In an effort to ensure those working on the ‘front lines’ of the trade show industry offer the best customer service possible, the Exhibition Services & Contractors Association (ESCA) and the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (SLCVC) have teamed up to hold the first-ever ‘Labor Day’ Nov. 19 at America’s Center.

All the unions that work on the tradeshow floor are invited to participate in this day of complimentary training and enhancement. 

“The goal of ‘Labor Day’ is to help build on the skills of the already talented labor force in St. Louis and give a few new tools for their toolbox to be used on the tradeshow floor,” said Julie Kagy, ESCA education director. 

She added, “The entire program is being underwritten by ESCA and the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission, who operates the America’s Center convention complex.”

She said the one-day program came about when last year, ESCA’s Labor & Management Council  received feedback from membership that they wanted more access to customer service training.

The SLCVC was of the same mindset and, in the meantime, had reached out to ESCA to ask if there could be some customer service training offered in their facility.

“We thought it would be a good place to start,” Kagy said.

The day’s events will be comprised of several elements that are beneficial to exhibitions industry union personnel. 

This program is designed to engage union personnel in innovative and exciting ways to exceed the growing demands of exhibitors and, in turn, benefit the overall event experience of attendees. 

There will also be forklift and boom lift certification offered.  Attendees are welcome to attend each program to receive their OSHA certification. This is being sponsored and presented by Global Experience specialists (GES) and Klance Staging. 

In addition the SLCVC will be presenting the ‘St. Lou..is Me’ program, which is a successful customer service training course provided to hospitality industry employees and taxi drivers throughout the region.  

Kagy said that participants were coming on their one time, “so we wanted to make sure we were offering the most value.”

She added that they expected approximately 100 people and that six unions would be represented.

“We are proud to join with ESCA in offering our frontline employees this unique, first-of-a-kind training partnership to all the unions serving the needs of our clients at America’s Center,” said Marty Brooks, senior vice president and general manager of America’s Center. 

He added, “By teaching and sharing these skills in equipment operation, hospitality, customer service and the attributes of our destination, we will strengthen our efforts to provide convention and meeting customers in St. Louis with a first-class experience.”

Lunch and a vendor fair will also be included to round out this full day, and add to the experience for the attendees.  This will be sponsored by ESCA members Heritage Exhibition Services and Paramount Convention Services.

"We are really excited," Kagy said. "It's important) to be able to offer service training for everybody. We all need to be on the same page representing the exhibition industry in the best way possible."

'Labor Day' will be headed to other cities in the near future, Kagy said, including Houston and Atlanta. 

If a city or venue  is interested in teaming up with ESCA to offer 'Labor Day' training, please contact Julie Kagy, julie@esca.org.