USA – The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) will release a white paper today documenting tradeshow industry practice at US venues.
Author Doug Ducate, president and CEO of CEIR, says the exhibition is unfairly stigmatised due to the negative publicity that accompanies coverage of union activity, seen as a disincentive for overseas event organisers looking to work in the US.
The release of the white paper coincides with a July 26 meeting in Chicago called by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, hoped to reconcile the labour reform deadlock at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
Ducate’s six-page document Are We a Troubled Industry? sets out to fill in the information gaps that created these unfounded criticisms of the exhibition industry’s business model, pricing issues and treatment of customers. In its place it hopes to shed light on factors including up-front costs from organisers, discounts for major exhibitors and the efficiency of using general services contractors on the show floor.
“The purpose of this paper is to correct the record regarding our business model and illustrate how our business practices are not unique and, in fact, are practiced by virtually every industry,” he commented.
Unions serving McCormick Place have been using mainstream media channels in recent weeks to air their views that the bulk of prices charged to exhibitors is the result of profit-chasing price-hikes, rather than high contractor rates.
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