Trade Show Executive's 2009 The World's Top Convention Centers

Trade Show Executive
2009 Directory of the World’s Top Convention Centers
Convention Centers 2009 Continued from page 10
One Notch In
At the same time, however, everyone
must exercise caution in their budgets, and
many businesses have implemented cuts
where possible. “We’re certainly containing
our costs – the expenses that we have the
most control over,” said Ethier.
For most centers that includes
staffing. The Minneapolis Convention
Center is balancing current needs
against those projected in the future to
ensure the right size staff (“We want to
enable ourselves to respond to all types
of business,” said Ethier); the GWCC
has frozen positions through attrition
(“We have about 60 positions frozen
now,” said Zimmerman); and Midwest
Airlines Center is reworking schedules
and outsourcing to different companies
(“It keeps the cost of benefits down, but
if you lose good people, it’s hard to get
them back,” said Geyer).
Green Is Not a Fad
Another area for conservation of
funds is conservation of energy. Green is
not just a fad, but an approach that many
venues have found produces a return on
investment, both environmentally and
financially.
“We want to look at each of those
initiatives and be able to say we installed
these ten escalators and we’re saving
30% on our energy use. Or, that our
entire recycling effort, in terms of
aluminum, plastic and cardboard, is not
only reducing our expenses in terms of
what we put in our trash compactor and
what we need to have carted away, but is
also preserving the landfill,” said Ethier.
“Long-term cost savings help to justify
costs.”
The GWCC recently spent about
$292,000 drilling two wells and installing
a piping system on the property to serve
the 200-acre campus. With the ability to
pump 54 gallons a minute, the water will
reduce the center’s domestic water bill –
and drain on local supply – and restore
delivery to the campus gardens and water
features. It is expected the investment will
be recovered within three years.
The State of Centers
For some show organizers,
environmental initiatives are not very
important, and they very rarely, if ever,
matter more than cost. Whatever the
show’s needs, the center and organizer
will work together for a good fit.
This often starts with research into
the appropriate facilities, a search that
factors in space requirements, industry
schedules, venue availability, infrastructure,
destination appeal and budget.
Trade Show Executive’s 7th Annual
World’s Top Convention Centers directory
provides details on convention centers in
North America, which host a minimum
of ten trade shows or events per year
and offer at least 50,000 square feet
of prime exhibit space. This year,
Metric U.S./Canada/ United States Canada Mexico
Mexico
Total Number of Centers 289 249 19 21
Total Square Feet of Prime Exhibit Space 66,645,580 sf 57,525,266 sf 5,538,600 sf 3,581,714 sf
Total Square Feet of Flex Space 2,592,872 sf 2,156,372 sf 436,500 sf N/A
Average Square Feet of Prime Exhibit Space
Snapshot:
Convention Center Metrics June 2009
Mean (arithmetic average) 230,608 sf 231,025 sf 291,505 sf 170,558 sf
Median (midpoint) 112,000 sf 112,000 sf 250,000 sf 82,408 sf
Mode (most frequent) 50,000 sf 50,000 sf 500,000 sf 77,500 sf
50,000 sf
289 convention centers qualified for
inclusion: 249 in the United States and
its territories, 19 in Canada and 21 in
Mexico. We also provide websites on 187
international venues.
Together, the centers analyzed within
this directory offer 66,645,580 square
feet of prime exhibit space. The top ten
U.S. centers represent 25% of the space
available in the United States.
Our Snapshot, found on this page,
provides even more details about the
state of the convention center industry.
Interesting items:
• The average square footage of a
convention center in the U.S. features
231,025 square feet of prime exhibit
space. With 224,000 square feet, the
Charlotte Merchandise Mart best
represents this average.
• The median prime square footage in the
U.S. is 112,000 square feet. The Palm
Springs Convention Center and the
Springfield Exposition Center match
that with 112,000 square feet each.
• In terms of prime exhibit space,
centers in Canada average more
space; those in Mexico average less.
• The most common size, or mode,
of U.S. centers is 50,000 square feet
of prime exhibit space. There are 16
centers of this size.
Trade Show Executive will continue to
track these stats and other trends in our
monthly newsmagazine, directories and
annual reports, including:
• Pardon Our Dust, a convention
construction directory published
every March and October
• TSE’s Millionaire’s Club and Mega
Facilities in August; Mid-Sized Centers
in February; Facilities with Less Than
100,000 Square Feet of Prime Exhibit
Space in November; and TSE’s E-Clips
Breaking News and website,
www.tradeshowexecutive.com.
Largest Inventory by State
in Number of Facilities
in Total Square Footage
Largest Inventory by City/Metro Area
in Number of Facilities
in Square Feet of Prime Exhibit Space
Nevada, with 21 facilities
Nevada, with 6,135,676 sf
Las Vegas, with 16 facilities
Las Vegas, with 5,378,892 sf
(2 each)
Reach Steve Ethier, executive director,
Minneapolis Convention Center at
(612) 335-6000 or steve.ethier@ci.minneapolis.
mn.us; Richard Geyer, president and CEO,
Wisconsin Center District at (414) 908-6050
or rgeyer@wcd.org; Mark Zimmerman, general
manager, Georgia World Congress Center at
(404) 223-4200 or mzimmerman@gwcc.com
© June 2009 by Trade Show Executive Magazine
14 Trade Show Executive Directory of the World’s Top Convention Centers www.TradeShowExecutive.com