One Traveler's Opinion: Trade Show!
Nov 22nd, 2000, 11:56 AM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
One Traveler's Opinion: Trade Show!
Three or four times each year, I succumb to pressure that I “need to get out and see the industry” and so I go to a trade show. Trade shows have existed for as long as there have been expense accounts, or at least as long as places like Chicago, San Jose, and Las Vegas have had big convention centers. A few weeks back, I went to one in Chicago. Herewith, a report.
I attended my first trade show when I was just a few months out of college and on my first job. I was put on a plane and sent to Chicago, where I went to McCormick Place and earnestly spent three days making careful notes about every conversation I had with every booth representative, all the while lugging around 20 pounds of product literature from different companies. I remember turning in a fifteen-page trip report to my manager, who leafed through it and pronounced it “an impressive piece of work.” Before I departed for my second trade show trip a months later, however, that same manager pulled me aside and said, “don’t take so many notes this time.”
I took that lesson to heart and, over the years, have come to see trade shows for what they are: rewards for a job well done coupled with an opportunity to see what the competition is up to. This particular trade show took me back to Chicago, but not to McCormick Place. Instead, I was out in the ‘burbs, as they say in Chicago, in a place called Rosemont.
The Rosemont Convention Center is a massive structure that can hold three simultaneous trade shows. It exists because it is ten minutes from O’Hare Field, making it possible for a trade-show attendee to zip in for one, two, or three days without ever going anywhere near the cultural heart of the Midwest. Abutting the convention center along North River Road are a dozen hotels, lined up like so many dominos. Some of these hotels even have covered walkways linking them directly to the convention center, making it possible not only to never see Chicago, but to never even set foot on Midwestern soil.
I was an overnight zipee, billeted at the Rosemont Suites. Like all good convention hotels, the Rosemont Suites offers a free cocktail happy hour in a covered courtyard every evening, and a very bad, but free buffet breakfast every morning. If you are going to Rosemont and the Rosemont Suites is $1.00 less than somewhere else along North River Road, enjoy the Rosemont Suites. If it is a dollar more, stay elsewhere. In short, all such hotels are created utterly equal.
Somebody much brighter than I am once told me that trade shows were once about exchanging ideas, but are now about obtaining toys. Back in the dimly remembered past, engineers and designers who had actually built things lurked inside booths. If you could get past the marketing types, you could learn something valuable. Today, buxom young ladies with Vaseline-laden teeth give away toys and, if you ask politely, you can talk to the marketers.
The toys are everywhere. Why? Because organizations pay outrageous sums of money to trade show organizers to rent 600 square feet of carpet for a few days, then put up $250,000 booths to show off products and services. The trade show organizer’s job is to get people to attend the show; to get people to walk past your booth. The toys are to get people into your booth.
(part 1 of 2)
I attended my first trade show when I was just a few months out of college and on my first job. I was put on a plane and sent to Chicago, where I went to McCormick Place and earnestly spent three days making careful notes about every conversation I had with every booth representative, all the while lugging around 20 pounds of product literature from different companies. I remember turning in a fifteen-page trip report to my manager, who leafed through it and pronounced it “an impressive piece of work.” Before I departed for my second trade show trip a months later, however, that same manager pulled me aside and said, “don’t take so many notes this time.”
I took that lesson to heart and, over the years, have come to see trade shows for what they are: rewards for a job well done coupled with an opportunity to see what the competition is up to. This particular trade show took me back to Chicago, but not to McCormick Place. Instead, I was out in the ‘burbs, as they say in Chicago, in a place called Rosemont.
The Rosemont Convention Center is a massive structure that can hold three simultaneous trade shows. It exists because it is ten minutes from O’Hare Field, making it possible for a trade-show attendee to zip in for one, two, or three days without ever going anywhere near the cultural heart of the Midwest. Abutting the convention center along North River Road are a dozen hotels, lined up like so many dominos. Some of these hotels even have covered walkways linking them directly to the convention center, making it possible not only to never see Chicago, but to never even set foot on Midwestern soil.
