June 2008
The Centenarians
Shows that remain relevant 100 years after their debuts.
By Jody Shee
They’ve weathered the Great Depression, two World Wars, medical epidemics and countless natural disasters. They’ve seen the invention of the jet engine, television and sliced bread. During their reign, silent movies ended, the Titanic sank, John Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution, and man landed on the moon. And despite changes in cultures, competition, industries and technology, these events have endured — even thrived.
American Dental Association
Annual Session and World Marketplace Exhibition
www.ada.org
At its centennial show celebration in New York in 1959, The American Dental Association (ADA) made world news. Not because it was 100 years old, but because it refused to allow Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev and associated dignitaries visiting New York to take over the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom for a last-minute state dinner. The centennial banquet was already scheduled in that room, and the show had to go on. It was the middle of the Cold War, this was the enemy, and the media applauded ADA for taking a stand.
In the early 1900s, the ADA was an exclusive club of dentists. The annual meetings, set in destinations like Niagara Falls, began as scientific events to present papers. Soon suppliers were asking to set up tables to show their wares.
Today, in addition to dentists, the show draws hygienists, dental assistants, lab technicians and office and business managers. Small booths showing new dental chairs or lighting have progressed to super booths with theaters and brushing stations where attendees try new products. “We have some 50- by 80- or 90-foot booths,” says Jim Donovan, Director, Council on ADA Sessions. Products in the cosmetic realm also have boomed in the past dozen years. The show has grown to the point at which it can only be held in five or six cities.
Because the event competes with regional meetings, the show keeps its members coming back by bringing in big-name entertainers such as Bill Cosby, Billy Crystal and Jay Leno. In 2001, it introduced its Distinguished Speaker Series for general sessions with the likes of George H.W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, Ted Koppel and Barbara Walters.
The staff has ramped up educational offerings with a theater-in-the-round — a dental operatory in the center of a classroom with six large flat-screen monitors above to allow attendees to watch live patient procedures.
The next evolution, coming in October, will be an Epcot-like experience with different pavilions and programs to connect education with manufacturers’ products. In one area there might be a laser workshop leading to the next room where attendees compare and demo what they just learned. Another section might have two manufacturers’ CAD/CAMS go head to head demonstrating features and benefits of their products. A third area might have demonstrations of threedimensional X-ray devices.
This summer, show planners will launch online communities for early conference registrants to join. The workshop instructors will occasionally post something to their section of the Web site to get early interaction going on their topic. If there’s much online activity related to a particular community,
show organizers could arrange for a sponsored breakfast or cocktail reception at the show for those who have become a part of that community.
Show founded: 1859.
Most recent event: Sept. 17-30, 2007, in San Francisco.
Attendees: 37,847 excluding exhibitors.
Exhibitors: 9,200 with 674 exhibiting companies.
Net square feet: 171,000.
No exhibits were included in 1944-1945 during World War II.
The 150th anniversary show will be held in Hawaii in 2009.
22 of the 400 ADA staff members work on the show year-round; more than 100 work on site, plus a volunteer council of 21.
The show recruits 400 to 500 local volunteers to help produce the meeting, plus 100 hired temps to serve in various roles.
The ADA has more than 155,000 dentist members.
The 1962 annual session in Miami Beach was at the climax of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Five days prior to the ADA event, President John F. Kennedy announced the U.S. naval blockade of arms and equipment from the Soviet Union to Cuba. Expected show attendance dropped by 3,000. On the session’s opening day, Kennedy announced that the Soviets had agreed to dismantle the missile bases under construction in Cuba.
American Institute of Architects
AIA National Convention and Design Exposition
www.aia.org
The 13 architects who formed the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in New York City in 1857 leaned back in their chairs and puffed on cigars as they met at the now historic Delmonico’s restaurant in Lower Manhattan. They discussed the organization’s goal to promote the scientific and practical perfection of its members and “elevate the standing of the profession.” Ten years later, a requirement for an annual meeting was written into the bylaws.
Through the years, that annual-meeting-turned-convention has become so large that it no longer can go to former city favorites such as Cleveland, OH, Louisville, KY, Portland, OR, or Kansas City, MO. That’s unfortunate, because architecture tours of the buildings in the host city are part of the learning credits participants can receive. Show organizers have been known to sell 7,000 tour tickets for 80 different tours, says Chris Gribbs, Managing Director for Conventions.
