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A Look to the Future,
by Timothy Schneider, Publisher, Association News
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Los
Angeles, CA – October 2015 / Newsmaker Alert / Based on the general
consensus at the annual Center for Exhibition Industry Research Predict
Conference, the future of the exhibition industry continues to look promising.
Held last month in Chicago, the conference brought together 150 exhibition
organizers, facility managers, DMO leaders, financial analysts and media.
Among the attendees was our company’s director of industry relations, Steven
Hacker, who reported a mixed but generally upbeat assessment of the industry’s
near-term prospects.
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According
to CEIR, in the first half of 2015 the U.S. exhibition industry has enjoyed
positive growth. From 2011 to 2014, the exhibition industry’s growth generally
lagged the pace of the U.S. GDP, but the industry has now outperformed
the GDP for two quarters straight by a wide margin. All four key metrics
(gross revenue, net square feet of exhibit space sold, professional attendance
and number of exhibiting companies) posted year-on-year gains with revenue
up 6.1 percent, a notable gain given that revenue was the metric hardest
hit by the Great Recession. Although the exhibition industry is in good
health for the most part, it is still susceptible to certain economic factors.
Because exhibitions are often mirrors of the economic circumstances of
the industry sectors they serve, macro economic issues have the potential
to impact many of the nation’s events.
As
Steven Hacker reported in his blog item on AssociationNews.com,
the keynote speaker was Amir Sufi, a professor of finance at the University
of Chicago Booth School of Business and a research associate at the National
Bureau of Economic Research. Sufi shared his concerns that a continuing
home equity debt hangover has slowed the recovery of household spending,
which is essential to full economic recovery. In addition to the home equity
and spending issues, Sufi said he is concerned about the nation’s unprecedented
level of student loan debt. A glimmer of hopeful news, however, is the
recent increase in employment levels and the decline in the unemployment
rate to pre-recession levels. Yet the greatest threat to continuing economic
growth in the United States, Sufi asserted, is the developing economic
crisis in China. According to Sufi, the virtual collapse of world trade
in the first six months of 2015 and the highly vulnerable economic circumstances
of many emerging economies have the potential to lead to another recession.
Additional
presentations during the two-day conference included panel discussions
and presentations that assessed the likely short-term future for the industry,
examined future design trends, explored innovations in brand activation
and probed business models of the future. At a panel of exhibition industry
leaders, it was suggested that terms like “exhibition,” “show” and “trade
fair” might better be replaced by consistent references to the face-to-face
experiences these events deliver, a concept more aligned with consumers’
thinking and interest in experiential events.
Providing
attendees with an experiential learning opportunity is what we strive to
achieve at our Meetings Quest events. We invite you to experience the difference
at Meetings Quest in Bloomington, Minnesota, July 13–14, 2016. For more
information, please visit MeetingsQuest.com
or call 877-577-3700.
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Timothy
Schneider is the publisher of Association
News and SportsTravel
magazines, which serve group travel planners responsible for generating
106 million hotel room nights annually. Schneider
Publishing also organizes Meetings
Quest, America's longest-running series of trade shows for meeting
planners, and the TEAMS Conference
& Expo, the world’s largest gathering of sports-event organizers.
TEAMS '15 is being held in Las Vegas, November 9–12, 2015. TEAMS ’16 will
be held September 26–29, 2016, in Atlantic City. For further information
on advertising or sponsorship opportunities, please call toll-free 877-577-3700
or 310-577-3700 if calling from outside the United States.
The
current issue of Association
News can be viewed in digital format online by clicking
here.
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Media
Contact:
Timothy
Schneider
310-577-3700
Schneider
Publishing Company, Inc.
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What’s
Ahead at Convention Centers for Meeting and Event Planners?
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Download “Convention
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