I was an overnight zipee, billeted at the Rosemont Suites. Like all good convention hotels, the Rosemont Suites offers a free cocktail happy hour in a covered courtyard every evening, and a very bad, but free buffet breakfast every morning. If you are going to Rosemont and the Rosemont Suites is $1.00 less than somewhere else along North River Road, enjoy the Rosemont Suites. If it is a dollar more, stay elsewhere. In short, all such hotels are created utterly equal.
Somebody much brighter than I am once told me that trade shows were once about exchanging ideas, but are now about obtaining toys. Back in the dimly remembered past, engineers and designers who had actually built things lurked inside booths. If you could get past the marketing types, you could learn something valuable. Today, buxom young ladies with Vaseline-laden teeth give away toys and, if you ask politely, you can talk to the marketers.
The toys are everywhere. Why? Because organizations pay outrageous sums of money to trade show organizers to rent 600 square feet of carpet for a few days, then put up $250,000 booths to show off products and services. The trade show organizer’s job is to get people to attend the show; to get people to walk past your booth. The toys are to get people into your booth.
(part 1 of 2)
Nov 22nd, 2000, 11:57 AM
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
(part 2 of 2)
Here is what I collected in a day and a half: a slinky, a pen knife, a talking box, several key chain holders, many pens, a Rubik’s Cube, two calculators, a toolkit to clean my printer, a nifty fold-up screwdriver set, a tie-dyed tee shirt, several white tee shirts bearing messages, a box of mints, two mouse pads, a pizeo-electric-powered ball that lights up when you bounce it, and enough over-the-neck badge holders to create a length of string fifty feet long. I declined to sit through presentations that would have earned me the right to enter drawing for numerous laptop computers, palm organizers, cell phones, and TiVO players.
My purpose in attending this show was to see what the competition was up to, and to that end I masqueraded as an industry consultant. I had business cards identifying me as such, a very official-looking badge, and enough acquaintance with my cover story to pass at least initial scrutiny by suspicious marketers. This, of course, caused me to eye the visitors lounging around my own company’s booth. Many of them, too, were “industry consultants.” The people who sell those cheap printers that allow anyone to print up instant business cards have a lot to answer for.
My second purpose in attending the show was to get to know my company’s far-flung sales force. And so that evening, a group of roughly 20 of us dined at an Italian restaurant on North River Road about a mile away from the convention center. This violated three of the basic laws about eating out: 1) There is an immutable, inverse squared law that says the closer you get to a convention center, the worse the food. 2) There are no good Italian restaurants within sight of any convention center, anywhere in the world, except maybe Milan. 3) A restaurant that will seat 20 people for dinner is not a restaurant that considers good food and service to be its first priority. Our restaurant lived up – or down, as the case may be – to these laws. I got to know the sales force; I also had indigestion at 3 a.m.
A day and a half after I arrived, I was sharing a cab back to O’Hare. My company had gotten its money’s worth in sending me; I had come away with a few good ideas that will get translated into actions over the next few months. In the cab with me was a young lady in her early twenties, probably just out of college, maybe even at her first trade show. She was furiously typing into a laptop computer even as the cab lurched around obstacles on the airport access road. She kept referring to a mountain of product literature in her carry bag and I just knew she had to be writing up her trip report.
I resisted the urge to tell her to take fewer notes. I’ll let her boss take care of that.
Here is what I collected in a day and a half: a slinky, a pen knife, a talking box, several key chain holders, many pens, a Rubik’s Cube, two calculators, a toolkit to clean my printer, a nifty fold-up screwdriver set, a tie-dyed tee shirt, several white tee shirts bearing messages, a box of mints, two mouse pads, a pizeo-electric-powered ball that lights up when you bounce it, and enough over-the-neck badge holders to create a length of string fifty feet long. I declined to sit through presentations that would have earned me the right to enter drawing for numerous laptop computers, palm organizers, cell phones, and TiVO players.
My purpose in attending this show was to see what the competition was up to, and to that end I masqueraded as an industry consultant. I had business cards identifying me as such, a very official-looking badge, and enough acquaintance with my cover story to pass at least initial scrutiny by suspicious marketers. This, of course, caused me to eye the visitors lounging around my own company’s booth. Many of them, too, were “industry consultants.” The people who sell those cheap printers that allow anyone to print up instant business cards have a lot to answer for.
