Event Industry Thoughts

What is in that "Preferred Vendor" contract

I was at an industry event a few weeks ago and had a great conversation with a guy who shall remain nameless because this is Chicago after all. He does not need the grief and I am sure that he likes his job.  Let's just say that he is high up at a major food service provider.

One of the things that we discussed at length was the preferred relationship status of caterers and other vendors at some of Chicago's main meeting and event spaces. My friend finally put words to what I had always known. They paid to get on the list and they paid a lot.

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McCormick Place - Too little, too late?

So, I just had a chance to read a post over at IAEE and it details the changes that are being made to labor and work rules at McCormick Place in Chicago. These new rules are being enacted in order to attract shows and keep existing shows in the city as it seems most big shows are looking for other venues because of the highway robbery that has been taking place for years.

I have to say, all of this may be too little, too late, although I hope that is not the case because Chicago is an amazing place to host a convention. Attendees love the city, it is easy to get to and the people of Chicago are some of the hardest working in the nation.

The biggest question is this and it should be a lesson to all Cities facing the same sort of dilemma, why did they wait? Why did they sit on their hands until things got to crisis proportions.

Should anyone say that this was the right time, the right whatever, I will say....be quiet. I worked for the National Restaurant Association YEARS ago (and I mean years, like almost 15 years ago) and we used to talk about the issue all the time. We used to have exhibitors tell us flat no they would not exhibit in Chicago because the costs were through the roof. At the time, there were more exhibitors than space, so no one cared.

So, here are a list of changes that are being made (this is from the IAEE post) and I think that they are really strong. (I am adding my thoughts to each if it requires!).

• State-imposed new work rules permitting exhibitors to set up a booth of any size using hand tools and ladders. (Good, this is something that should have been done a long time ago. There should be no fear of big booths being set up by amateurs, they don't want to. This rule only penalized the little guy with his 10x20 pop up or panel system).

• Straight time hours begin at 6:00 am end at 6:00 pm and are in play 6 days a week. (Sounds fair. The rest of the world is on this schedule)

• The size of work crews is reduced as will the number of stewards working the floor. (Oh, so they are now going to have the correct amount of people to do the job)

• Exhibitors can unload their own freight and get it to their exhibits so long as they do not use power equipment to do so. Separate loading dock space for non-union unloading will be provided. (This is actually a nice touch).

• General service contractors will be subject to twice annual audits in order to ensure that savings are being passed on to end users. (Who is doing the auditing and will it really make a difference)

• A new trustee, industry veteran Jim Reilly, assumes leadership of the MPEA, Juan Ochoa is gone. (Wait and see)

• Among the first tasks Reilly will tackle --- hiring a private management firm to run McCormick and Navy Pier. (Probably a good thing, I will wait and see)

• The bill allows for naming rights on both buildings as a means to secure new funding and the debt on both facilities will be restructured. (No one cares what the place is named, although, changing the name is a bad idea because it is a brand already.....).

• Focus One remains in place but its profit margin on food service will be significantly reduced. (See my notes about Focus One below, but I will say, Focus One should be done, out, see ya).

• Exhibitors are able to bring in food and beverage for their personal consumption. (HUH?)

• Also changed is the exclusive that Focus One had on electrical services. Shows may now select their own electrical contractors including Focus One if they wish. (Yiiiiipeeeeeeeeee)

These new rules will make exhibitors breath a sigh of relief and I am particularly happy to see that Focus One no longer has a Monopoly on the electric. Their name stands for Focusing On Customer Understanding and Satisfaction and that is the biggest tale ever told. Now, the guys on the floor are fine, it is their office folk that over bill, yell at you and accuse you of not paying your bill (even when you have). Maybe this will be the thing that is needed to help them clean house and clean up their act.

All in all, I think that this is pretty strong stuff, I am just sorry that it took us so long to get to here.

I hope that the fortunes at McCormick Place turn around for the sake of all of the hard working, honest people that are there.

Thoughts on Ballrooms

I wrote this back in 07 and it still holds true today. The image in this article was taken by me only a week ago in NYC....Some things will never change.

We all understand that we have to use ballrooms for some events. It never ceases to amaze me that properties can go through 100 million dollar renovations and still have the same tacky carpet and a 1973 era chandelier, kinda boggles the mind. What are ya gonna do?

I suppose having to suffer through these ballrooms is a small price to pay for having a program in a location that stuns, awes and makes attendees go wow. Whether it is a sales incentive group or a conference on Internet connectivity they soon forget the ballroom the second they step outside and are in Maui, the Bahamas or one of my favorites.......the Mayan Riviera. Sometimes they also forget the event that was in the ballroom.

Before I digress, it is back to the ballroom. Something that always bothered me on surveys an questionnaires after a program was that you could have the best meal, best entertainment and best resort or conference location but if it was in your standard ballroom......... marks were mediocre at best. The rest of the program got an A+ and the ballroom functions got a B.

We were fortunate enough to work with a fortune 500 client many years ago who felt the same way and she had a little money left in her budget so together we set out to transform this drab piece of nasty real estate into something more. I mentioned that it was a little money, so we did not go crazy. We simply added flora, fauna and all manner of living plant things. What do you know, survey results went up. This was the moment we made a sea change in the way approach ballroom events. We no longer accept, we transform.

That brings me to the present, after this experience and it's positive feedback, we decided to try many different ways to spruce up the spaces.

Today these can include full wall wraps (we will turn the walls of any ballroom into a scene from the beach, New York or even Venice), structure builds (if you have the walls as a scene from Venice, build some bridges and add a few gondolas) or even volcanoes. It is all the art of illusion, making the attendee see what you want them to see and look past the standard ballroom decor.

I have to give credit to Encore Creative (http://www.encorecreative.com/) in Arizona. If you ever have the opportunity to do a program at one of the great properties in the Valley of the Sun, look these folks up.

They are masters at changing the ordinary into an amazing place to entertain, educate and dine. The picture is from an event a few weeks ago, the client had some money left at the last minute (I mean just a couple of hours) and they were able to transform drab into cool and chic. Rather than close in the ballroom, we actually opened the airwalls and built the nylon curtain and put a hip bar area on the other side. Behind the photographer, the stage was just as amazing with all of the bar areas set behind the nylon screens. Simple lighting completed the effect. Survey results for this event came back at an astounding 98% positive with the attendees very happy indeed.

Should you have the time and the little extra budget (and we all know that this is sometimes impossible), try something out of the ordinary.

Just a thought.

Event Planning Venue - Chicago EL Trains

Originally Posted St Patrick's day of 07:

When I originally posted this it was going to snow here in Chicago, so I had time to put some thoughts down about the city. I Was actually thinking of some cool places to have events in Chicago and here is one of the thousands.

Chicago is one of the world’s greatest cities and it has an unprecedented number of unique venues to host your off-site. I threw the idea out to some of our planners and asked, what is one of the coolest things you can do here. Here was one of the suggestions, I will try and sprinkle some more in as time goes by.

Continue reading about this amazing event venue in Chicago, Head over to PlannerWire.net.