07 01/14 01/16 01/17 01/26 01/29 02/09 02/09 02/15 02/21 02/25 02/25 12/09

End 01/10 01/16 01/22 01/20 01/27 02/06 02/11 02/10 02/18 02/25 02/27 02/28 12/10

Venue San Jose McEnery CC Reno-Sparks CC Grand Wailea Maui Virtual only Tacoma CC CenturyLink Field Reno-Sparks CC Sacramento CC Grand Sierra Resort & CC San Jose Marriott & CC Lane County Events Center Oregon Convention Center San Jose Convention Center

City San Jose Reno Maui Honolulu Tacoma Seattle Reno Sacramento Reno San Jose Eugene Portland San Jose

St CA NV HI HI WA WA NV CA NV CA OR OR CA

Att

Exh

1200 1725

100 40 4000

77K

600 306K

Healthcare Telecommunications Manufacturing Boats

2500

260

Food & Beverage

4000 6000

100 16000 Printing 248 390K Agriculture & Farming Automotive & Trucking 406 48993 Healthcare

3014

Nsf

Industry Automotive & Trucking

54 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

052_Tradeshow_Calendar_1120.indd 3

11/4/20 9:20 AM

*Disclaimer: All shows are subject to cancellation, check the official event website on the ECN Tradeshow Calendar for the latest information.

See complete listing of shows online at ExhibitCityNews.com/tradeshow-calendar

Att = Attendance | CC=CC | Exh = Exhibitors | Nsf = Net Square Feet

U.S. SOUTHEAST Show Smoky Mountain Gift Show Florida Chiropractic Assoc. - FCA National Convention & Expo International Esthetics, Cosmetics & Spa - IECSC The National Franchise & Business Opportunities Show Grand Strand Gift & Resort Merchandise Show National Agricultural Aviation Association - NAAA Expo!Expo! - International Association of Exhibitions & Events - IAEE Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons - FSPS Central Florida International Auto Show Florida United Numismatists Marine Fabricators Association - MFA American Meteorological Society - AMS Annual Meeting Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

All Information Is Subject to Change*

Start 11/04 11/05 11/15 11/21 12/06 12/07 12/08 12/10 12/18 01/07 01/07 01/10 01/13

End 11/07 11/08 11/16 11/22 12/09 12/10 12/10 12/13 12/20 01/10 01/09 01/14 01/17

Venue Gatlinburg CC Hyatt Regency Prime Osborn CC Cobb Galleria Centre - Hall A Myrtle Beach CC Savannah CC & Westin Savannah Kentucky International CC White Elephant Palm Beach Orange County CC Orange County CC Sheraton New Orleans Possibly hybrid or virtual AmericasMart

City Gatlinburg Orlando Jacksonville Atlanta Myrtle Beach Savannah Louisville Palm Beach Orlando Orlando New Orleans New Orleans Atlanta

St TN FL FL GA SC GA KY FL FL FL LA LA GA

Att 3000 2000 1200 2300

Nsf

Industry Gifts 420 43000 Healthcare Beauty & Healthcare 200 80 Business Gifts Agriculture & Farming 155 270 41700 Exhibition & Meeting Ind. Healthcare Automotive & Trucking 30

4300 95K

U.S. SOUTHWEST Show Topeka Farm Show National Assoc. of Catastrophe Adjusters - NACA Annual Convention Radio Wireless Week - IEEE IPSA - Independent Professional Seedsmen Association Sports Licensing & Tailgate Show Annual Hunter and Outfitter Convention - GSCO Winter Las Vegas Market (Furniture) JOGS Tucson Gem & Jewelry Show AGTA GemFair In Tucson Affiliate Summit West American Academy of Pain Medicine Annual - AAPM International Neuropsychological Society - INS Annual Meeting Western Association of Chamber Executives - W.A.C.E. Annual Conference

Exh

2.5K 1.2M

Shipbuilding Science Gifts

All Information Is Subject to Change*

Start 01/05 01/10 01/17 01/18 01/20 01/20 01/24 01/27 02/02 02/02 02/03 02/03 02/03

End 01/07 01/14 01/20 01/21 01/22 01/23 01/28 02/08 02/07 02/04 02/07 02/06 02/05

Venue Stormont Vail Events Center The Tropicana Hotel Virtual only JW Marriott Tucson Mandalay Bay Westgate Resort & Casino World Market Center Tucson Expo Center Tucson CC Caesars Forum CC Phoenix Convention Center Town and Country San Diego TBD / possibly virtual