My second purpose in attending the show was to get to know my company’s far-flung sales force. And so that evening, a group of roughly 20 of us dined at an Italian restaurant on North River Road about a mile away from the convention center. This violated three of the basic laws about eating out: 1) There is an immutable, inverse squared law that says the closer you get to a convention center, the worse the food. 2) There are no good Italian restaurants within sight of any convention center, anywhere in the world, except maybe Milan. 3) A restaurant that will seat 20 people for dinner is not a restaurant that considers good food and service to be its first priority. Our restaurant lived up – or down, as the case may be – to these laws. I got to know the sales force; I also had indigestion at 3 a.m.
A day and a half after I arrived, I was sharing a cab back to O’Hare. My company had gotten its money’s worth in sending me; I had come away with a few good ideas that will get translated into actions over the next few months. In the cab with me was a young lady in her early twenties, probably just out of college, maybe even at her first trade show. She was furiously typing into a laptop computer even as the cab lurched around obstacles on the airport access road. She kept referring to a mountain of product literature in her carry bag and I just knew she had to be writing up her trip report.
I resisted the urge to tell her to take fewer notes. I’ll let her boss take care of that.
Nov 22nd, 2000, 03:23 PM
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Neal, I am in the trade show business and I find your posting insulting and of questionable taste...and more important, full of questionable statements. Your attempts at sarcasm are, at best, not funny.
Further,from your posting, I gather that your company was an exhibitor at the show you attended. That being the case, you can hardly be considered a "normal" attendee at that show. And thus, your report should be seen in that light!
I quarrel with you on several points. To cite just a few:
*"I have come to see trade shows for what they are: rewards for a job well done coupled with an opportunity to see what the comepetition is doing." That may be how you see it--and why YOU go-- but it's not the norm at most trade shows. However, the facts are that most people come to look at the merchandise, equipment and services and in many instances to purchase same.
*Like all good convention hotels, the Rosemont Suites offers a free cocktail happy hour in a covered courtyard every evening, and a very bad, but free buffet breakfast every morning." Here I focus on the phrase, "like all good convention hotels." Sorry, Neal, but in my 25 years in this business I have never stayed in a "good" Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton, Westin or any other major convention hotel in a major chain that matches your description. Your sarcasm conveys a false impression.
*"Somebody much brighter than I am once told me that trade shows were once about exchanging ideas, but are now about obtaining toys." Sure, the exhibitors give out little tokens. But from my experience, it's only the "bag people" and "professional freeloaders" who load up on this stuff to the extent of your list.
*"My purpose in attending the show was to see what the competition was up to, and to that end I masqueraded as an industry consultant." Are you bragging about this?
Am I overreacting? I think not. You have insulted my profession and I resent it.
Further,from your posting, I gather that your company was an exhibitor at the show you attended. That being the case, you can hardly be considered a "normal" attendee at that show. And thus, your report should be seen in that light!
I quarrel with you on several points. To cite just a few:
*"I have come to see trade shows for what they are: rewards for a job well done coupled with an opportunity to see what the comepetition is doing." That may be how you see it--and why YOU go-- but it's not the norm at most trade shows. However, the facts are that most people come to look at the merchandise, equipment and services and in many instances to purchase same.
*Like all good convention hotels, the Rosemont Suites offers a free cocktail happy hour in a covered courtyard every evening, and a very bad, but free buffet breakfast every morning." Here I focus on the phrase, "like all good convention hotels." Sorry, Neal, but in my 25 years in this business I have never stayed in a "good" Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Sheraton, Westin or any other major convention hotel in a major chain that matches your description. Your sarcasm conveys a false impression.
*"Somebody much brighter than I am once told me that trade shows were once about exchanging ideas, but are now about obtaining toys." Sure, the exhibitors give out little tokens. But from my experience, it's only the "bag people" and "professional freeloaders" who load up on this stuff to the extent of your list.
*"My purpose in attending the show was to see what the competition was up to, and to that end I masqueraded as an industry consultant." Are you bragging about this?
Am I overreacting? I think not. You have insulted my profession and I resent it.
Nov 22nd, 2000, 05:10 PM
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Neal - LOL!
My first trade show was at McCormick Place as well. I was a 22-year-old junior, junior salesperson for the Hyatt Regency Vancouver - it was my first ever business trip with my brand, spanking new business cards. And you're absolutely right - it was positioned as a "reward". (Little did I know…….)