The attendance turning point came in 1998 when the AIA began requiring continuing education in order to maintain membership. States issue licenses to architects, and in 1998, three states began requiring architects to acquire continuing education in order to keep their licenses. The AIA recognized it as a national trend and made the requirement of all of its members — registration doubled.
The show’s chief competitors are its own local chapters. To keep members coming back to the national event, the education has to be exceptional, says Gribbs. AIA puts out a call for presentations. “We get about five times as many submissions as we can accept. So we’re able to choose the best of the best. That keeps people coming back.”
Over the years, the show attendee profile has expanded from architects to include urban planners, contractors, designers and students. Still, about half are architects. Twenty years ago, exhibitors, of which there were only about 100, targeted their wares to architects as the master builder. Today, the 800-plus exhibitors pursue the wider audience with products, services and technologies appropriate for the various groups.
For extra help with marketing, communications and sales, the association began outsourcing those functions in 1995.
With the green movement being what it is in the building industries, the AIA brought in Al Gore as the keynote speaker at last year’s event. With his recent “Best Documentary” Oscar for “An Inconvenient Truth,” and the buzz of a possible presidential bid, the association was anticipating big headlines. Sadly, room space limitations caused the door to close on 500 would-be listeners and Gore forbad the session to be recorded — or for any press members to enter the room. “It became antinews,” Gribbs says.
Annual meeting began: 1867.
Original show name: AIA Annual Meeting.
Most recent event: May 15-17, 2008, in Boston.
Registrants: 23,000.
Exhibitors: 834.
Net square feet: 208,000.
No show held in 1917 or 1933, for reasons unknown.
150th event will be held in 2018 in New York, the originating city.
Exhibit space sells out 6 to 8 months in advance.
In 2007, the show stopped printing handouts, thus eliminating 1.6 million pieces of paper floating around the convention floor. Instead handouts are available online. Since 2005, the show has been audited for greenness.
Chicago Auto Trade Association
Chicago Auto Show
www.chicagoautoshow.com
In February 2008, the 100th Chicago Auto Show might have been sensory overload to show founder Samuel Miles.Or not. He, along with Chrysler Corp., succeeded in creating a test track on the exhibit floor at that initial 1901 show. “It was not uncommon to crash into the barrier or into another car,” says Jerry Cizek III, Chicago Auto Trade Association President and show General Manager.
It cost consumers 50 cents to get into that first show, which featured 65 companies displaying their vehicles and accessories. On opening night, between 2,000 and 6,000 people flooded into the Chicago Coliseum. It was home to the annual event until 1934.
When the show moved into Chicago’s Amphitheatre in 1935, exhibit space jumped from 58,000 to 255,000 square feet. Then, nearly 300 models of 29 car makes were on display, including motor coaches and trailers.
Though that initial test-track shortly went away, Chrysler brought it back for good as an immensely popular sideshow at the 2005 show at McCormick Place. The move to McCormick Place in 1961 expanded exhibit space to 300,000 square feet with 400 cars and trucks on display.
In earlier years, the car show was much more about circus acts, magicians and voluptuous women draped over the cars to draw attendees. In 1938, the show theme was “Fashion of the World” and featured lovely women from 10 countries modeling furs. “It’s all changed,” Cizek says. “Product is king now.”
Today, adults pay $10 to get into the show, which is always held in February. In many cases, car dealers buy the entrance tickets and give them to prospective car buyers. Yes, it’s cold and windy in Chicago, but it’s precisely the time consumers are tired of looking at their salty, dirty cars that are suffering from pothole damage. The show goal is to get consumers to admire the nice shiny cars on the floor and to coax them into the car dealerships. The expo helps kick off spring auto sales.
The best-attended show was in 2002, five months after Sept. 11. Cizek attributes the sizable crowd to the fact that people weren’t traveling, but finding entertainment close to home. (The show stopped releasing attendance numbers after Sept. 11 partly to keep from drawing attention to the large number of people gathered in one location at one time.)