City Topeka Las Vegas San Diego Tucson Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Tucson Tucson Las Vegas Phoenix San Diego Las Vegas

St KS NV CA AZ NV NV NV AZ AZ NV AZ CA NV

Att 35K

Exh Nsf Industry 300 55000 Agriculture & Farming

500 1841 5000 50K 37K

374 73360 200 20000 450 550K 400

3000 1000

200 20000 100 19000

Radio, TV & Cable Agriculture & Farming Advertising & Marketing Sporting Goods & Rec. Home Furn. & Int. Design Jewelry Jewelry Advertising & Marketing Healthcare Healthcare Government

• Delivery in Las Vegas, FedEx/UPS to all cities • Be a HERO use Horizon Print Solutions and make it EZ • Everything for your show or event from a top quality 25 year supplier!

Color Printing • Rack cards • Brochures • Booklets • Everything else @ExhibitCityNews

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Meeting & Event Supplies • Lanyards & Credentials • Binders, Tabs and inserts • Tote Bags & Inserts • Tickets & Programs

Promotional Products • Giveaways • Table Drapes & Signage • Branded Apparel • Gifts & Awards

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*Disclaimer: All shows are subject to cancellation, check the official event web site on the ECN trade show calendar for the latest information.

Tradeshow Calendar CANADA

Att = Attendance | CC=Convention Centre | Exh = Exhibitors | Nsf = Net Square Feet

Show The National Franchise & Business Opportunities Show Pharmacy U Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association - SUMA Buildex, Construct & Design Northwest Canadian Health Food Association - Expo West - CHFA

Start 11/14 02/06 02/07 02/10 02/18

End 11/15 02/06 02/10 02/11 02/21

Venue TELUS Convention Centre The International Centre Virtual only Vancouver CC West Bldg Vancouver CC West Bldg

All Information Is Subject to Change*

City Calgary Toronto Saskatoon Vancouver Vancouver

St AB ON SK BC BC

Att 1500

Exh 60

Nsf Industry 22500 Business Healthcare 1800 165 35500 Government 13.5K 600 57500 Building & Construction Food & Beverage

*DISCLAIMER: Please note that tradeshow information is provided as a resource only. All show information is subject to change. Please check show dates and venues with official show organizers and producers. For updated show and event listings, visit www.exhibitcitynews.com/tradeshow-calendar.

or call 702-686-2907 for more information.

56 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE Where to Find Professional Services, Products and Supplies—a Companion Directory to Our Online Guide: www.ExhibitCityNews.com/Service-Guide

Aadvantaged Displays ABCOMRENTS A Harmony Nail Spa AllSpace Group BWC Visual Technologies CDS (Corporate Display Specialties) CEP (Chicago Exhibit Productions, Inc.) Champion Logistics Clementine Creative Services Condit

61 59 61 59 58 62 60 61 58 60

Corporate Communications CorpEvents Equip, Inc. Exhibitrac Direct Marketing Horizon Print Solutions Jami as Marilyn Monroe Tribute Artist LaborSource Las Vegas Power Professionals Lip Smacking Foodie Tours OnPoint Presenters

59 59 63 63 62 58 62 59 61 63

Prism Lighting Quality EFX Massage Roman Transportation & Logistics SISTEXPO (in Mexico) The End Result TSEMA.org TWI Group YOR Design YOR Swag Your Event Audio

62 58 63 60 61 60 62 58 63 58

For Service Guide information and rates, call sales at (702) 309-8023. Inclusive categories are available for all your company advertising needs. @ExhibitCityNews

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE

BWC Visual Technologies BWC is the leading supplier of Science On a Sphere technology and an authorized distributor for Topobox, Inside Explorer, Liquid Galaxy and backlit tradeshow exhibits. At BWC, we also offer personal signage, pop-up displays, banners and much more. Do you have a new store opening up? Or your first tradeshow? Take a look through exhibitor catalog, and let us know how we can help with the displays at your next event. For more info, visit www.bwcviz.com

Audio Visual Technology

Creative Design Services

Creative Design Services

Creative Entertainment Services

58 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE

Corporate Communications Corporate Communications, Inc. is a digital marketing/web design agency made up of talented marketers/developers/creative thinkers who strive to find the best, result-driven solutions to improve our clients’ marketing efforts & develop stronger brands.

Our clients range from retail, travel, tourism, technology & more; our digital experience gives us a new perspective on marketing strategies that cater to each unique client. We offer Web Design, Brand Design, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing and Social, Print, Video & Animation, and Hosting. We are your Branding, Design, Development & Marketing specialists. Tell us your marketing needs to get the creative juices flowing. www.

