t was a familiar scene at Chicago’s McCormick Place this past May, when more than 61,000 registrants from all 50 states and more than 100 countries gathered for the
National Restaurant Association (NRA) Restaurant Hotel- Motel Show and the International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event, a concurrent show for beverage alcohol buyers. That’s because NRA’s 93-year-old annual trade show — the restau- rant industry’s premier showcase for products, equipment, and trends, and the biggest single meeting for restaurant, food-service, and lodging professionals in the United States
— has called Chicago home for the past 63 consecutive years. When you layer on top of that the fact that it’s been held during the same week for the past 31 years, you get why one longtime exhibitor calls the show “my ‘Groundhog Day’” — a reference to the 1993 movie in which Bill Murray’s character is destined to live the same day over and over. Planning and hosting a show of this size is no easy feat for
any organization, but keeping things fresh enough to pre- vent that déjà vu feeling — while preserving what’s familiar, tried, and true — is even more challenging. “It’s a fine line,” said Mary Pat Heftman, NRA’s executive vice president, con- vention, who heads a 25-person team that works year-round on the planning, production, and promotion of the show.
“You have to be able to recognize what works and what needs to change.” The NRA Show is one of the largest trade shows in the
United States (currently ranked number 34 by the Trade Show News Network), “but a lot of the lessons can be applied to a show that’s only 100 square feet, [and has] 300 exhibitors and 12,000 attendees,” said John Patronski, executive vice president for industry development at Global Experience Specialists (GES), NRA’s longtime general services provider.
“If you separate out the size and the specific industry, all show organizers go through a similar challenge: How do you rein- vent a show and generate excitement?” Convene walked the exhibit floor at the 2012 NRA Show,
spoke with show veterans and first-timers, and conducted interviews with NRA staff members before and after the show to gain insight into how — and how well — the associa- tion handles that challenge.
SCHEDULING CONFLICT The show that always is almost wasn’t this year. In June 2011, it was announced that Chicago would host the NATO Summit the weekend of May 18, 2012 — the same weekend as the NRA Show. Recognizing the massive security and transportation headaches that would accompany the arrival of so many heads of state — not to mention the competition for prime hotels and restaurants — NRA executives began exploring the possibility of moving the show to a different location. “We performed a risk-reward analysis to see what space could fit our needs,” Heftman said. “Our industry really
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Keeping It Fresh Changes the National Restaurant Association made to the 2012 NRA Show included:
› Redesigned exhibit floor. › New specialty pavilions for like exhibitors and niche products. › New Operator Innovator Awards, with winners announced at an after-show party. › New evening events — both large parties and exclusive, small-group dining experiences. › More celebrity-chef appearances and book signings › Expanded International Wine, Spirits & Beer Event, with total number of exhibiting companies up 40 percent over 2011. › Increased social-media presence and tools.
› New creative concept and marketing campaign — “Only here.”