Natural disasters have dampened show attendance occasionally, especially the year 16-foot waves from Lake Michigan crossed over the highway and flooded out the event. Perhaps only 1967 was more stressful. Four weeks before the show, a huge fire destroyed McCormick Place. The staff scrambled to downsize the show and move it back to its pre-McCormick Place location.
Show attendance figures haven’t been disclosed since Sept. 11. In 2000, the attendance estimate was 1.2 million.
The 100th show in February 2008 had 945,000 net square feet of exhibit space.
General Motors alone takes up 190,000 square feet, as does Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge.
About 1,000 vehicles are displayed.
Show staff consists of 10 — the entire organization staff.
There have only been six show managers in 100 years.
A black-tie fund-raising event associated with the last show raised $2.7 million for local charities.
Samuel Miles put on the first show in 1901. After his death in 1935, the Chicago Automobile Trade Association took it over.
Chicago’s McCormick Place is the perpetual location.
The show was suspended from 1941 to 1949 during World War II.
The Chicago Auto Show was among the first expos to be held at McCormick Place when it opened in 1961.
International Association of Chiefs of Police
Annual IACP Conference Law Enforcement Education & Technology Exposition
www.theiacp.org
The world of crime took a turn for the worse and for the better 115 years ago in 1893. That was the year the infamous Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the ax murder of her mother and father. It was also the year that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) started its annual Law Enforcement Education & Technology Exposition with the first show held in Chicago.
Then, the United States was largely unsettled land. Police were challenged with capturing criminals who fled from one city or state to the next, and fingerprint identification was a new concept, says Charlie Higginbotham, Director of the IACP Annual Conference.
The early shows addressed uniform practices for arresting fleeing felons from other states; systems of identification; and a new police telegraphic code. Telephone and automobile advancements in the early days were huge. (The diesel engine was patented in 1893.)
Today, the scope of crime and the topics and products brought forth at the annual shows would seem otherworldly to show forefathers. Now attendees from nearly 60 countries need to know about conducting international investigations, DNA identification and how to simultaneously
gather information in real time from hundreds of sources.
Just in the last 10 years, the show has grown attendance 36 percent. At the conclusion of the 2007 conference in New Orleans, exhibit space (limited to around 800 exhibiting companies) was 90 percent sold. “When we opened the remaining booths for sale, the other 10 percent sold in two hours,” says Higginbotham. By 2010, the team plans to grow the space by opening more exhibit halls.
The grand scale of the expo is obvious from the helicopters, boats and big command vehicles on the exhibit floor. Keynote speakers come on a grand scale as well, with the elder George Bush as a speaker in 1992, and Bill Clinton in 1996.
By design, networking is a big part of the educational sessions. Frequently, the speaker will give a five-minute subject introduction and open the floor for questions and discussion. It’s common for attendees to hang out in the room long after the session ends, talking to each other and learning from others’ experiences.
Show founded: 1893.
Most recent show: Oct. 13-15, 2007, in New Orleans.
Attendees: 8,576.
Exhibitors: 4,914 with 736 companies exhibiting.
Net square feet: 187,500.
Beginning in 2010, the show will alternate between only four cities: Orlando, Chicago, San Diego and Philadelphia.
41 of the association’s 130 staff members have key conference responsibilities. Half of the staff goes to the annual conference.
IACP members come from 102 countries. About 60 countries are represented at the annual conference.
The science of fingerprinting took off in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair. It was there that the National Bureau of Criminal Identification moved for two months to publicize its fingerprint technology. The IACP convention was held there as well, and reports about the new fingerprint process were read widely among members.
Messe Frankfurt Inc.
Decorate Life: Tendence Autumn + Winter
www.messefrankfurt.com
In the year 1150, a rabbi from the German city of Mainz mentioned the Frankfurt autumn fair in one of his writings. That annual trade fair is woven into the tapestry of European and world history and, according to its organizers, continues today as the oldest and largest known show.
At the Decorate Life: Tendence Autumn+Winter expo, buyers and sellers from around the world give and take orders for small home accessories, jewelry, gift items and holiday decorations, says Nicolette Naumann, Vice President, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH.
In its earliest days, the goods sold included furs, oriental spices, Flemish lace, silk, glassware from Venice, jewels and construction timber. But it never was a consumer show. Sellers always came to take orders from dealers. And these buyers could only pay for the goods once they’d been sold. This led to the development of the credit business as far back as the Middle Ages.
