July/August 2000

What it really costs a facility to hold your show

By Michele Bruno

You can call it All Beef, Chicago Style, Polish or New York Kosher — but it’s still a $5 hot dog. That over-priced tube of boiled bologna lying on a piece of stale bread drowning in condiments epitomizes the struggle of exhibitors, attendees and show organizers to understand how convention centers determine pricing for everything from hot dogs to telephone lines.

To understand the dynamics of pricing and facility costs, EXPO took a behind-the-scenes look through the eyes of the San Diego Convention Center as they welcomed Digestive Disease Week (DDW), one of the largest events the city hosts, in May.  

Digestive Disease Week (DDW) opened May 21, 2000, at the San Diego Convention Center. The show attracted 16,500 attendees and featured 340 exhibitors, covering 250,000 square feet. The four-day event featured 198 conference programs and used 100,000 square feet of meeting space

The costs to host an event don’t begin and end with the event itself. Convention centers spend a lot of time and money on their marketing efforts. To secure DDW, San Diego commissioned an extensive survey of nationwide events to identify those specifically suited to the facility, and the results revealed that DDW met its criteria. It took 80 man-hours to contact, prepare proposals and secure DDW as a client. The 2000 event was booked in September 1994. Throughout this year’s show, two senior-level event managers worked a combined total of 240 hours to service their client.

Telecommunications today means more than installing telephone lines and providing long-distance service. Modern convention centers must provide Internet connectivity, on-site networking capabilities, a communications infrastructure and adequate technical support. For DDW, four technicians working 10-hour days started telephone installation on May 15. They installed 120 phone lines for show management alone (including10 voice mail lines) and 87 additional lines for exhibitor telephone and Internet access. They set up three on-site kiosks with voice mail capabilities and e-mail access, as well as providing tech support for all equipment throughout the event. San Diego’s staff technicians installed more than 20,000 feet of cable to support the telecommunications services provided to DDW.

DDW required 13,000 chairs and 225 man-hours to set up and remove the chairs from general sessions and other large areas during the event. More than 30 meeting rooms were turned over, requiring 150 hours of labor. For example, a 40,000-square-foot ballroom that was set up theater-style for a general session ending at noon, had to be broken down into individual meeting rooms by 2:15 p.m. Each meeting room had to be equipped with chairs, stages, pipe and drape, audio-visual equipment and separate electrical outlets.

Depending on the amount and type of equipment used and the complexity of the presentation, the costs of audio-visual equipment and support can be staggering for large events. To keep 16,500 attendees involved in the event, DDW used 18 monitors networked throughout the convention center, while a live film crew provided continuous broadcasting. The San Diego staff provided all tech support for the camera feed. In addition, DDW delegates and an international viewing audience watched a live interview with Katie Couric of NBC’s Today Show. The interview was broadcast from one of the plenary sessions via satellite into the ballroom and pressroom, where members of the press conducted a remote question-and-answer session with Couric. Members of the convention center’s 850-member staff coordinated the Couric interview with NBC, the satellite broadcast company and PAC Bell. They also provided cable and installation services to make the telecast possible.

Exhibitors will pay a premium for ordering specialty services and having the convention center make all of the arrangements. At DDW, Chef Mary Bergin from Wolfgang Puck’s famous Spago Restaurant was flown in from Las Vegas to prepare more than 2,000 2-oz. chocolate truffle cakes that were distributed at the Prometheus booth. Other exhibitor requests ranged from serving hors d’oeuvres on silver platters to dishing out anniversary cake (32 cakes total).

Electricity usage is a large cost for convention centers. Exhibitors and organizers don’t normally reimburse the facility directly for the amount of electricity used, so the facility has to be vigilant about how and when the electricity is used to conserve costs. At DDW, six electricians were on staff for the duration of the event to monitor the consumption of 9,480 amps of electricity.

Maintenance of the heating, ventilation and cooling systems, as well as the energy consumption from this equipment, is another large cost factor for facilities. During DDW, the air conditioning remained off during the move-in and move-out periods to conserve costs. However, a team of engineers, who eventually worked 240 hours during the event, arrived at 3 a.m. on the morning of the show’s opening to turn on the air conditioning system and maintain an even 68- to 72-degree average temperature during the meeting. Allowing the building to cool down slowly distributes the energy consumption over a few hours and regulates the temperature throughout the entire building. This practice lowers the total cost of energy consumption.

While food concession stands represent revenue sources for the facility, they can be pricey alternatives for the attendees and exhibitors. Specialty food carts — including Mrs. Field’s Cookies, Starbuck’s, California Pretzel, Athens Market and Garcia’s Fine Foods of Mexico — operated an estimated 193 hours over 6.5 days at DDW. Fifty-seven staff members worked an average of 3.5-hour shifts to staff these concessions.

The use of security personnel to ensure the safety of event participants, as well as the security of products and equipment on the show floor, is an added cost for the facility that is only partially reimbursed by exhibitors and organizers. During DDW, security guards worked a total of 3,000 hours to secure the building and event areas.

The end of a large event involves more than removing the booths and taking out the garbage. Complex events require many man-hours to break down. Convention center staff in San Diego removed, cleaned, tested and bagged telephones, cleaned out voice mail systems, rolled up cable, removed electrical lines and shut down air conditioning units.

A $216 million expansion is currently underway. When it’s complete in September 2001, the expansion will add 275,000 square feet of exhibit space, 100,000 square feet of meeting space and 170,000 square feet of pre-function, lobby and registration space. The expansion is being funded through lease revenue bonds. To satisfy their the obligation, the City of San Diego will pay for the debt through its hotel room tax, which is currently 10.5 percent, and through an annual contribution from the San Diego Unified Port District.