Category Archives: Trade Show Reports

Who’s Who at Washingtonian’s Unveiled

Posted on January 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

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On Sunday we spent the day at the Ritz-Carlton, D.C. chatting with the city’s top wedding planners and vendors at Washingtonian Bride and Groom’s Unveiled exhibition. We caught up with the mag’s editor Kate Bennett, publisher Cathy Merrill Williams, and account exec Vanessa Schutz.

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The fifth annual event had local event companies showcasing their talents in decor, catering, planning, and design. Here Events in the City’s Christie McGuire, Megan Pollard, Laura Ritchie, and Kaitlin Beazell pose in their booth.

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The mag drew a 400-person crown crowd of eager brides- and grooms-to-be, and their closest family and friends. The Chamber of Commerce’s newly engaged Taylor Uzzell is surrounded by marketer Ambika Kuckreja and the Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Shannon Taylor—the latter of whom attended to get ideas for their respective weddings last year.

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The 4-hour showcase included a fashion show from Carine’s Atelier featuring bridal gowns by Monique Lhuillier, Carolina Herrera, Badgley Mischka and more. Out on the exhibit floor, we caught up with Love Couture Bridal’s Sandy Leone and employee Savannah Summers with the shop’s model.

**Photos: Tony Brown/Imijination Photography

**Originally published 1.31.13 in The Scene Bisnow

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Fancy-Food Show Vendors Create Booths That Resemble Cafes, Grocery Stores, Candy Bars

Posted on June 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

JellyBelly setup a wall of jelly-bean-filled plastic dispensers, a trend among the candy companies.


The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s 58th annual Fancy Food Show had a smaller but smarter footprint this year. The show, which ran Sunday through Tuesday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, reduced its footprint by about 8,000 square feet from last year to 307,450 this year across three floors of the venue. Despite the change, nearly 2,100 companies exhibited, including 950 international companies and 230 making their debut at the summer show.

It added new programs and a partnership with the Cooking Channel. Organizers took exhibitor and attendee feedback from past years and reevaluated the layout to more effectively execute the show. “We’ve relocated some of our show programs, added new features like the chef demo theater with Cooking Channel celebrities, and really developed our Business Builders Program, which is a one-on-one speed-dating-type meeting for them on Saturday before the show,” director of operations Jim Spencer said.

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Nearly 1,300 meetings took place as part of the Business Builders Program followed by three days of exhibition. Another show highlight was the annual Sofi Awards, which honor the top 35 specialty foods and beverages. Chef Jose Andres hosted the Monday night event on the third floor of the convention center.

Spencer cited the competing in New Orleans last weekend, causing some exhibitors to purchasing smaller booths this year, and moving the show a month earlier with the discrepancy. Overall attendance remained consistent, with nearly 15,000 specialty-food buyers, chefs, hoteliers, and the like stopping by throughout the three-day show.

“We did a lot of press events locally and around the U.S. to get people excited to come to the show,” said Spencer, who added that the association offered travel promotions via partnerships with American Airlines and 31 local hotels.

The 2013 show will return to New York, and projections call for 345,000 square feet of exhibit space to be sold.

(Originally published on 6.20.12 in BizBash Washington)

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Home & Garden Show Targets Women, Sees Rise in Exhibitors and Attendance

Posted on March 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

(Originally published 3.16.11 in BizBash Washington)

The exhibit floor expanded from last year's 80,000 square feet to 100,000 this year after experiencing a 10 percent increase in exhibitors.

The Washington Home and Garden Show returned to the Washington Convention Center on Friday for three days of exhibition by local landscapers, florists, home furnishing, appliance, and home improvement companies. The 51st annual event experienced a 10 percent increase in exhibitors, with 250 companies represented across the floor, as well as a 5 percent increase in attendance, reaching nearly 23,000 people.

“We don’t sell to the big manufacturers, but like the mom-and-pop operations and franchisees,” said show director Tom Stafford, who has worked on the event for 35 years. “We sell to local business, which promotes business within the community, and [our show] fluctuates with the economy. So being up this year is a result of the [current] economic situation.”

