Although consumer shows are a relatively small portion of the market — 17 percent — they face some big challenges, including getting locked out of convention centers, fighting for dates and proving their value to the city.

By Michael J. Flynn & Linda Kephart Flynn

The future of consumer shows looks solid — they’re showing increases in attendance, net square feet, room nights generated and total expenditures. But despite all the positive indicators, consumer shows face some negatives.For example, many convention centers are excluding public shows.

Massachusetts lawmakers have banned home-and-garden shows from Boston’s new convention center, scheduled to open in 2004, and San Francisco’s Moscone Center won’t book boat shows and craft events. And a May 2001 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer analyzed the debate over whether the longstanding Philadelphia Flower Show and other public events should move out of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. 

A central issue is the function and “responsibility” of convention centers to the entire city. “Are convention centers there purely to support the local hotel industry, or are they public facilities that serve a larger public purpose?” asks Heywood Sanders, Professor of Public Administration at the University of Texas in San Antonio, in the Inquirer story. “That’s an answer that a community has to decide.”
The outcome of this debate is only one factor affecting the future of consumer shows. Other trends producers must consider include problems getting preferred dates, proving their economic impact to the city, finding the right facility and forming strategic partnerships to keep the show growing. Learn how these issues are influencing the consumer show landscape.

EventNumbers

Of the 13,185 shows held in the United States and Canada each year, only 2,227, or about 17 percent, are consumer shows, according to the first Exhibition Industry Census by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). The National Association of Consumer Shows (NACS) records only 1,458 consumer shows using at least 3,000 square feet of space.

According to EXPO magazine’s 2001 Reader Report (see the October 2001 issue), the average consumer show producer works on 4.15 shows, an 11.1 percent decrease from 1999. But numbers are up in all other categories. Attendance at the largest show averages 24,439 people (up 3.7 percent) in 182,000 net square feet (a 13 percent jump). The average EXPO reader’s largest consumer show generates an average of 1,124 room nights, an amazing 47.7 percent gain over 1999 numbers. And consumer show producers spend an average of $1.1 million on their shows, a 17.2 percent increase.
Attendance is one of the first things to suffer when the economy hits the skids. A 2000 survey by NACS and the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) found that overall consumer show attendance increased from 1999 to 2000 for 55 percent of respondents, down slightly from the 56.3 percent who said attendance grew from 1998 to 1999. And these numbers were gathered before the economy faltered, dragging attendance down even further.

DatePreference

Public show organizers have always experienced difficulty getting and keeping preferred event dates. And major-city venues continue to be tough in this regard. “We’re in city, county and private facilities — and have used some of them for 15 to 19 years — and we’re still getting bumped,” says LauraCampbell, President of the Womens Show Division for Charlotte, NC-based Southern Shows Inc. “When a show’s been held at the same time of year for 16 years and suddenly it changes, we feel the pressure with our exhibitors and attendees, and it impacts how we do business.” Campbell admits that it takes working with everyone involved to make the best of the situation.

In the NACS/IAAM survey, 60 percent of respondents said their facility extended long-term date preferences for consumer shows. More than 16 percent of facilities — the largest response — said they commit to consumer show dates five years out. More than 15 percent of facilities commit three years before a show. These numbers are in line with results from previous years. While not much has changed in this area, it’s still a concern that show managers must deal with on a regular basis.

EconomicImpact


Economic impact has become an increasingly important topic in consumer show production circles. Groups and individuals have begun to understand that the time and expense of such studies can pay off in reserving space, gaining civic understanding and attracting and keeping exhibitors.

“I’ve encouraged all my promoters to bite the bullet and do a study,” says Allyson Jackson, Director of Sales and Marketing for Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center and the South Towne Exposition Center in nearby Sandy, UT. “They didn’t worry about impact in the past, but a study can get them better concessions and prices and get hotels to embrace their events. It just adds credibility to a maturing part of the show industry.”

Three years ago, NACS commissioned Dr. Steven Cobb, Director of the Center for Economic Research and Associate Professor of Economics at Xavier University in Cincinnati, to develop a basic manual for economic analysis, which several shows are now using. “It’s a very stringent set of questions, and it can run $15,000 to $20,000 just to conduct the surveys. We’re trying to educate our members to be proactive and get their facilities involved in sharing the cost,” says NACS Executive Director Michael Fisher.