There was one exception to the “no-consumers-allowed” nature of the annual event. The show was suspended during several wars, including World Wars I and II. When it started again after World War II in 1948, there was joy in the streets. Germany was open for business again in spite of the fact that much of the fairground had been destroyed in the war. On the show’s opening day, consumers were allowed in to shop. “It was after the long war, and people hadn’t seen some of these things for years. It made the front page of every German newspaper in that time,” Naumann says.
Trade shows have always had a large impact on the world economy, she says, “The beauty of the trade show business
is that it really helps medium-size companies to become international. How else would a high-end producer of goods for daily life serve buyers in more
than 100 countries?”
Today, at Decorate Life, African villagers may come and show their wicker or leather craft next to huge industrial producers with booths that may measure 1,000 to 2,000 square meters and a booth-construction expense of 200,000 to 300,000 euros. It’s the world-class buyers who come by the booths that justify the expense. U.S. buyers alone include Wal-Mart, Saks Fifth Avenue, Crate & Barrel, Bloomingdale’s and Pottery Barn.
The show’s largest growth happened in the 1980s and ’90s. “At that time, the European community became one huge economic market. National borders were getting less important, and at the same time, people started traveling more,” says Naumann.
When Naumann joined the business 25 years ago, 30 percent of exhibitors and 25 percent of buyers were international. Now, 50 to 60 percent of exhibitors and 50 percent of buyers are international. The goal is to go even more global, which is both an advantage and a challenge.
Show founded: 1150 (858 years ago).
Show run by Messe Frankfurt, Germany’s largest trade fair organizer.
Most recent event: August 24-28, 2007, in Frankfurt, Germany.
Attendees: 75,000.
Exhibitors: 3,000.
Net square meters: 103,000.
Messe Frankfurt owns the 10-hall facility.
The oldest hall, which is 8,000 square meters, is 100 years old. The newest hall, which is 60,000 square meters, is five years old.
A staff of 50 exclusively handles administrative and marketing aspects of the show year-round.
Another 100 staff people are located worldwide to handle international marketing.
The U.S. is among the top 10 attending nations.
A second fair was started in 1330 called Ambiente, which means “spring fair,” and it continues today.
In 1240, Roman Emperor Frederick II (also King of Germany) used his imperial privilege to designate and declare Frankfurt as the world’s first trade fair city.
National Jeweler Network
The Nielson Co.
JA New York Summer Show
www.ja-newyork.com
All that glitters is not gold at New York’s premier jewelry show. As the price of gold rises, so does the exhibited amount of diamonds, sterling silver and platinum. New York is the jewelry capital of the world.
The JA New York Summer Show’s geographical location is one of the ways the show stays relevant. Jewelry tradeshow competition has increased from a handful in the beginning to several hundred today, says Group Show Director Drew Lawsky. “But we have more concentrated buyers within a 300-mile radius of the Javits Center than any other show could possibly have.” To cater to that drive-in crowd, the show gives the first 300 buyers who come on a particular day a $25 gas card certificate. Show organizers also work with parking garages to allow show guests to park for $25 a day rather than the standard $70 to $100 a day.
Historically, independent retail jewelers with one to three stores made up the bulk of the buying attendees. Their numbers are dwindling through consolidation and attrition. But what the show loses in these kinds of buyers, it gains in such emerging nontraditional jewelry sales outlets as art museums, high-end boutiques, beauty salons, accessory stores and Internet companies.
Exhibitor profiles are still largely entrepreneurial family-run businesses. But Lawsky notices that they have to reinvent themselves as they realize that what their grandparents did 80 years ago won’t cut it today. They have to expand beyond gold. Over the past three to five years, Lawsky says he’s noticed many of those companies going under. Other wares on display are fine gifts, jewelry boxes, industry computer software, showcases and an array of services and products a jewelry store would need.
In spite of changing times, there’s still a silver lining in rising gold prices and the falling American dollar. Visiting New York (as a buyer or seller) is a much more attractive prospect to foreigners. Already, more than 25 countries are represented on the exhibit floor, including Hong Kong, Thailand, Italy, Brazil, Korea, Israel and Turkey. Indonesia will have a large pavilion for the first time this year.
