Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Convention competition

CHICAGO -- When Rotary International opened its 100th anniversary conference Saturday, the city welcomed more than 36,000 attendees who are expected to pump tens of millions of dollars into Chicago's economy.

Chicago officials didn't have to compete with more exotic destinations to bring Rotary to the city's mammoth McCormick Place convention facility -- the humanitarian organization wanted to celebrate in the city where it was born.

"We wish we had more (shows) that would do that," said Chris Bowers, CEO of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.

The days when McCormick Place and its more than 2.2 million square feet of exhibit space dominated the nation's convention landscape are over.

With cities like Las Vegas and Orlando offering similar amounts of space, more hotel rooms and milder weather, Chicago -- which many industry insiders consider the birthplace of the modern convention -- is working harder than ever to maintain its position as a top convention destination.

"The once unique situation of McCormick Place is now very different," said Heywood Sanders, a professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio who studies the convention industry. "Major events now have choices that they didn't have before."

Tradeshow Week magazine last month released its annual ranking of the top 200 trade shows in the country based on space occupied, and Chicago ranked second behind Las Vegas for the 11th straight year. Chicago hosted 18 of the events -- 16 at McCormick -- compared to 38 in Las Vegas.

Tradeshow Week also tracks 5,000 shows that occupy more than 5,000 square feet of space, and again Chicago's hosting numbers have dipped in recent years, said the magazine's publisher, Adam Schaffer. From 1997 through 1999, Chicago hosted more of those shows than any other city, but Las Vegas took over the top spot in 2000 and Chicago has ranked fourth behind Toronto and New York the last two years.

Las Vegas is also on top when it comes to the money it spends on tourism. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's fiscal 2004 budget was more than $145 million, dwarfing any other U.S. city.

Orlando's bureau was second at more than $41 million. Chicago's budget of $14.5 million ranked 12th, with two-thirds of it coming from public sources and the other third from private memberships, sponsorships and royalties, said Bill Utter, the Chicago bureau's vice president of marketing.

"Those are the fiscal dynamics Chicago faces," Sanders said. "The competition can keep adding and building and promoting."

Nancy Murphy, vice president of sales for the Las Vegas convention authority, said meeting the needs of not only show hosts, but also exhibitors and attendees is one way the city attracts the nation's largest trade shows. Another key is the city's infrastructure, which includes the most hotel rooms in the country, three huge convention centers, spas, shopping, golf courses and an increasing number of fine dining options.

"When I would fly back (to Las Vegas) I used to hear people talking about what shows they wanted to see," Murphy said. "Now, it's what restaurants they're going to try."

Bill Peeper, president of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said his staff works to tailor programs to the needs of the organization, including knowing how much to play up the Disney theme parks.

Some groups schedule events at the parks throughout the day, while others wait until after business hours.

But Bowers said Chicago has its own offerings other cities can't match. Those include its location in the middle of the country, easy access to O'Hare and Midway airports, 30,000 downtown hotel rooms, more than 5,000 restaurants, a scenic lakefront and numerous cultural attractions.

Even so, the high cost of hosting a convention at McCormick Place has created competition even in the city's own backyard. Chicago's hourly labor rate of $79.01 was ninth highest in the country in 2004, compared to $65.42 in nearby suburban Rosemont, according to a Tradeshow Week survey.

National Manufacturing Week and CMM International, which this year drew 28,000 and 15,000 attendees respectively to McCormick Place, are moving their shows to Rosemont's convention center.

Both events had been in Chicago since the early 1990s, and representatives from each said they're leaving due to McCormick Place costs. Officials of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which owns and operates McCormick Place, last month announced an agreement with the Chicago-area labor community to help lower costs associated with events at the complex.

Even with those losses, though, business is still booming at McCormick, Bowers said. The city turned away shows in recent years due to a lack of space, he said, and a new $850 million McCormick Place wing with 720,000 square feet of exhibition and meeting space is due to open in 2008.

Bowers said he respects the competition. But he said he still feels Chicago tops them in all in its ability to help show organizers promote and enhance their events through features like a citywide recognition campaign for convention and meeting attendees.

As for the brutal Chicago winters that might drive conventioneers to sunnier cities, Bowers has an answer: "Even in the wintertime, it's always 72 degrees in our buildings."

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