Archive for the ‘NPE’ Category
McCormick exhibitors want lower costs
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Chicago continues to debate how to stop an exodus of trade shows from McCormick Place. This week they got a dose of common sense in a meeting with show organizers. Exhibitors want lower costs and more flexible work rules so...
Conventions crack down on ‘outboarders’
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Have you ever visited a trade show, then gone to a hospitality suite sponsored by a company not exhibiting at the show? It happens all the time, and people in the convention business call those non-exhibiting vendors "outboarders." According to...
McCormick to meet with trade show representatives
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Change is coming to McCormick Place. Crain's Chicago Business and the Chicago Tribune are reporting that officials from Chicago's convention and tourism bureau plan to Feb. 17 with trade show clients to present their plan for reorganizing McCormick Place's troubled...
News flash: McCormick is expensive
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Did you know that the average average straight-time labor cost for contractors at Chicago's McCormick Place is $66.30 an hour, compared with $42.62 in Las Vegas and $26.83 in Orlando, Fla.? Those numbers come from the Chicago Tribune, reporting today...
WSJ discovers McCormick’s problems
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
A Plastics Blog reader pointed out that The Wall Street Journal has finally noticed the story on the exodus of trade shows from Chicago. The story, on Page A6 in our Jan. 19 edition, was headlined "Chicago Loses Cachet as...
Unions push own McCormick Place reforms
Friday, January 15th, 2010
Greg Hinz, a columnist for Crain's Chicago Business, posted a blog item today on a proposal by several unions to make a McCormick Place more competitive with other trade show venues. The unions called for audits of trade-show operators and...
McCormick seeks cheaper food
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Chicago continues to churn following the loss of the 2012 and 2015 NPE shows to Orlando, Fla. The latest news comes today from the Chicago Tribune, which reports that the convention center wants to scrap its food service contract in...
Using virtual software to create real spaces
Monday, January 4th, 2010
Here's an interesting news snippet that came out today -- a Michigan ad agency helped create a customer hospitality and business center at NPE 2009 by using the online 3D virtual world Second Life. The customer was Dow Chemical Co.,...
McCormick costs in the spotlight
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
A trade show that spent about $40,000 for electrical services in another city got charged $240,000 for the services in Chicago's McCormick Place. Another show organizer complained that it recently spent $125,000 on sandwich and salad-bar lunch and beverage services...
Pepsi in Chicago now only $293
Friday, December 11th, 2009
McCormick Place is trying to be more competitive. Really. Just this week they dropped the price of four cases of Pepsi from $345 to $293. That's the story from the Chicago Tribune, whose reporters are well aware that a complaint...