I was reading through a client’s drafts of a blog post today and came across an interesting story that I thought I could expound on it given the nature of the idea behind the story. The story essentially discusses the idea that this town in the south near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, is beginning to see its end of days.

Their economy is bad and they have no real reason for people to visit, that is, until recently. The new reason they are excited? The Golden Bear has come to town. Jack Nicklaus and his golf company are opening an exclusive golf resort to include, condos, shops, retail areas and of course 18 holes of public golf. This may be just what a struggling town needs to become more than just your every day blip on the screen on that spec on the map.

This made me think about what a good convention or a trade show could do for the economy of a small town like the one named in the article. What would a convention say the size of a Comic-Con do for a town that has no real draw. The City of San Diego makes millions of dollars on that convention, and that for some towns could be the entire annual budget to run the entire city.

The Marriott Muscle Shoals Hotel and Spa is located near the City and has a few hotel rooms as well. This is an interesting article and interesting implications for the economy of a town. What concessions would be given to a large trade show that would come to a town that would have the ability to handle nearly all of the needs of a 100,000 person convention or trade show. The Comic-Con trade show is a show that I thought of because it was just recently all San Diego could handle, and I even blogged about this before as an issue that the City of San Diego could not handle as they did not have nearly enough local rooms. I guess they actually pulled it off as the numbers don’t look too bad. It reminds me of the idea of a small little party that takes place in South Dakota each year with a few motorcycles. I wonder how much money that brings into a small town city in the middle of nowhere?

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I was reading about my friend Aaron Brazell and his thoughts on attending conferences and how we can make them a little more eco-friendly just by changing our habits and what we normally do like taxis, and our linens in our hotels and even so much as not to attend the conference in person and perhaps attend the conference online or in the back channel. It was this last idea that had me thinking about what conference planners and others are doing to help make their conference and trade show easier to attend and more eco-friendly.

I was thinking of the number of conferences I attend each year and the amount of travel I have with all the other things Aaron discusses with leaving that carbon footprint. I would love to see more conventions and trade shows make available online their conventions and meetings and seminars. I have attended conventions through the use of live streaming, where I had a chance to see a speaker that used their laptop to broadcast the presentation.

I know that as a convention center, being more “green” is important as I found out in Portland when speaking to them. many convention centers are trying to find ways to be more eco-friendly. I heard recently that the swag given away at one conference was being “recycled” which is a trend that I have heard from other organizers.

What are the things you are seeing at conventions and trade shows to make them more eco-friendly?

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I’m here in Seattle this week presenting at a conference on business blogging. It seems that I have been doing a large amount of traveling recently. This trend continues as it looks like i will be traveling to Miami in December to present on a panel at the IAEE about using social media to promote your trade show or convention. This is becoming a more popular way of promoting conventions, events and trade shows. People are using applications like blogging, YouTube, and other web applications that are consider social media tools. I’ll be talking with other industry leaders in the social media field on the panel to discuss how you can promote a convention or trade show using the tools available. Lots of convention and event planners are scrambling to get the upper hand in getting attendees and exhibitors to learn more about their event and the facilities where there event will be held. It should be a well attended session.

The event in December is well known to industry people involved in conventions and trade shows. The International Association of Exhibitions and Events Expo Expo is set to be held on December 9-11, 2008 in Miami, Florida at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Registration is set to open August 4, 2008. This is one of the largest events or the convention industry and if you decide to go, look me up! I’ll be looking for you too.

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I have been to some pretty cool places to attend conferences, conventions, trade shows and events. One of the places I have never been is Hawaii. I was wondering why none of my conventions or trade shows have ever been held in the 50th state and I suppose it has to do with the logistics of having an event that far into the Pacific. The travel the cost and everything else that might be associated with planning an event to be held there may prove too difficult. I decided to take a look at the Hawaii Convention Center and see for myself.

The Hawaii Convention Center was opened in 1998 at a cost of $350 Million. It brings together all the real culture of the Hawaiian Islands. A release provided by the center states it nicely:

From a distance, the Hawai`i Convention Center is awe inspiring with its airy, glass-walled lobby featuring a 70-foot misting waterfall. The foyer is crowned with canvas canopies, reminiscent of ocean white caps and the sails of voyaging canoes. A grand exterior staircase descends to the Ala Wai Promenade. More than 60 percent of the center is landscaped, including an award-winning, 2.5-acre rooftop garden with flowing ponds and tropical flowers.