You want to talk about "toys" - this was the "Premiums and Incentives" show (also known as "trinkets and trash"). I'm still using the cube note pads 21 years later! (and as these things go, most of the companies are defunct).
Despite the fact I was a Hyatt employee (or, perhaps, because) I was "walked" from the Hyatt to the Hotel Atherton. The desk clerk was the same fellow who told Joseph there was no room at the inn (forgive me, it's an old hotel employee joke!). After a few nights in a windowless room with an army cot, and with sore feet from standing at the Hyatt booth for 18 hours a day, I moved back to the Hyatt. To a Suite, in fact. Well, this is better, I'm thinking. Finally my mother back in Vancouver could relax. At 3:00 in the morning I awoke to pounding on my door. Looking out the peephole I saw a stark naked (sorry, Brian in Atlanta - nekkid) woman about my age. Of course I opened the door (dumb, I know) and dragged her into the room. There we were. 2 stark nekkid women. My mind was having trouble processing this - however she filled in the gaps pretty quickly. Hooker. Things got dicey for her in another room. She bolted down the hall and pounded on the last door. Mine. After a few minutes we stuck our heads out the door - at the precise moment the "gentleman" was doing the same. After much negotiation (she wanted to be paid!) he threw her clothes and purse down the hall, which she retrieved (by now she was wearing MY clothes). As she left she actually said "If I'm ever in Vancouver I'll look you up"!
I can't hear the words "trade show" without smiling! Thanks for jogging my memory!
My first trade show was at McCormick Place as well. I was a 22-year-old junior, junior salesperson for the Hyatt Regency Vancouver - it was my first ever business trip with my brand, spanking new business cards. And you're absolutely right - it was positioned as a "reward". (Little did I know…….)
You want to talk about "toys" - this was the "Premiums and Incentives" show (also known as "trinkets and trash"). I'm still using the cube note pads 21 years later! (and as these things go, most of the companies are defunct).
Despite the fact I was a Hyatt employee (or, perhaps, because) I was "walked" from the Hyatt to the Hotel Atherton. The desk clerk was the same fellow who told Joseph there was no room at the inn (forgive me, it's an old hotel employee joke!). After a few nights in a windowless room with an army cot, and with sore feet from standing at the Hyatt booth for 18 hours a day, I moved back to the Hyatt. To a Suite, in fact. Well, this is better, I'm thinking. Finally my mother back in Vancouver could relax. At 3:00 in the morning I awoke to pounding on my door. Looking out the peephole I saw a stark naked (sorry, Brian in Atlanta - nekkid) woman about my age. Of course I opened the door (dumb, I know) and dragged her into the room. There we were. 2 stark nekkid women. My mind was having trouble processing this - however she filled in the gaps pretty quickly. Hooker. Things got dicey for her in another room. She bolted down the hall and pounded on the last door. Mine. After a few minutes we stuck our heads out the door - at the precise moment the "gentleman" was doing the same. After much negotiation (she wanted to be paid!) he threw her clothes and purse down the hall, which she retrieved (by now she was wearing MY clothes). As she left she actually said "If I'm ever in Vancouver I'll look you up"!
I can't hear the words "trade show" without smiling! Thanks for jogging my memory!
Nov 23rd, 2000, 05:10 AM
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Neal,
I enjoy reading your postings regarding travel.
However, to discuss your opinion regarding "Trade Shows" reads like an editorial. Howard (who is my friend) works tirelessly to prepare for his shows. He has a passionate belief in his profession and wants to inform attendees responsibly.
While I have no experience having never attended a trade show, it sounds very similar to conferences my husband attends occasionally. My husband works in a specialized industry, owns his own business, pays for his travel expenses, does not receive salary for days attending such conferences, and attends for the sole purpose of learning. The purpose of my husband's attendance is learning new ideas, buying books (sometimes speaking to the author(s)), and attending seminars that are very worthwhile and enlightening.
Please stay on travel topic: as you have shared with forum readers your observations, which many find helpful when visiting different locales.
I enjoy reading your postings regarding travel.
However, to discuss your opinion regarding "Trade Shows" reads like an editorial. Howard (who is my friend) works tirelessly to prepare for his shows. He has a passionate belief in his profession and wants to inform attendees responsibly.
