The Energy Solutions Arena Solution

Outdoor Retailer has been in Salt Lake City since 1996, the year I bought my Subaru Brighton wagon and skied the High Route.  Nearly every year we've been in SLC, we've had the pavilions (the beloved 'tents') and increasingly gotten creative with utilizing every square inch (literally) of usable space in the building.  SLC itself has stepped up twice to build onto the original structure, but it just hasn't kept up with the growth of the industry, and the industry show.  The city has no other nearby space to offer, and we took space in another building to accomodate the growth for 2008.  Many high-quality shows do this in Vegas and other cities.  For SM08 we had meaningful growth in footwear, endurance sports, and surfing/action sports brands at the show, and rightfully so.   To leave them out would have been antithetical to the goals of OR and OIA; squelching the health and growth of the entire industry.

In this context I'll bring up the New Product Pavilion in the ESA, the Energy Solutions Arena once known as the Delta Center, whose roof was torn off in the '99 tornado and  whose name changed in 2006 when Delta went Ch. 11.   Using this as exhibit space this year was problematic from the outset, though we know how to use ancillary space (inside as well as outside the SPCC) since we've done it for years in SLC.  The show production team of OR used everything from discounted pricing to daily free breakfast to overhead announcements (all three never before used at OR) and many other efforts to put the space on the map of show attendees.  In the end, it was very much like every other new space we've bolted on to the show ... pretty weak, a mix of disgruntlement with acceptance, key buyers seen and orders written, and a few surprised  at how close it really was.  Similar to the pavilions of yore or various meeting rooms and hallways and mezzanines througout the exhibit areas of the show.   

Is it crucial to the industry show to allow 200 new exhibitors to show their wares?  Is it detrimental to use secondary buildings to house the show?  What constructive ideas are there to fix this situation which will worsen next year for sure?

I'm interested to have a thoughtful conversation on this.  Keep it positive and I think we can use this blog for good. 

KH