CorpCom-Events.com

Exhibit / Trade Show Displays | Event Planning | Sporting Event Décor

Creative Entertainment Services

Digital Signage, AV Production & IT

NVMT 4993

Chair Massage Foot Massage Stress Release Massage and More...

Convention Chair Massage Services We use massage techniques & tools that surpass services provided by the competition.

ABCOMRENTS is your premier source for Digital Signage, AV Production and IT needs for events and tradeshows NATIONALLY! LED Tile | Interactive Kiosks | Transparent Displays | Digital Signage

Massage services range from 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

Advanced massage services that engage the highest level of convention services.

www.QualityEFX.com

Call or Text (702) 336-9362

Exhibit Design & Builders

Exhibit Production

Upstate NY

Montpelier, VT

Concord, NH

Boston, MA Worcester, MA Springfield, MA

Hartford, CT

@ExhibitCityNews

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Providence, RI

(508) 366-8594 info@corp-eventsne.com

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE

CEP CEP has been transforming our clients’ sales and marketing objectives into award winning three-dimensional environments for over 30 years. We focus on you—your needs, strategy and objectives. CEP provides full service production and storage facilities in the three largest tradeshow venues in the U.S.: Chicago, Las Vegas & Orlando. We are positioned to provide cost effective and unique solutions from start to finish for any exhibit challenge, from design & fabrication to complete on-site install & dismantle services. For more info, visit www.cepexhibits.com

6 30.378.4 8 4 8 w w w.cepexhibits.com

Exhibit Services

Exhibitor Education

Exhibits

Exhibits

60 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE

Champion Logistics Group has a transportation division specializing in the coordination of trade shows and special events. Champion provides the most reliable and flexible trade show transportation in the industry.

Champion Logistics Unique in the industry, Champion has a transportation division specializing in the coordination of tradeshows and special events. Founded in 1980, with the commitment to exceptional service, Champion Logistics Group has grown to become a logistics leader. By using the Champion fleet and network of specialized tradeshow carriers, we provide the most reliable tradeshow transportation services in the industry. For more info, visit www.champlog.com.

Chicago | Atlanta | Boston | Dallas | Las Vegas | Los Angeles | New Jersey

800.323.5401 | info@champlog.com | www.champlog.com

Facial / Massage / Wellness Spa

Food Tours

Freight Brokers

Graphics

The Attention You Deserve Displays Starting at $69.95

941-758-8444 866-239-8056

• 30 years experience • Specialized in tradeshows • Show-to-show coordination • Available 24/7 - 365 days a year • Competitive rates without compromising quality • Familiar with the industry’s general contractors

EndResultLogistics.com

@ExhibitCityNews

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TheEndResultInc@gmail.com

Visit us online for more of our products & services 847-304-1113

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE

LaborSource In addition to offering Installation & Dismantle labor for the tradeshow industry, LaborSource also provides direct labor contracting tailored to the specific needs of the retail/commercial construction business. Whether it’s a renovation, remodeling, demolition, fixture installation or full build out, LaborSource is uniquely positioned to provide a wide range of services to support our client’s needs. To learn more, please check out our new LaborSource website at www.laborsourcegroup.com

630.914.5281

Lighting

www.laborsourcegroup.com

Logistics

EYE-CATCHING LIGHTING SOLUTIONS •Perfect Lighting for Exhibits, Retail Environments & Special Projects •Full Line of Innovative LED Products; Flexible Strip Lighting, Recessed Lights, Arm Lights, LED DMX and so much more!

•Fast Connect Cable System Saving Time and Labor •Eco-Friendly Battery Solutions •Easy to Install, Plug And Play Lighting Solutions

PRISM – INNOVATION LIVES HERE!

WWW.PRISMLIGHTINGGROUP.COM | 1.866.620.1380 | SALESUSA@PRISMLIGHTINGGROUP.COM

Printing

Attention Exhibit and Event Companies Local Service for Trade Shows and Events In: Washington D.C. - Baltimore - Atlantic City Philly - NYC - Hartford - Boston All in same-day driving distance from us.

WHOLESALE Warehousing, Storage, Prep, Delivery Graphics, Supervision, & Rentals 800-367-2531

Printing

r e v l i S Color Printing • Rack cards • Brochures • Booklets • Everything else

• Delivery in Las Vegas, FedEx/UPS to all cities • Be a HERO use Horizon Print Solutions and make it EZ • Everything for your show or event from a top quality 25 year supplier!