DemographicDelights


Financial promise is a two-way street. Increasingly, exhibition facilities are producing detailed demographic reports to woo new shows. In May, the 150,000-square-foot South Florida Expo Center and the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach, FL, produced a detailed market-area demographic study aimed at consumer show promoters, event producers and sponsors. The 13-page document, filled with charts and graphs, covers everything from household incomes within a 50-mile radius and consumer expenditures to the number of affluent families and residential profiles. Charlie Dunn, South Florida’s Marketing Vice President, used his market research background, 2000 Census information, an area profile by the local newspaper and other sources to compile the report in about two weeks. He estimates the total cost at about $5,000.

“We decided we had to know our customers’ customers,” says Dunn. “The more we’re able to help show producers understand the market, the more successful we’ll be at leasing space.”

In 2000, Salt Lake City’s facilities added a 25-page demographic study to their sales material. Jackson commissioned Tradeshow Week to track the economic and demographic details, and she plans to fold 2000 Census results into the second edition. “The information tells show managers for local consumer events and national shows what the actual makeup of the area is, while dispelling some of the stereotypes,” explains Jackson. “When I can hand prospects a comprehensive demographic study, it shows that we’re serious about getting their business.”

FacilityGrowth


Facility expansion prompted the demographic studies in both Salt Lake City and South Florida. Like many areas around the country, each felt the need for additional space to handle consumer events. In Salt Lake City, downtown’s 365,000-square-foot Salt Palace was often booked with trade shows. So the county approved construction of the 243,000-square-foot South Towne Exposition Center, which has just completed its first consumer show season.

“We didn’t say, ‘You can’t use the Salt Palace,’ but we made it so easy for consumer shows to adopt the new facility,” says Jackson. “Even the older events that were reluctant to move are very pleased. They’re up anywhere from 20 percent to 70 percent in attendance. We’ve already got 28 shows on the books for 2002, and the Auto Show is holding dates now through 2020.”
Between expanding convention centers, new hotel exhibit space, sprawling fairgrounds and small private exposition halls, the universe of venues available for public shows is exploding. In fact, EXPO magazine has identified about 116 convention centers and hotels worldwide that are building or planning to build new exhibit space, with 62 set to be completed in the next three years and 25 new facilities or expansions completed in the past year.

“The industry, as far as facilities are concerned, is expanding quite rapidly,” says NACS’ Fisher. “When you look around, you see major expansion in big and smaller cities, and we’ll soon see things getting competitive as these facilities look for ways to fill that space. Even the major centers are going to have to attract smaller public shows to fill their schedules, and that will begin to trickle down to 
second- and third-tier cities. In the long run, this will be good for consumer show producers because they won’t feel the crunch for space and dates that they have in the past.”

JointPartnership/ Sponsorship

One of the new ways consumer show producers have found to get space and dates is to team with huge trade shows. The larger event expands its value through the consumer show’s offerings; the consumer event capitalizes on the greater attendee base and marketing exposure.

In 2000, for instance, Shomex Productions started holding several of its job and career fairs during Reed Exhibition Cos.’ trade shows. Shomex launched the PC Career Expo as part of Reed’s PC Expo; the Interphex Career Expo as part of Interphex, a pharmaceutical exposition; and the Assembly Technology Career Expo as part of Reed’s Assembly Technology Expo. “These are strategic, not soft, partnerships that are revenue-development based,” says Cristopher Levy, Shomex’s Marketing Vice President. “We don’t represent a lot of money to a billion-dollar firm, but it’s money straight to the bottom line for very little work, while they add value to their show.”

Shomex, in turn, piggybacks on the large show’s brand, both in its marketing and by being able to charge exhibitors more to participate in a bigger event. The consumer show organizer also can lower its space and marketing costs. “We still do our own marketing because we want to add new people to the larger show, but we spend half of what we would for a stand-alone event,” says Levy. “So far it’s worked so well that we added a fourth event to the three we originally planned with Reed. We haven’t determined a target number of shows, but we’ll definitely continue to work together in the future.”

Michael & Linda Kephart Flynn cover a variety of business and travel topics for regional, national and international publishers.