Steph's Blog
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February 28 2009 Stephanie SelesnickI was in Las Vegas late last month and spent some time at the Las Vegas Convention Center where not one, not two, but THREE tradeshows were taking place in multiple halls. These shows were not even co-located! Instead, they focused on very different market segments - CaterSource (catering food, supplies and equipment), Digital Signage Expo (signs, interactive technology - super huge and amazing flat screens!) and RETECH 2009 (Clean Energy Show). There were people actually attending tradeshows - and it appeared that many exhibitors were doing business. Imagine that. People buying and selling in a face-to-face marketplace IN LAS VEGAS. Go figure! Quick - Alert the media! Oh wait - they aren’t interested if it’s not bad news… Also took a tour of good friend Phil McKay’s new digs - the World Market Center. It’s an impressive campus of 3 huge buildings near downtown and functions as a Furniture and Gift Mart. The whole premise of “Mart”-style tradeshows was new to me - basically they are made up of floors of permanent showrooms open twice a year for “Market Weeks” when buyers descend on the city and go shopping. Additional temporary exhibits are also added during these weeks - in the Market Center’s case, very large tents house additional companies selling their wares. A similar kind of thing takes place with Fashion Weeks only they have fashion shows…and that’s a whole other ball of wax. No crazy stories from Vegas (Pathetic, I know - only I would go to Vegas and have NO good stories to tell.), although there was that quick visit to the Foundation Room for adult beverages with some local friends and Jess Drummond from Birmingham, AL (who had been in LA just days earlier taking pictures with me of all the Oscar preparations going on in Hollywood). Steph's Travel Blogs |
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