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In addition to the exhibitors with booths, 12 landscape companies—two more than in 2010—brought the outdoors inside with recreations of gardens that included live fountains, stone paths, and various flowers. To accommodate the additional exhibitors, the event footprint expanded from last year by 20 percent to nearly 100,000 square feet. Stafford plans to expand the show floor again next year as a result of the positive feedback from exhibitors.

Organizers worked with marketing firm Williams Whittle to realign its advertising and event promotion to target women as opposed to men, a direct response to a shift in who makes financial decisions in regard to the home, Stafford said. “[Women] are the ones pointing out ‘Honey we need to this or that,’” said Stafford. “They are the decision makers and the guiding light for this show.”

The agency once again placed advertisements throughout the local media to promote the show. However, the television and radio shows during which the ads ran and the sections of the newspaper changed from sports sections and shock-jock-type shows to the food and living areas where women are the more predominant consumers.

In addition to the exhibitors on the show floor, the event had a series of seminars every hour on the hour at its main stage, offering consumers tips on topics like flower arranging and do-it-yourself home improvements.

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Miami Home Show Grows Exhibitor and Attendance Numbers

Posted on September 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

(Originally published 09.10.10 on BizBash Miami/South Florida)

The five-day Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show returned to the Miami Beach Convention Center Friday through Tuesday for its 35th year. The combined trade and consumer show saw an uptick in exhibitors and attendance, with more than 800 booths, a 6 percent increase over last year, and nearly 65,000 attendees, 7 percent more than in 2009.

Larry Perl, executive director of event organizer Home Show Management Corporation, credits the growth to increased and earlier on-air and print advertising throughout the city. “We were trying to make more noise and got more things going sooner,” Perl said.

The company began advertising locally in newspapers and magazines and on billboards and street signs six weeks prior to the show—about two weeks sooner than previous years. Partnerships with local media like The Miami Herald, which offered discounted tickets ranging from $8 to a half-price $5 ticket on specific days of the show, also added to the attendance increase.

With regard to exhibitors, more direct mailings and earlier solicitation helped drive the numbers up. “We’re always promoting multiple shows, so we have to keep our name in front of them,” said Perl, who noted the company coordinates four shows annually, alternating between the Miami Beach Convention Center and the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center.

In addition to exhibiting companies’ offerings, home design organizations like the National Kitchen and Bath Association and HGTV star Krista Watterworth led design consultations and discussion on the main stage of the show floor. Home Show Management also partnered five interior designers with local TV personalities to create showcase rooms in the convention center’s breakout areas.

The next show is scheduled for December 3 to 5 in Fort Lauderdale.

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SwimShow Brings More New Brands to Convention Center, While Niche Trade Show Debuts

Posted on July 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

(Originally published 07.21.10 on BizBash Miami/South Florida)

Photo: Thomas Kletcka

While fashion shows took place at the Raleigh and various locations along the beach during the past week, many swimwear lines also exhibited at SwimShow, the top annual trade show for the industry, coordinated by the Swimwear Association of Florida at the Miami Beach Convention Center. In its 28th year, the show attracted more than 7,000 buyers, exhibitors, and press to the four-day show, which wrapped up yesterday.

More than 2,000 swimwear lines showcased their wares, including 80 new brands, the largest number of new exhibitors in the past few years, according to show director Judy Stein, who said, of the 100 new applicants every year, the association usually only chooses about 50.

“We’ve had a tremendous response from established brands throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Pacific regions who are looking to make their mark here,” Stein said. Additionally, the association used social media for the first time as part of its marketing efforts, which Stein said provided a new platform for communication with brands the group didn’t have access to in previous years.

SwimShow wasn’t the only trade show in town this year though. Former LDJ Productions event producer Rick Fatzinger launched a new high-end trade event at the W South Beach through his new company, Latitude. The 21 participating designers took over the ninth floor of the hotel Saturday through Tuesday, showcasing their new lines from hotel rooms.

“We tried to create a show that’s more experiential, where people can experience the resort lifestyle that these brands represent instead of doing a trade show booth,” Fatzinger said.

The show began Friday night with a 600-person kickoff party on the hotel’s pool deck, sponsored by Diesel. The showrooms opened on Saturday and hosted nightly happy hours for the nearly 400 media and buyers who stopped by over four days.

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