Issue link: https://tradeshowexecutive.epubxp.com/i/76788
TSE DASHBOARD SPONSORED BY Attendance at Annual May Trade Shows Grows 4% BY DARLENE GUDEA, president; CAROL ANDREWS, editor-at-large, and HIL ANDERSON, senior editor Oceanside, CA – Attendance continued to be the star performer at U.S. trade shows in May, growing at a rate double that of exhibitors and exhibit space. According to the Trade Show Executive (TSE) Dashboard of Monthly Trade Show Metrics, attendance jumped 4.3% while net square footage (nsf) rose only 1.9%; and the exhibitor count trailed with an 1.8% growth. Te Dashboard report included 30 events but six were excluded from the statistical analysis either because they were outliers (growing or declining by 50% or more), or because they were non-annual events and thus did not have a 2011 comparison. By excluding the outliers and non-annu- als, the adjusted totals from the 30 shows came to 3,790,963 nsf, 11,911 exhibitors and 301,136 attendees. Tat worked out to an average for each show of 157,957 nsf, 496 exhibitors and 12,547 attendees. Tirteen of the 30 shows were 100,000 nsf or larger. Te biggest was RECon, Te Global Retail Real Estate Convention in Las Vegas, which grew 4.2% over 2011 to 740,000 nsf and 10% in attendance to 33,000. RECon and seven other May shows were ranked on the TSE Gold 100 roster of largest U.S. trade shows. Tirteen shows reported either increas- es or no change in all three Dashboard metrics while three were hit by declines in all three metrics. Growth Leaders and Outliers Two of the shows that were considered outliers in the Dashboard totals were also among the growth leaders for May, which dampened the totals somewhat. Te American Coatings Show and Conference moved to larger quarters in Indianapolis this year following a sold- out performance in Charlotte in 2010. Te move contributed to a 34% jump in exhibit space to 91,200 nsf. Nuremberg Messe North American Inc. also increased the exhibitor count 30.2% to 427 and attendance went up 11.9%. Te next show in 2014 will also have room to grow as it moves to the massive Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Also among the overall growth leaders was EVS26 – the 26th Annual International Electric Vehicle Exposition, which was held in Los Angeles, the first U.S. venue for the show since 2007. Compared to the last U.S. show, attendance and exhibitor growth blew past 50% and exhibit space grew 45.1% to 52,950 nsf. Te biennial SIAL Canada in Montreal saw its exhibit space increase 24.4% to 71,050 nsf, and enjoyed double-digit increases in exhibitors and attendance. Major swings in metrics also consigned AAPA, Te American Academy of Physician Assistants Annual Conference and the Amer- ican Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting to outlier status. AAPA said it ran into Continued on page 26 More Real Estate. RECon grew 4.2% to 740,000 nsf and drew 10% more attendees. The retail real-estate show in Las Vegas was one of eight TSE Gold 100 shows held in May. 24 July 2012 | Trade Show Executive