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Chicago launches task force to retain convention business

Thursday, November 19, 2009 By EXPO News

Convention industry officials and leaders from the city of Chicago have teamed to create a task force that will review all aspects of doing business in the city and develop a plan to reduce costs while maintaining quality. The task force is comprised of members of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), which owns and manages McCormick Place and Navy Pier, the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau, convention labor leaders, show contractors and hospitality leaders and local government officials.

“We’re bringing all of Chicago’s convention industry leaders together to make unified decisions to dramatically improve all aspects of the way we do business,” says John Gates, Chairman of the Board of the MPEA. “We’re trying to turn lemons into lemonade — we get it, we understand our customers’ concerns and we are going to be aggressive in finding a solution together.”
Two major trade shows recently announced plans to pull events from the city because of high exhibition costs. The Society of the Plastics Industry is moving its triennial NPE – The Intl. Plastics Showcase show to Orlando in 2012 and 2015, and the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society will move its 2012 show to Las Vegas.
The city is also facing potential hotel labor strikes. Unite Here Local 1, a union representing downtown Chicago hotel workers, recently sent letters to 200 people who book events in the city, warning them that possible strikes could disrupt customer service and sending a message that doing business in the city is risky (see our Nov. 17 Industry Wire story “Hotel union cautions customers about pending strikes, puts meeting business at risk” for more details).
“We’ll look to revise our business model to determine how Chicago can be more competitive against other convention cities that have an advantage over us because their financial structure allows them to lower their cost and undercut Chicago pricing,” says Juan Ochoa, Chief Executive Officer of MPEA. “Unlike many of our competitors, no government dollars fund any aspect of our operating budget, we rely 100 percent on our show revenue to operate our convention space — which puts us at a disadvantage.”