I would not expect anything different from a tropical paradise such as Hawaii. It does seem that they have difficulty in getting meeting and event planners to choose their facility but they give the top 10 reasons why they should be considered for an event. They have an uphill battle with the prices of air fare to Hawaii, but they seem to offset that cost with some lower pricing than their competitors. The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau talks about the return on investing in an event held in Hawaii:

“As much as anything, these past few years have amplified Hawai‘i’s value as a meetings destination. Clients have found that holding meetings in the islands consistently provides a proven return on investment and that we satisfy their objectives while staying within budget,” said Michael Murray, CMP, CMM, CASE, vice president of sales and marketing for HVCB’s CMI division.

Murray sums it up nicely about the Hawaiian experience:

“Groups and incentives love to come here. Associations consistently see attendance exceed expectations, and we’re the number one destination for incentives. The net result is that attendees return home refreshed and reinvigorated. Add it all together and it’s easy to see why Hawai‘i is the ‘ultimate global gathering place’ for business meetings.”

I would love to attend a meeting, or event in Hawaii to test that theory of feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. If you are planning an event there and need someone to report there about the experience of your show drop me a line. I still owe my wife that Hawaiian honeymoon.

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As I traveled to Orlando a couple of weeks ago, I could see a number of places getting a face lift. Some of the resorts and attractions were expanding and getting new themes, and now it seems as though the Orange County Convention Center is also slated for a new look and feel. Trade Show Week is reporting that the convention center is expanding by 80 acres that are adjacent to their facility. It is indicated in the report that The Peabody Orlando, the OCCC, The Hilton Orlando, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Universal City Property Management are all working together on the project. The report goes on to state:

…the plan so far includes a 1,400-room hotel – with the brand to be announced this summer – plus attractions, entertainment, retail and a large outdoor entertainment area that will be connected via a waterway concept to create “additional venues, spaces for entertainment and show performances.” The development will be north of the OCCC’s North/South Building and connected to it by pedestrian bridges.

It’s just the latest proposed development for the area surrounding the convention center. The Hilton Orlando, which broke ground last year, will be the first hotel connected directly to the OCCC by pedestrian bridge when it opens next summer on the east side of the North/South Building.

This is a trend I think that is taking place among most of the competitive convention centers vying for that event or trade show by expanding their facilities that are giving more than just space and management of the event. The convention centers are making it more of an experience for the attendees by making it easier for hotel arrangements and also giving them exciting things to do while not attending conferences or meetings. I think they are trying to keep up with the likes of Gaylord Entertainment that has been selling this business plan from the beginning. The all-in-one experience seems to be the new idea for facilities looking to get ahead.

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This year has seen more travel than in years past for me and it seems that I am getting more and more speaking engagements and have been attending more conferences as well. This week I wrapped up a conference on Tuesday and traveled all day yesterday to get back home only to find out I needed to make travel arrangements again for early next month. I just finished compiling my receipts and the shock was a little high on the price of traveling.

I am not a large corporation that has its own travel department, and in fact I am not even good at trying to earn miles like many of my peers. I am the guy that waits until the last minute and pays the highest possible amount for hotels, cars, and air fares.

I noticed recently that many companies are making arrangements to limit the travel for all of their employees. Even large companies that somehow find ways to fund any travel their employees want. Basically, the price of fuel is beginning to take its toll on employee travel. This is going to have a direct impact on conventions and trade shows in the future. Your boss is not going to allow you to attend an event across the country as the price of flying will be too high to allow it as part of the budget. I hope conventions can make adjustments to this phenomena. In the meantime, don’t procrastinate like I do making travel plans. The sooner you make the plans the better. Fuel prices don’t look to be going down any time soon.

