While it is easy to assume a tradeshow or similar event will go on as planned when first announced, like the best-laid plans of mice and men, even the tradeshow calendar suffers the occasional upset. Undoubtedly, economic conditions and prior bad press forced officials for the federal General Services Administration (GSA) to cancel a planned GSA Expo scheduled in Orlando in May.
The GSA Expo’s website states: “… in the current fiscal climate, agencies and businesses alike have been forced to make tough spending cuts. After carefully reviewing the projected spending and attendance for this year’s conference, GSA is suspending Expo for 2013 in an effort to use our resources responsibly and to deliver better value and savings for our government partners, our vendors, and the American people.”
The GSA received a great deal of bad press for a lavish event held at the M Resort in Las Vegas in 2010 that cost taxpayers more than $800,000. Since then, the federal government has instituted a review policy examining GSA and other outings to ensure they truly are in taxpayers’ best interests.
While frugality might have caused federal officials to cancel the GSA Expo in Orlando, an apparent lack of motivation among exhibitors has caused the cancelation of The Motivation Show scheduled in May 2014 at McCormick Place in Chicago as well as changes to the 2014 Motivation Show in Las Vegas. Officials for PPAI and the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) last year announced the two events would be held in Chicago and Las Vegas in 2014 with Hall-Erickson managing them. News reports indicate a sluggish response from exhibitors forced the cancellation of the Chicago show while the Las Vegas event will be combined with the PPAI Expo scheduled Jan. 13-17 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Also canceled is the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show. The annual event was scheduled to run from Feb. 2 through Feb. 10 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg but was postponed with no future dates announced after officials from Reed Exhibitions decided to ban the display and sale of assault rifles in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., massacre of children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The ban resulted in many exhibitors refusing to participate, forcing Reed officials to postpone the show. Officials for Reed Exhibitions last week announced the cancellation of the show, which abruptly was halted by a mentally deranged gunman who was refused the sale of an assault rifle in the days prior to the massacre.
“Our original decision not to include certain products in the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show this year was made in order to preserve the event’s historical focus on the hunting and fishing traditions enjoyed by American families,” said Chet Burchett, president for the Americas, Reed Exhibitions. “In the current climate, we felt that the presence of modern sporting rifles would distract from the theme of hunting and fishing, disrupting the broader experience of our guests. This was intended simply as a product decision of the type event organizers need to make every day.”
