Events and interesting facts that have shaped the industry
1936 – Roosevelt visits Texas Centennial Expo
The Texas Centennial Exposition, held in Dallas, Texas, celebrated the 100th anniversary of Texas’ independence from Mexico in 1836. The World’s Fair ran fro June 6, 1936+, to November 29, 1936. More than 50 buildings were constructed for the event, which attracted over 6.3 million visitors.
The Exposition pulled Dallas out of the Great Depression, creating jobs and giving a large boost to the Texas economy.
On June 12, President Roosevelt visited the Centennial Exposition in a widely publicized event. Because the state of Texas had never been photographed for advertising purposes before, the Centennial Exposition hired Polly Smith to travel the state and tell the story of Texas through photographs.
1967 – First CES held in New York City
The first Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was held in June 1967 in New York City. The show originally started as a spinoff from the Chicago Music Show, which was the only place to debut consumer electronics at the time.
The inaugural event brought in over 17,000 attendees and 100 exhibitors. The keynote speaker was Bob Galvin, chairman of Motorola at the time.
From 1978 to 1994, CES was held two times each year: once in January in Las Vegas, and once in June in Chicago, but changed to a once-a-year format in 1998, keeping the January show in Las Vegas.
1990 – Colorado convention center opens
In June 1990, the Colorado Convention Center opened its doors to the downtown Denver public. The multi-purpose facility is now considered one Denver’s many landmarks.
The first event at the Colorado Convention Center was the NBA Draft for the Denver Nuggets.
After being expanded in 2004 to include several meeting rooms, ballrooms and an indoor amphitheater, the Center is now adjacent to the Denver Performing Arts Complex and the Emily Griffith Opportunity School.
Tradeshow history as reported by Exhibit City News
2000 – Harris County Exposition Center breaks ground
On June 8, 2000, ground broke on the new Harris County Exposition Center, continuing the growth of the Astrodomain Complex in Houston, Texas. Over 500 Texas Society of Association Executives members were present to witness the official groundbreaking of what would be a 1.4 million-square-foot convention center.
The projected completion of the center was May 2002, in preparation for the Offshore Technology Conference, one of the nation’s largest shows at the time.
The facility offers a total of 706,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, which is divisible into five separate halls, ranging in size from 40,000 to 168,000 square feet. The expo center was also planned to have more than 72 meeting rooms on the ground floor and mezzanine level.
2006 – HCEA meets in Florida
Beginning with an opening reception on June 24, the Healthcare Convention and Exhibitors Association (HCEA) kicked off their 2006 meeting at the Ft. Lauderdale Convention Center in Florida.
The annual meeting focused on education, networking and relationships and took place from June 24 -27. Sessions at the Annual Meeting including a discussion about Canadian Regulatory codes, the FDA’s regulation of exhibitor communications and a session about research from Pri-Med and HCEA.
Speakers at the show addressed exhibit marketing strategies as well as international exhibiting.
2010 – CMT launches new website
Atlanta-based Convention Models & Talent Inc. (CMT) unveiled its new website in June 2010. The agency hired Glick Interactive, a full-service web development firm, to design the site’s look and functionality.
Designers at Glick used the latest interactive technologies on the CMT website, including enterprise-class web 2.0 applications designed for high-traffic websites to manage the increased number of users CMT noticed during the few months prior to the redesign.