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These photos were taken inside the Atrium at the Gaylord Palms Convention Resort in Orlando, Florida. Those large lizard types are actually alligators and they are joined in the water buy turtles. The children standing around were in awe of these creatures, and they could not wait to get in the pool later! Well, of course, I had to tell them that the alligators were in training in this water feature so when they grow up they could be in the pool! This is a great feature by the folks at Gaylord Palms. I am here at a conference and I’ll have a complete review of the facility and perhaps if I can manage an interview with the management here.

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I think I spoke before about making a trip to Oregon to a conference in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center, and that time has come as I sit here in my hotel room working on my presentation for a web conference. That is part of the reason for my lack of posting here this week, I have been putting my presentation together and doing some other things including an interview of a new kid on the block that opened its doors last month. I won’t spoil the surprise but I was very excited to do this interview and can’t wait to get the post written up for our Friday Feature this week. Tune back in on Friday for the next Friday Feature.

I hope to see if I can get some pictures of the Oregon Convention Center and get those posted up here on the blog for people to see their facility in action. I might even try to get in an interview of someone at the facility. No promises but stay tuned for some pictures for sure. Now back to preparing for that presentation!

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I’m suddenly faced with making a number of travel arrangements as a result of speaking gigs, consulting trips, and attending events, and it made me think about travel conventions.  What are the top travel conventions or trade shows?  I decided to hop over to Google and find out.  Turns out there is a travel convention and it has actually named itself “The Travel Convention” as if to say there are no other conventions out there but theirs.  I like the boldness of that statement.  Who makes the bold statement?  Why of course none other than THE Travel Association.

The Travel Association is a UK based association:

Formed in 1950 by 22 leading travel companies, ABTA - The Travel Association - now represents over 5,500 travel agencies and 900 tour operations, throughout the British Isles. Our Members range from small, specialist tour operators and independent travel agencies through to publicly-listed companies and household names; from call centres to internet booking services to high street shops. All of them carry the ABTA logo, which means choice, value, and high levels of service.

The Travel Convention is set to be held on October 6-8, 2008 and is taking place at Gran Canaria.

Of note is Mark Tanzer, Executive Director of ABTA’s behind the scenes blog.  Although this is more like an online newsletter than a blog, I see that they are trying to move into the social media marketing arena of using a blog to communicate.  Tanzer states:

“The Maspalomas Conference Centre provides us with another stunning business setting which is perfect for the UK’s premier travel event of the year,” said Mark Tanzer, ABTA’s Chief Executive.

The Maspalomas Conference Center is described in its site as a very beautiful facility and I think its in a beautiful part of the world.  I would be interested in attending just for the scenery and the fun on the beach.

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All over Mexico and North America, people are celebrating Cinco De Mayo or the celebration of the victory at the Battle of Puebla.  Many believe it to be the celebration of Mexico’s independence but although not, it is a highly celebrated day in Mexican history.  I thought that in honor of the holiday, and staying with the idea of talking about convention centers outside the U.S., I would  head down to Cancun and check out the convention center there.

The Cancun Center is located in the heart of the hotel district of Cancun and has 152,852 square feet of exhibition space.    The Yucatan Peninsula is a gorgeous setting for a convention or trade show.  The Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau describes the faciltiy:

An extraordinary setting with a panoramic view of the Caribbean Sea combines with state-of-the-art technology and personal attention from a team of professionals.
The result is a full range of support services, from audiovisual and security to booth decor and food and beverage.
Everything you need to guarantee an event’s success is yours at Cancun Center.

I checked out their facility with their virtual tour and it looks like a wonderful place to have a convention or trade show. 

This past weekend The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Education Foundation held its first international Partnership Summit at the Cancun Center.  It was a chance to really showcase the convention center to industry leaders.  Arturo Escaip, President of the CCVB said just this:

“We couldn’t be more pleased to be hosting the Foundation’s Annual Partnership Summit,” said Arturo Escaip, President and CEO of the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This is an unprecedented opportunity to ‘show-off’ all that Cancun has to offer to this group of highly-respected meetings industry executives. Additionally, the focus group and town hall meetings will provide us with some candid insight into the needs of meetings professionals, while also giving us a unique opportunity to demonstrate the many advantages of planning a meeting in Cancun.”

A great opportunity for the Cancun Center and I hope they took advantage of the chance to shine.  If you are an event or convention planner check out what Cancun has to offer.

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