This summer, New York governor Andrew Cuomo went head-to-head with the exhibition industry when he announced a decision to displace five longstanding shows booked at the Jacob K Javits Center, in favour of a schedule change for the waning New York Boat Show.
The decision prompted outrage from the US exhibition industry, with key representatives claiming the move damages New York’s relationship with trade shows. Those in favour of the move claim it would boost the US$5.8bn boat industry, an industry devastated by last year’s Hurricane Sandy.
However, they appear to be in the minority. A letter from the Friends Of Javits association, which represents 50 trade show organisers at the Javits Center, to Javits’ chairman Henry Silverman, stated the venue’s actions directly threatened “the legitimacy of any agreement made between a member of the tradeshow industry and the Javits Center, jeopardising current and future events at a time when it is critical for New York to attract business and visitors”.
To be clear, they claimed, moving the Boat Show at this juncture would displace other events and result in grave consequences for trade show and event organisers, local New York businesses, New York labourers and the Javits Center itself.
“Especially,” they added, “given that the Boat Show has seen attendance precipitously drop more than 30 per cent over the past three years, even before Superstorm Sandy.”
Among those to speak out was executive director of the Society of Independent Show Organisers (SISO) Lew Shomer, who wrote: “SISO members organise over 3,500 shows a year, many of which are at the Javits, and in the past have trusted Javits to be fair and consistent with their policies of holding dates and issuing licenses for their shows.
“For a government official to interfere with such policies is unconventional and sets a terrible precedent that effectively prohibits organisers from establishing consistency regarding their future events at Javits.”
Jason McGraw, chairman of International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) board of directors wrote in a letter to Cuomo that this course of action jeopardised the future for exhibition organisers to consider New York as a viable destination.
“Attendees and exhibitors fly in for shows, stay in hotels, take taxi cabs, dine at restaurants, and of course shop while there,” he wrote. “Without reliable future dates, uncertainty is created amongst the industry, exhibitors and buyers of the affected shows whose dates are displaced, and in most cases, organisers select dates to best serve their industries’ buying cycles.
“We strongly urge you to reconsider your actions, and by not doing so, a loss of trust that New York as a place to bring an exhibition will result and only harm New York, as well as the exhibition industry overall,” claimed McGraw.
What the debate highlighted was not just the need to invest in tradeshow infrastructure in New York, (New York is the largest city in the US, and offers only the 12th largest exhibition venue) for which there is a clear need, but the need to honour local exhibitions and leave the specialists to manage their own affairs.
As McGraw claimed, if the industry can’t avoid disputes like this, a loss of trust in New York as a place to bring an exhibition is the result, “And can only harm New York, as well as the exhibition industry overall”.
This was first published in issue 4/2013 of EW. Any comments? Email
exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