While I have no experience having never attended a trade show, it sounds very similar to conferences my husband attends occasionally. My husband works in a specialized industry, owns his own business, pays for his travel expenses, does not receive salary for days attending such conferences, and attends for the sole purpose of learning. The purpose of my husband's attendance is learning new ideas, buying books (sometimes speaking to the author(s)), and attending seminars that are very worthwhile and enlightening.
Please stay on travel topic: as you have shared with forum readers your observations, which many find helpful when visiting different locales.
Nov 23rd, 2000, 05:26 AM
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Aw, come on, guys--loosen up. I know it's easy for me, sitting on my Olympian seat in full and glorious retirement to look down upon you wage-slaves and other workers in the vineyards of commerce. But a trade show is a wonderfully Disneyesque event that can be both fulfilling and fun, informative and a drag, depending on who does what. I spent most of my working life in and around Chicago, so I can relate exactly to what Neal reports. But let's not get our knickers in a twist when he pokes a little fun at The Carnival of The Animals and Their Keepers. I have a hunch that we are in the peak days of this type of festival, that a vigorous recession will trim back a lot of its overindulgence, and that we will all look back on this period as a Golden Age of Excess.
Nov 23rd, 2000, 05:40 AM
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
I have attended several trade shows every year for the past 25 years, as both a participant and attendee.. I have to agree with Howard. Neal Sanders posting is very inaccurate about both the purpose of the shows as well as accomodations. He is obviously very pompous and is trying to impress people with his self proclaimed worth.
It is true that there are a few attendees that attend to check up on the competition. However the vast majority attend to learn what is new and how it may meet their needs. A true professional does not go around trying to find out what freebies they can acquire.
It is true that there are a few attendees that attend to check up on the competition. However the vast majority attend to learn what is new and how it may meet their needs. A true professional does not go around trying to find out what freebies they can acquire.
Nov 23rd, 2000, 05:42 AM
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Al, you're missing the point. Maybe the trade shows you (and perhaps, Neal) are familiar with are of the "Carnival of the Animals and Their Keepers" variety. But, most are not. And, I don't like the false image that it perpetuates. Sure, our attendees, exhibitors and we staffers have a helluva good time at the shows. But, we're all also there for "worthwhile" purposes as well. And, most of them are there because they've found it's a great venue for doing business.
The "Golden Age of Excess" comment isn't worthy of a response.
The "Golden Age of Excess" comment isn't worthy of a response.
Nov 24th, 2000, 07:07 AM
#10
Guest
Posts: n/a
Gee, Howard. If you have a different view of trade shows, why don't you post about your own experiences instead of just criticizing Neal? The way I read it, Neal's opinion is Neal's opinion and stated as such. Unless you were at the very show Neal describes, I see no basis for this level of biting criticism. "You have insulted my profession and I resent it"? Come on. I think you are being hypersensitive.
As for me, my profession doesn't do trade shows, I always wondered about them, and I was interested to read a description of them. Thanks, Neal.
As for me, my profession doesn't do trade shows, I always wondered about them, and I was interested to read a description of them. Thanks, Neal.
Nov 26th, 2000, 09:06 AM
#11
Guest
Posts: n/a
Jeez, I turn off my computer for a few days and come back to find... well, that I've managed to insult one of Fodors' best contributors by making comments on the industry that earns him his livelihood.
Howard, had I known that you were in the trade show industry, I would have... written exactly the same thing. Sorry, my friend, but in four months, I will have been "in the business world" for 30 years. I have been to more trade shows than I care to count in that period of time, and they have indeed changed. There is less substance in the booths, more emphasis on style.
But my purpose in writing my "one traveler's opinion" was not to slam the trade show industry. It was to ruminate on the fact that this particular show was held in Rosemont, Illinois. It was "in Chicago" yet nowhere near that marvelous city. If there are any Rosemont defenders out there, I would dearly love to hear from them.
I wrote to try to convey the sterility of staying at a convention hotel like the Rosemont Suites; which is interchangeable with every other convention hotel and where it, indeed, possible to take an elevated walkway to the convention center, completely eliminating the experience of being in a "different" place.
