COMMENTARY: What happened in Vegas shouldn’t stay in Vegas

Last month, the Las Vegas Convention Center hosted World of Concrete 2021 — the largest convention or trade show in the United States since early 2020. About 15,000 attendees and 650 vendors came together at the newly expanded Convention Center to review the latest in masonry products, technology and techniques.

Convention Center officials, the show organizers and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority worked diligently for months on a plan to safely bring this event — which is normally held in January — together for 2021.

Large-scale in-person business-to-business events such as World of Concrete are planned a year or more in advance under normal circumstances. During a global pandemic, even more planning was required, including coordination with local public health officials and the implementation of practices developed to protect the health and safety of attendees, exhibitors, presenters and staff. And all of this planning had to be done in real-time because of the ever-changing nature of the pandemic.

Show organizers reviewed Centers for Disease Control and local health guidelines for guidance. The industry established several best-in-class guidelines for the safe return of business events that went above and beyond CDC and state mandates.

Predictive software from Epistemix — a platform used by schools, governments, professional sports leagues and more that builds case studies to simulate how diseases such as COVID-19 spread during an event — was used. The Epistemix platform also helps predict the positive impact of increasing vaccination rates and assists event organizers with plotting out the best time to run their event.

While Las Vegas is a gambling town, the show’s organizers left nothing to chance, and we are happy to report that weeks after the show, there have been no reports of COVID illness related to the event.

So why work so hard to safely pull together a convention and trade show during a pandemic? There are several reasons why exhibitions and conferences are a critical part of any truly successful reopening strategies as we move into the next phases of this global health situation.

Conventions and trade shows allow merchants, vendors, experts and those seeking knowledge to come together in one place for a few days to share information and conduct business in ways that really cannot be replicated on virtual platforms. While the in-person business events industry and related businesses contribute $396 billion in Gross Domestic Product annually, some of the industry’s greatest economic contributions and impacts benefit small businesses. Trade shows allow small-business owners to both show their wares and to walk the aisles searching for products and making deals on purchases and distribution with the decision-makers at their suppliers. Face-to-face interactions solidify and strengthen relationships. The proverbial power of the handshake is formidable.

Conventions and trade shows also have significant economic impact on the communities where they are held, creating millions of dollars in local spending on travel, lodging, meals and entertainment. The LVCVA estimates that during the course of the World of Concrete 2021’s four-day run, a total of $25 million in local economic activity was generated right here in Las Vegas when it was needed most.

But what happened in Vegas should not just stay in Vegas.

Globally, the trade event industry creates $325 billion in business sales and 1.3 million jobs annually. Here in Las Vegas, the industry represents $11.4 billion in economic impact each year, and the 2020 World of Concrete event alone contributed $109 million to the city’s economy.

It is now up to other cities and states that operate or manage convention and conference facilities to follow Vegas’ lead. Many cities and states have “fully reopened” yet have left inconsistent restrictions in place limiting attendance at trade shows and conferences. As an industry, we have been taking steps for months to build health and safety protocols and operational programs into our event to protect our exhibitors and attendees. Now is the time to allow trade shows and conferences to safely return to levels that will help contribute to our economy.

David Audrain is co-president of the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance and executive director of the Society of Independent Show Organizers.