The Las Vegas Convention Center’s need for renovations and new exhibit and meeting space should have already occurred was the consensus among top trade show organizers who spoke Oct. 22 to the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee.

In a candid fact-finding session, they urged the 11-member committee to think strategically about the Las Vegas future and its position not just as a U.S., but also as a global trade show destination.

The session was the third of five the committee was conducting before making decisions on what would be priorities for next year.

By Wendy Helfenbaum

When Kathie Canning first started working at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center in the mid 1980s, it was a bit of a circus. Literally.

“At that time, we were the only concert venue; we did a lot of civic events, and we did the circus every year. It was very interesting when Avon came in to do a meeting right after the elephants left,” said Canning, now the OCCC’s executive director. “Many things have changed drastically since then; it’s been quite an amazing transformation.”

As the 5^th IMEX America wrapped up in Las Vegas, records were broken across the board, with a total of 3,100 companies representing 150 countries exhibiting, including 80 new booths and 56 expanded booth.

In addition, the IMEX hosted buyer program brought a record 3,000 buyers from 54 countries to the show, for a total 10,600 people participating in the event.

There were 66,000 business appointments of which more than 57,000 were one-to-one appointments and booth presentations.

Emerald Expositions has acquired HOW Design Live and the HOW Interactive Design Conference series (“HOW Design Events”) from F+W Media, Inc., a Content and e-Commerce company, for an undisclosed sum.

HOW Design Live is the largest graphic design conference and expo in the nation, combining five separate conferences into a single event focused on creativity, business and inspiration for designers.

F+W’s retained HOW Media Brands, including HOW Magazine, Print Magazine and HOW University, will continue to work closely with Emerald’s HOW Design Events.

By Elizabeth Johnson

Conventional marketing wisdom tells us “go where your audience is.” Recently, Facebook announced 1 billion users logged on in a single day, and earlier this year, global internet usage on mobile devices surpassed internet usage on desktops or laptops for the first time. These signs make it clear trade show planners and marketers need to invest more online.

Urban Expositions and the Retail Confectioners Association of Philadelphia (RCAP) have decided two is better than one and will collocate their shows next year. 

As part of the arrangement, the RCAP's Philadelphia National Candy, Gift & Gourmet Show (Jan. 9-11) formerly held in Atlantic City, will move to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Penn. to run alongside Urban Expositions' Philadelphia Gift Show (Jan. 8-11).

Donna Russo, who has muscular dystrophy, sits in a chair as dancers move around her in beautiful rhythm choreographed by Tam Warner, creating a profound and memorable experience.

This experience has been a part of showfloor during the Abilities Expos series of shows, which are geared toward people with disabilities and their families.

Lew Shomer and David Korse, owners and producers of the Abilities Expos series, were so moved by Russo and her group’s performance, they now have all teamed up to bring a documentary, “A Passion for Dance”, to the screen.

Last week was a good one for two different shows – ICUEE 2015, the International Construction and Utility Equipment Exposition, and Pack Expo Las Vegas – both of which broke not only attendance records, but also exhibit space and number of exhibitor records as well.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ biennial ICUEE 2015 was the largest ever, with more than 18,000 registered attendees, 13-percent bigger than the previous show.

The 2015 event ran Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

Penton added to its robust lifestyle and food portfolio with the acquisition of World Tea Media, an event and digital information company for the global tea industry, from F+W, a Content + eCommerce company.

World Tea Media includes the flagship show for the tea industry – World Tea Expo.

Cleveland’s I-X Center has added a unique component to its venue - a state-of-the art live performance space, where acoustically treated sound walls, elevated telescopic seating and custom staging all scales to various flexible configurations.

“Previously, our barriers attracting major concert promoters and national touring acts, included a lack of elevated seating and the sound quality in this industrial complex,” said Jeremy Levine, I-X Center vice president of Business Development.