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SPONSORED BY has a following of 2,300 optometrists. We also have a $10,000 exhibitor sponsorship. For gaming, we have a robust Linke- dIn group that last year helped us find a number of parasites, which we were able to shut down. Tis was so valuable. BOB: Those are all great. What about virtual shows or online certification programs? COURTNEY: We tried a virtual show in the eye-care space at the end of last year. Frankly, it was a lot of effort with little re- ward. Never say never, but for now, I don't see us pursuing virtual events in a mean- ingful way. Online certification depends on the industry, and we are currently looking into it with our eye-care events. BOB: From your perspective, what are the key issues impacting your exhibitors and attendees today? COURTNEY: Tree things: lower overall budgets, rising travel costs, and so many choices for reaching new and existing audiences. BOB: Forecasting show growth is now more challenging than ever. How do you manage this for five important sectors? What kind of decisions are you making when signing hall contracts, for example? COURTNEY: Forecasting is a huge challenge, and we do our best, based on what we know about our industries and events. No matter what's going on in the economy, we are always looking for ways to grow our business. As for contracts, depending on the industry, we may sign contracts years in advance or we may wait depending on the risk. BOB: What is your finest moment on the job? COURTNEY: I have two that come to mind. At BEA last year, a customer I have known for more than 15 years said he wanted to thank me for what I did for the booksellers show back in the '90s. He said if it weren't for me, the show might not exist anymore, and he won't ever forget that. Te other occurred when I took my daughter to Las Vegas for the first time last year. She was 15 and, as you can imagine, she thought I was a bit "dorky." We did some really great things in the city, and she got to meet some wonderful folks whom I work with. At one point, she looked at me and said "Mom, I actually think you're cool." BOB: Conversely, what was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it? COURTNEY: Obviously, there have been a tremendous number of challenges that were hard to overcome. Here's an example of recent challenge with the G2E show. Te challenge: the floorplan was such that the bellwether exhibitors were all clustered together at the entrance of the exhibit hall, blocking the line of sight for other companies. Tere was a perception that there were no other good exhibit locations. New exhibitors in outer reaches of the hall had a bad customer ex- perience, and that later lowered exhibitor retention dramatically. It was difficult to sign new companies due to the perceived lack of good booth locations remaining. Te solution: We changed the venue to a new hall and put bellwethers in the back and along the sides. We put new tiered height restrictions in place for the line of sight and a booth size cap for the Continued on page 38 Power Lineup (top). Baseball great Sammy Sosa, second from left, did some networking at BEA 2000 with trade show sluggers Tina Jordan, VP of the Association of American Publishers; Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com; and cleanup hitter Courtney (far right). Meaningful Mentor (bottom). Courtney and former Rep. Pat Schroeder worked closely at the Association of American Publishers in the last decade. Schroeder became CEO of the AAP after a distinguished career in Congress. www.TradeShowExecutive.com | August 2012 37