URBAN OASIS: The Langham Huntington sits on 23 acres

in Pasadena, offering seclusion just 11 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. For more on meeting in Pasadena, see p. 28.

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PLENARY

News and notes for the meetings and conventions industry

THE CHICAGO WAY: Orgill’s 2010 Fall Dealer Market was held in McCormick Place South.

McCormick Place Hosts First Show Under New Labor Rules

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READ MORE: For a Convene

article about trade- show labor, visit http://bit.ly/bUjO7S.

www.pcma.org

HE ORGILL 2010 FALL DEALER MARKET didn’t set out to become a test case for McCormick Place’s recently overhauled

labor rules, which went into effect on Aug. 1 — but in June, as the Aug. 12–14 hardware and home-improvement show drew closer, it became clear that’s what was going to happen. Then it just became a matter of the show’s organizers making sure they were prepared. “We went through some pre-show training,” said John Patronski, executive vice president

of business development for Global Experi- ence Specialists (GES), Orgill’s general service contractor. “We developed a training module that we first shared with [GES’s] operations [staff], and then with exhibitor services and our account and sales teams.” Then those teams talked about the new rules with Orgill’s staff, the show’s exhibitors, and the unions who work at McCormick Place. While the convention center’s previous

continued on page 24 pcma convene October 2010 19

ILLUSTRATION BY GARY ALPHONSO/I2I ART

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