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 Showdown for Showtime
Competition for conventions and trade shows is heating up
By Maria Lenhart
Last May the Illinois General Assembly took the unprecedented step of enacting labor, work-rule and cost reforms specifically directed at Chicago's two major convention facilities: McCormick Place and Navy Pier. Dubbed the "McPier" reforms, they cover everything from the amount of overtime contractors can charge for booth set-ups to what attendees pay for parking and bottled water at the facilities.
Now that the reforms are phased in, the Chicago Convention & Tourism Board reports a stream of both returning and new business that the facilities would not have garnered if the changes had not taken place. A steady flow of lost business to newer facilities, particularly those in "right to work" states, has been at least partially reversed.
 It's a scenario that long-time observers of the convention and exhibition industry say is indicative of an inescapable fact: a steady avalanche of new and expanded facilities across the nation has brought a whole lot more competition for conventions and trade shows than ever before.
New Choices
"New players are creating a redistribution of events," says Doug Ducate, CEO of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. "Our census shows that half of the major shows in the U.S. were held in 16 locations in 2000; now it's up to 21."
Steven Hacker, president of the exhibition industry organization IAEE, also notes the trend.
"There are more first-class facilities than we've ever had before, and it is definitely benefitting the buyer," he says. "There was a time when a large event could only go to one place: Chicago. Now there are so many opportunities to rotate to desirable places."
The increasing competitive business environment has caused many
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Philadelphia Story
Where are convention center reforms similar to those in Chicago likely to happen next? One possibility is Philadelphia, where a $786 million expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center is about to debut.
In January, a state-commissioned report provided by Crossroads Consulting Services was released, concluding that Philadelphia's hotel industry had lost over 400,000 nights of business between 2007 and 2009 largely because of union labor costs
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