Meeting & Event Supplies • Lanyards & Credentials • Binders, Tabs and inserts • Tote Bags & Inserts • Tickets & Programs

Promotional Products • Giveaways • Table Drapes & Signage • Branded Apparel • Gifts & Awards

CDSpartner.com

We Can Provide You A Local Presence 62 November/December 2020 Exhibit City News

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INDUSTRY SERVICE GUIDE

Exhibitrac Direct Marketing The Exhibitrac tradeshow exhibitor database is updated daily by our staff of researchers. This list of over 750,000 tradeshow exhibitors and over 10,000 shows is one of the most comprehensive, up-to-date B2B lists available anywhere.

If you supply products or services to companies that exhibit in tradeshows, you cannot find a more targeted list of prospects! Our lists may be tailored exactly to your needs. Exhibitor records may be selected and sorted to your exact specifications: by show, by exhibiting frequency, by zip code, area code, even by booth size.

For more info, visit https://exhibitrac.com/

Product Specialists

Promo Stuff

Tradeshow Furnishings

Trucking

FIXTURE & DISPLAY COVERS TRADE SHOW DISPLAY COVERS COMMERCIAL FURNITURE

EQUIP YOUR SPACE inc

BEST QUALITY. BEST RATES. CALL TODAY!

W W W. E Q U I P I N C . C O M @ExhibitCityNews

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Advertiser Index 4 Productions

67

4Productions.com

44-45

RSMGC.org / EDPA.com / EDPAFoundation

beMatrix

2

beMatrix.us

Employco

25

Brumark.com

Exposures Ltd. Photography

13

52

ChampLog.com

Full Circle Events

53

54

ClementineCS.com

Highmark Tech

52

23

Coastalntl.com

Hill & Partners

25

Back Cover

Condit Exhibits

Horizon Print Solution

31

37

Laborinc.

55

17

Corpcom-Events.com

Las Vegas Store Supply

43

41

Corp-eventsid.com

CORT Events

9

Cort.com

McNabb Exhibit Flooring

31

49

CrownAndAnchorVegasLV.com

7

52

DesignToPrint.com & Pillows4Show.com

Sunset Transportation Superior Logistics TCF Center (formerly Cobo) Total Show Technology (TST) Tradeshow Job Board

McNabbExhibitFlooring.com / DEMcNabb.com

TradeshowJobBoard.com

Momentum Management

West Coast Exhibit Services

3

Nolan Advisory Services (NAS) OA Visuals (Oscar & Associates)

19 66 64 41 5 56 50

WCExhibit.com

64

NolanAdvisory.com

Design to Print

SMT Expo

TotalShowTech.com

MomentumMgt.com

Crown & Anchor Pub

15

TCFCenterDetroit.com

LVStoreSupply.com & LVMannequins.com

Corporate Events

ShowNets

ShipSuperior.com

LaborInc.ca

Corporate Communications

17

Sunset-LV.com

PrintEfficiency.com

Condit.com

Sho-Link Inc.

SmtExpo.com

HillPartners.com

CRVegas.com & ColorReflections.com

42

Shownets.net

HighmarkTech.com

Coastal International

Rosemont – RES

Sho-link.com

FCELV.com

Clementine Creative Services

4

Rosemont.com

ExposuresLtd.com

ChampionLogistics

Octanorm OctanormNA.com

Employco.com

Brumark

ColorReflections

EDPA - The Randy

Willwork

32

Willwork.com

31

HellOA.com & OAVisuals.media

FOR ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES Contact sales: 702-309-8023 ext. 105, sales@exhibitcitynews.com @ExhibitCityNews

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WE ENSURE YOUR TRADE SHOW SUCCESS! IT’S THAT SIMPLE.

As a unique Las Vegas based carrier, we are dedicated to one thing - trade shows.

With over 30 years of experience we are highly trained, skilled and focused on providing you with flawless service handling your exhibit materials in and out of Las Vegas convention venues.

What makes us so great? › › › › ›

24/7 nationwide service - year round Warehousing & exhibit crate repair Customized account management Show-to-show coordination On site show floor representation

› › › ›

Over 100,000 sq. ft. of booth storage Certified weight tickets/on-site truck scale Pad wrapping & color-coded show labels More than 100 vans, tractors & trailers solely serving the Las Vegas market

Proud member of

4120 W. Windmill Lane Las Vegas, NV 89139

CONTACT US: 066_AdBank_1120.indd 1

3741 Civic Center Drive North Las Vegas, NV 89130

sunset-lv.com

info@sunset-lv.com

3200 Gowan Road North Las Vegas, NV 89130

702.914.0185 11/4/20 9:19 AM

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