Noname2, this piece was definitely about travel, or in this case, about being cheated of the experience of travel.
Elizabeth, thanks so very much for sharing your experience. I laughed so much my sides hurt!
Howard, had I known that you were in the trade show industry, I would have... written exactly the same thing. Sorry, my friend, but in four months, I will have been "in the business world" for 30 years. I have been to more trade shows than I care to count in that period of time, and they have indeed changed. There is less substance in the booths, more emphasis on style.
But my purpose in writing my "one traveler's opinion" was not to slam the trade show industry. It was to ruminate on the fact that this particular show was held in Rosemont, Illinois. It was "in Chicago" yet nowhere near that marvelous city. If there are any Rosemont defenders out there, I would dearly love to hear from them.
I wrote to try to convey the sterility of staying at a convention hotel like the Rosemont Suites; which is interchangeable with every other convention hotel and where it, indeed, possible to take an elevated walkway to the convention center, completely eliminating the experience of being in a "different" place.
Noname2, this piece was definitely about travel, or in this case, about being cheated of the experience of travel.
Elizabeth, thanks so very much for sharing your experience. I laughed so much my sides hurt!
Nov 26th, 2000, 11:54 AM
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Several reactions to you comments:
1. You say, "I have been to more trade shows than I care to count in that period of time [30 years], and they have indeed changed. There is less substance in the booths, more emphasis on style." Well, since you are with an exhibiting company, I wonder if you've expressed your displeasure to your management.
2. I'd be curious as to what industry the trade shows you attend represent. If your "style over substance" comment is accurate, it's in the minority of trade shows today. Most companies have found that they've got to deliver the goods and better have that substance in their booths. The costs are getting too prohibitive for mere fun and games.
3. If your comments on the Rosemont facility and its adjointing hotels was meant specifically as a putdown on that site and its environs, it missed me! It is only after reading these new comments that I grasp your point about Rosement. (I assume you are critical of Rosemont. Ironically, I agree with on that point! And, I have succeeded in not using it as a show site. However, I must also point out that Rosemont, with the connecting passageways is not the norm for the major convention cities in this country. And I must iterate that most major convention hotels in major locations are not as you described.)
Like you, Neal, I stand by my original comments!
1. You say, "I have been to more trade shows than I care to count in that period of time [30 years], and they have indeed changed. There is less substance in the booths, more emphasis on style." Well, since you are with an exhibiting company, I wonder if you've expressed your displeasure to your management.
2. I'd be curious as to what industry the trade shows you attend represent. If your "style over substance" comment is accurate, it's in the minority of trade shows today. Most companies have found that they've got to deliver the goods and better have that substance in their booths. The costs are getting too prohibitive for mere fun and games.
3. If your comments on the Rosemont facility and its adjointing hotels was meant specifically as a putdown on that site and its environs, it missed me! It is only after reading these new comments that I grasp your point about Rosement. (I assume you are critical of Rosemont. Ironically, I agree with on that point! And, I have succeeded in not using it as a show site. However, I must also point out that Rosemont, with the connecting passageways is not the norm for the major convention cities in this country. And I must iterate that most major convention hotels in major locations are not as you described.)
Like you, Neal, I stand by my original comments!
Nov 26th, 2000, 01:56 PM
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
Neal, your comments are funny even for someone who's never been to an industry trade show. Howard, lighten up you moron. If you can't find the humor in Neal's commentary than it's because of one of two reasons: 1. You're the type of person he's poking fun at (or responsible for); or 2. You're an idiot. (My personal guess is you're both 1 and 2)
Nov 26th, 2000, 06:53 PM
#15
Guest
Posts: n/a
Neal,
As usual, I enjoyed your report tremendously. And though I haven't ever been to Rosemont, nothing you described rang the slightest bit false to me.
If I can extend on this subject a little, has anyone else ever mused on the fact that every city in this country seems to be building a new convention center right now as a jumpstart for their urban economy? Though some cities can use one, is a new Podunk convention center really going bring that many people to Podunk? My brother did once go to a convention in TUlsa, but still....
As usual, I enjoyed your report tremendously. And though I haven't ever been to Rosemont, nothing you described rang the slightest bit false to me.
