Frontline employees from Phoenix’s visitor industry now are better equipped to communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals thanks to the city’s recent hosting of the 53rd Biennial National Association of the Deaf Conference.

In advance of the conference, which was held at the Phoenix Convention Center July 5-9, the National Association of the Deaf teamed with deaffriendly to conduct a two-hour workshop focused on deaf-friendly customer service.

International Pizza Expo, a pizzeria business-to-business trade show owned by Emerald Expositions, will launch a new two-day trade show at the Atlantic City Convention Center that will focus on pizzerias and Italian restaurants.

Trade Show News Network is excited to announce the five finalists for our TSNN “Best of Show” awards. We asked the shows to simply tell us why they felt their show was ‘best’, and the ones below exemplified innovation in the trade show industry.

Now, they need all of YOU to vote for which one you think deserves to be named the overall BEST show. The overall winner will be announced at the TSNN Awards Oct. 29 in Atlantic City, N.J,

When the TSNN Awards kicks off Oct. 28-30 in Atlantic City, N.J., attendees will have the opportunity to hear from not only a bevy of high-profile trade show industry speakers, but also a retired NFL star quarterback and ESPN analyst, a top-ranked talk show host and the reigning Miss America.

Ron Jaworksi, nicknamed “Jaws”, will be the keynote speaker during the TSNN Awards Education Conference Oct. 29 at the Atlantic City Convention Center.

Bonnier Corporation, which publishes dozens of magazines including “Field and Stream”, “Outdoor Life” and “Motorcyclist”, to name a few, has acquired the Sand Sports Super Show, a sand sports trade show and consumer expo.

The acquisition solidifies Bonnier’s leadership in the off-road, sand sports and motorsports segments, complementing the company’s repertoire of r publications and events geared toward enthusiast audiences.

Urban Expositions snagged another property for its burgeoning portfolio – LeftField Media – which has several consumer events around the United States. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition will provide LeftField increased capital and infrastructure, while offering Urban Expositions, a Clarion Events Company, new expertise and market reach in B2C events.

LeftField Media was started in 2014 by New York Comic Con founder Greg Topalian and the senior leadership at Business Journals Inc. - Britton Jones, Mac Brighton, and Sharon Enright.

The first National Material Handling Show launched by the Materials Handling Industry (MHI) in 1948 was a result of new methods used to transport goods during World War II. That first show in Cleveland had 60,000 net square feet and approximately 3,000 attendees.

During the early years, the annual event moved around to various ‘industrial’ locations, including Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago, Baltimore, and San Francisco. Detroit’s show in 1974 was the first to hit

Emerald Expositions scooped up a few more trade shows with the acquisition of the Swim Collective and Active Collective events from their founder Shannon Leggett.  

“The Collective trade shows have grown strongly over the last few years under Shannon’s leadership, and we are excited that they will now join Emerald’s Specialty Sports and Apparel Group, which includes leading trade shows such as Surf Expo and Outdoor Retailer,” said Darrell Denny, executive vice president of Emerald Expositions.

The Destination Marketing Association International Annual Convention saw their attendee numbers rise, with 1,500 taking part in its recent event held Aug. 1-3 in Minneapolis.

Attendees spent the time engaging in general sessions, discipline-focused roundtables and networking.

Throughout the program, DMAI’s association and foundation leadership recognized and celebrated those whom have demonstrated commitment and promise towards the continued success of destination marketing worldwide. 

Global Experience Specialists’ parent company Viad continued to perform better than expectations, with its second-quarter earnings results showing a $7.7 million revenue increase to $324.7 million, compared with the same quarter last year.

Management previously had guided for a revenue decline of $4 million to $17 million, primarily due to show rotation and exchange rate variances.

GES’ 2Q revenues were down slightly to $285.4 million, compared with $286.6 million during the same quarter the year before.