Show organizers arrange for show parties and events around the city to create Jewelry Week in New York. In addition, they work with the Gemological Institute of America to hold its career fair in the Javits Center immediately prior to the show so people can stick around a few extra days for the expo. “We have to have a cutting- edge seminar program and come up with other value-added items for the retailers so they can make that decision to come,” Lawsky says. “It’s a combination of many things to enhance the experience for the retailer and make it another reason it’s important to be there.”
Show founded: 1906.
Previous show names: JA Show and JA International Jewelry Show.
Most recent event: July 29 to August 1, 2007, at New York’s Javits Convention Center.
The Javits Convention Center has hosted the show since the center opened in 1986.
Attendees: more than 15,000 excluding exhibitors.
Exhibiting companies: 1,450 from more than 25 countries.
Net square feet: 190,000.
Just in the past 15 years, the show has had five different owners.
Jewelers of America (the national trade association for retail jewelers) is the sole sponsor of the show and is responsible for the event’s education sessions.
The show competes with 271 major jewelry trade events globally.
Two additional shows have spun off: JA New York Winter Show started in 1974 and JA New York Special Delivery Show in 2004.
Professional Photographer’s Association
Imaging USA
www.ppa.com
For its 50th anniversary in 1930, George Eastman (think Eastman Kodak Co.) sent a letter to the Professional Photographer’s Association (PPA) to acknowledge the golden occasion and to express how wonderfully the “little black box” had evolved. He ended the letter by looking wistfully ahead and wondering what might happen in the next 50 years. Though he died a few years later, that little black box spawned an inconceivable industry with a boundless trade show.
Back in the 1800s, about 30 booths showcased all there was to photography: that little black box, film developing products and background props. Now, the new age of photography, the 600 booths are like a candy store of cameras, bags, cases, lighting, computer hardware and software, props (including costumes) and fold-up backgrounds. That’s just the beginning. The rise of digital photography in the past seven to 10 years has opened a new category of exhibits. Anything that digital photos can be printed on is fair game for the expo. That includes jewelry, beach bags, ball caps, wallets, cakes, baseball cards, mugs, blankets and more.
The biggest challenge has been keeping up with the emerging technology and seeking out appropriate exhibitors and workshop teachers who are not only up on the technology, but are also leading it, says Director of Events Lenore Taffel.
Attendance skyrocketed in 2006 when the staff decided to change the show’s dates from its traditional summer in Las Vegas — a busy time for photographers — to January in the Sunbelt states. The switch drew an additional 2,500 attendees to Austin, TX. Unfortunately, the attendees came on exhibit hall passes, and didn’t preregister. As a result, organizers had to use overflowing classrooms that weren’t originally scheduled to be used at all.
After the show, back in the office, Taffel looked at the convention schedules for the next several years and realized the show had already outgrown the meeting rooms. The solution has been to simulcast the sessions in other meeting rooms so no one has to miss a session.
In 2009, the show will introduce buddy passes. “For $219, bring a friend,” Taffel says. “That breaks down to $110 each. It used to cost $199. We had that for several years. This year we’ll be raising that a little, but it’s still a bargain.”
In 2003, PPA took over the Sports and Events Photographer’s Association, which has brought in additional attendees, and last year, PPA took over the Evidence Photographers International Council.
George Eastman wouldn’t know what do to with himself.
Show founded: 1880.
Most recent event: Jan. 6-8, 2008, in Tampa, FL.
Attendees: 8,600 including exhibitors and personnel.
Exhibiting companies: 350 with 600 booths.
Net square feet: 60,000.
All 38 association staff members attend the shows.
60 to 90 student volunteers and 40 adult volunteers help out at the show.
The PPA has 20,000 members in 54 countries.
Between the Depression, World War I and World War II, there were seven years without a show. “Photography was the glue that kept the country strong and vibrant during those times,” says Lenore Taffel, PPA Director of Events. “People kept taking photos. It kept history alive.
Based in Olathe, KS, Jody Shee is a writer, editor and consultant with more than 15 years of experience in business-to-business communications. Most recently she served as Editor of Produce Concepts magazine, published by Vance Publishing Corp. She can be reached at jody.shee@sbcglobal.net.
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