If I can extend on this subject a little, has anyone else ever mused on the fact that every city in this country seems to be building a new convention center right now as a jumpstart for their urban economy? Though some cities can use one, is a new Podunk convention center really going bring that many people to Podunk? My brother did once go to a convention in TUlsa, but still....
Nov 27th, 2000, 06:05 AM
#16
Guest
Posts: n/a
A couple civilized responses:
1. To Wild Bill: Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm neither a moron nor an idiot. And, no, I don't feel I am the type of person that Neal is poking fun at.
2. To Charles: The reason why so many Podunks are building convention centers is because they have discovered that they pay off! Yes, conventions are still big business....yes, even in Tulsa!
1. To Wild Bill: Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm neither a moron nor an idiot. And, no, I don't feel I am the type of person that Neal is poking fun at.
2. To Charles: The reason why so many Podunks are building convention centers is because they have discovered that they pay off! Yes, conventions are still big business....yes, even in Tulsa!
Nov 27th, 2000, 09:11 AM
#18
Guest
Posts: n/a
Gee, thanks for the comment above. But to set the record straight: 1. I never left here; 2. I only post when I feel compelled to; 3. Howard's response, or in my opinion, stupid response, to Neal's funny posting needed to be responded to. If you disagree with me fine, but I think Howard's various responses have been more negative and pompous than anything, I or anyone else on this thread have posted.
Nov 27th, 2000, 09:12 AM
#19
Guest
Posts: n/a
A few comments, then let's allow this one to sink (mercifully) into the archives...
Howard, I am prepared to arm wrestle you to the ground on the subject of convention hotels (which I define as being adjacent to a convention center and having more than 500 rooms, or having its own substantial in-house convention facilities).
Such hotels don't depend upon return guests; they have a captive audience that has no choice but to put up with a lowest common denominator of service because there ain't no alternative. I think of dumps like the Hyatt Regency Miami (adjacent to the Knight Center), or the Crowne Plaza across from the San Jose convention center (which on my most recent visit managed to guarantee 100 more rooms than it had available, then ship the overflow to another hotel an hour away). I could make a very long list. Be realistic: would you stay at the McCormick Inn for a pleasure trip? Neither would I.
For "xxx", I travel as little as I can get away with, which is more that I want to. The only good news is that sometimes when the destination is a pleasant or exotic one and the stay is of sufficient duration, my wife is able to accompany me. Most recently that meant San Diego (and, alas, Tijuana); earlier this year it included London.
Al, thanks for the moral support; "The Carnival of the Animals and Their Keepers" is a most apt description.
And "trade show," I'm scratching my head regarding "self proclaimed and worth" and "pompous". As a general rule, self-deprecation is my stock in trade (who else would try to catch the "last plane to Cleveland"?) and this post was no different. Sorry to disappoint, but the shoe doesn't fit.
And to anyone else out there, I'm still awaiting a response by the Lovers of Rosemont.
Howard, I am prepared to arm wrestle you to the ground on the subject of convention hotels (which I define as being adjacent to a convention center and having more than 500 rooms, or having its own substantial in-house convention facilities).
Such hotels don't depend upon return guests; they have a captive audience that has no choice but to put up with a lowest common denominator of service because there ain't no alternative. I think of dumps like the Hyatt Regency Miami (adjacent to the Knight Center), or the Crowne Plaza across from the San Jose convention center (which on my most recent visit managed to guarantee 100 more rooms than it had available, then ship the overflow to another hotel an hour away). I could make a very long list. Be realistic: would you stay at the McCormick Inn for a pleasure trip? Neither would I.
For "xxx", I travel as little as I can get away with, which is more that I want to. The only good news is that sometimes when the destination is a pleasant or exotic one and the stay is of sufficient duration, my wife is able to accompany me. Most recently that meant San Diego (and, alas, Tijuana); earlier this year it included London.
Al, thanks for the moral support; "The Carnival of the Animals and Their Keepers" is a most apt description.
And "trade show," I'm scratching my head regarding "self proclaimed and worth" and "pompous". As a general rule, self-deprecation is my stock in trade (who else would try to catch the "last plane to Cleveland"?) and this post was no different. Sorry to disappoint, but the shoe doesn't fit.
And to anyone else out there, I'm still awaiting a response by the Lovers of Rosemont.
