Chicago’s McCormick Place, which instituted major reforms to lower costs, improve labor relations and relax union work rule flexibility, netted the rebooking of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), which reversed its decision 15 months ago to drop Chicago from its rotation.
The association, which along with the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau announced the decision to the international meetings industry at PCMA’s Convening Leaders conference in Las Vegas, said it will also meet there in 2015 and 2019.
“Chicago got a big wake-up call in the last 18 months,” said Jim Reilly, trustee of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, “but the most important part is Chicago responded and made changes.”
H. Stephen Lieber, president and CEO of HIMSS, said the decision to return to Chicago, which has been very popular with its attendees in the past, was not difficult.
“It is somewhat of an easy decision,” he said. “The changes were so dramatic that we feel very, very comfortable with this decision.”
