^{February 2002}

CVBs give their time and money to help shows draw attendees and exhibitors

By Heather Kirkwood
 

With attendance down 25 percent and just a few weeks to go until the annual Alabama Counseling Association meeting, held Nov. 14-16, 2001, at the Sheraton in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, AL, Executive Director Erwin (Chip) Wood was starting to worry.

The event typically draws 1,200 attendees and 60 to 75 exhibitors, but a sagging economy, further torpedoed by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, had some attendees contemplating skipping the show, especially because state budget cuts meant many would have to pay their own way.

Then the phone rang. It was Tel-a-Sell, a Cincinnati-based telemarketing company, explaining that the Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau hired them to help managers who were planning events in late 2001 market those events to potential attendees. The bureau was picking up the tab for the free service.

Although he was skeptical at first, Wood had nothing to lose. He worked with Tel-a-Sell to develop a script the telemarketers used to invite 2,000 attendees to the show on behalf of the association and remind them about popular sessions they’d miss. By show time, Wood gained 150 registrations and attendance was down less than 10 percent.

“Things were already getting tough in this business, but when Sept. 11th happened, we felt we had to do something,” says April Deal, Vice President of Convention Sales for the Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. Bureaus across the country were thinking the same way.

Not alone

In recent months, many cities and facilities have been digging deep into their pockets to help show managers cope with the flagging industry. After all, sluggish attendance isn’t good for anyone — show managers, local hotels or surrounding businesses.

CVBs and convention centers across the country spent the week after Sept. 11, 2001, brainstorming ways to help their customers. Solutions included everything from free marketing help to personal invitations to attendees from local politicians.

In Las Vegas, for example, show managers with events scheduled through the first quarter of 2002 that were expected to bring in more than 5,000 attendees were offered up to three direct mailings at bureau expense. The bureau designed a direct-mail postcard with each show’s logo and contact information, as well as the bureau’s logo and contact information. Participants, such as the National Association of Convenience Store Shows and the Consumer Electronics Show, sent their mailing lists to a bonded mailing house to protect their proprietary information. The bureau will have mailed more than 1 million postcards by the time the program is completed in the first quarter of this year.

“We met Sept. 12 and decided to do this,” says Nancy Murphy, Director of Convention Sales for the bureau. She declined to disclose exactly what the bureau spent on the project. “Let’s just say it was very expensive,” she says.

Shows needed instant actions to deal with the situation, and that’s just what many got. On Sept. 11, 2001, Kay Gazaway, Vice President of Trade Shows for Penton Inc.’s New Hope division, was a little more than a month from opening the Natural Products Expo East in Washington, DC. As the city went into a state of high alert, beefing up security and responding to threats, the Washington DC Convention and Visitors Bureau immediately focused on its clients’ needs.

“I got a call the next day from the bureau wanting to know what they could do to help,” Gazaway says. She remained in daily contact with the bureau and the general manager of the convention center until her show was completed.

The bureau assigned a staffer to act as a liaison for the show and field exhibitor questions about what was happening in Washington. The bureau prepared updates for the show’s Web site and put together an e-mail newsletter to let show participants know that Washington was indeed open for business. The liaison’s name, phone number and e-mail address were included. “Our liaison took tons of calls from our exhibitors. He responded to all of them, and if he didn’t know an answer, he researched it and got back to them,” says Gazaway. “I know it was time-consuming, but it really helped.”
Even Mayor Anthony Williams got in on the act, calling a number of the show’s exhibitors to personally invite them to Washington and assure them that the city was doing everything possible to make the event a success.

Although attendance was down 15 percent overall, Gazaway was pleased with the turnout, all things considered. “What could have been a horribly frustrating situation turned out to be successful and a very positive experience,” she says.

The heavy hitters

Celebrity involvement was a strategy a number of cities used soon after the attacks. In Chicago, Illinois Gov. George Ryan met several VIPs arriving at O’Hare International Airport for the Plastics USA show. He staged a press conference and thanked the show, held Oct. 2-4, 2001, for coming to Chicago and being one of the first shows held after the attacks. The next day, Mayor Richard Daley attended the opening ceremony and held a news conference. The throng of local media ran 33 television and radio stories about the show over the next three days, boosting regional attendance. The convention and tourism bureau also hired telemarketers to call potential attendees for shows scheduled in the city soon after the attack.

In Orlando, Orange County Convention Center officials took it upon themselves to announce to the country that the tourism industry was still doing business. The center hosted a town meeting for President Bush Dec. 4, 2001, to encourage business as usual. For the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, held Nov. 13-17, 2001, the center previewed the show’s regional ad campaign and offered advice about how to tweak information so that show management and the center were presenting the same message.

At the request of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the facility worked with show management for the Air Medical Transport Conference, held Sept. 24–26, 2001, to conduct a press conference from the show floor. HUD Secretary Mel Martinez brought President Bush’s thanks to show participants for attending and conducting business as usual.

Florida Lieutenant Governor Frank Brogan visited the Florida Nurserymen and Allied Growers Show, held at the Orange County Convention Center a week after the attacks. He walked the show floor and personally thanked attendees and exhibitors for coming and conducting business.

“I think the Orange County Convention Center and the community were grateful that we didn’t cancel our show,” says Linda Adams, Associate Vice President of the Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association. Because her show opened Sept. 18, 2001, the show and its celebrity guests generated a lot of media interest. The center took over working with reporters, setting up interviews and playing tour guide to camera crews. “We’re normally only interested in the trade press, but the coverage was good for us, and it was good for the industry. It was nice, however, to get the coverage without the hassle,” Adams says.

In Phoenix, Scott White, Senior Director of Sales for the Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau,
wasn’t only concerned about how events would affect his clients. He was also a potential attendee debating the wisdom of leaving town to attend a tourism conference. “I wasn’t going to go,” he explains. But, after receiving a visitors guide from the event’s host city, White became intrigued by the destination. He attended the conference and stole the marketing idea.

White selected shows he thought might benefit most from extra marketing help and offered to mail the Phoenix Visitors Guide to potential attendees free of charge. So far, he’s mailed 160,000 guides. He also gathered coupons for attendees from trendy shops at nearby Copper Square, a redeveloped restaurant and shopping area not far from the convention center.

Only 30 percent of the shows he approached took him up on the deal. The others either weren’t comfortable with releasing their mailing lists or told White their numbers were on target and they didn’t need the help. “That’s a real example of partnership,” he says, “They could have gotten a free mailing out of us, but instead they were honest about their needs and told me to save my budget. That’s how this industry came together to overcome the terrorist attacks and the economy.”

Heather Kirkwood is EXPO magazine’s senior editor. You can reach her at
hkirkwood@expoweb.com.