UNCONVENTIONAL GROWTH IN THE CONVENTION INDUSTRY

UNCONVENTIONAL GROWTH IN THE CONVENTION INDUSTRY

BY JUDSEN R. MARQUARDT
LMN

Convention centers emerged in cities as a new building type as little as 25 years ago. Conventions were not a new idea then, but they were accommodated almost exclusively in hotels and nondescript buildings offering little more than exhibition area, similar to a large warehouse.

How did the convention center industry, and the buildings that house it, become one of the most prominent areas of civic investment? And how does an industry totally dependent on expensive airline travel and hotel accommodations continue to
The Hawaii Convention Center, designed by LMN, nears completion.
flourish in an era where relatively inexpensive and instantaneous communication and information transfer has become commonplace?

The answers to these questions lie in two broad areas of consideration.

Over time, civic pride (some would say competition) has played an important role in defining which building types become public priorities. Governmental buildings such as city halls and courthouses have, and continue to carry such distinction. In many places, religious buildings such as major cathedrals play a civic role. And large sports venues have helped define cities since the Greek and Roman empires. Each of those has a fairly narrow band of community supporters.

However, convention centers have been able to embrace the interest, support, and enthusiasm of a wide variety of community stakeholders. The convention industry brings new dollars into the community with little environmental impact and no increase in demand on schools, hospitals, and other civic infrastructure.

The industry also tends to provide civic amenities in the form of new community facilities which in turn are typically paid for through the various lodging, food and beverage taxes levied on out-of-town users. So, the argument goes, there is something for every resident in this arrangement -- paid for by outsiders.

But simply willing the success of the convention center industry by civic interests would not by itself be sufficient to sustain it.

Sacramento Convention Center, designed by LMN.
Despite new communication and teleconferencing technology, the need to interact in an annual meeting is greater than ever. Indeed, it is now recognized that as business lives have become increasingly impersonal through the use of voice-mail, E-mail, and other communication tools, the need to find and use other means of interaction which promote face-to-face personal contact has become more apparent. Annual (and sometimes more frequent) meetings are seen as a way to do just that on a regional or national basis.

Of course, the underlying business reasons for convention, exhibition and trade show gatherings remain important. The need to maintain client-vendor relations and establish new ones, to be exposed to new products and processes, and to partake of professional continuing education offerings will continue to be solid business reasons for attending conventions and conferences.

Add to this the often not-so-subtle efforts by hospitality and tourism interests to combine conventions with extended leisure time and vacations, and it is a near certainty that the convention industry will be around for a long time.

Although competition is intense, all cities, regardless of size, seem to have found a way into the game.

While some observers predict a high attrition rate due to over-building and the resulting glut of space, the half dozen "first-tier" cities of the nation have expanded their facilities two or three times during the past 10-15 years.

Multiple facilities are in existence in several of these cities, and in some instances original centers less than 20 years old are being abandoned for totally new and significantly larger facilities soon to be built. Convention centers in these cities can approach 1 million square feet of exhibition space and up to 3 million square feet of gross building area.

LMN's Dane County Convention Center, near Madison, Wisconsin.
A dozen or so second-tier cities -- such as Seattle -- have existing or planned exhibition areas that are measured in the range of 200,000 to 500,000 square feet. Third, fourth, and fifth-tier cities (from Madison, Des Moines and Spokane, to Wildwood, N.J., Grand Forks, N.D., and Wenatchee) are building facilities that even by the most conservative assessment will provide dedicated convention, exhibition, and meeting space for their more limited regional markets.

Despite the difference in size, in principle there should be little difference in the high-tech capabilities of these facilities. Today all locations are able to attain satellite up/down links, and other communication technologies that similarly have no geographic limitations.

While it is true that the larger centers are more likely to have such features, the more universal inclusion of this technology continues to be slow in coming. In part, this is related to cost, but most often it is related to the realization that conventions are fundamentally about the personal face-to-face interaction mentioned earlier. So long distance electronic linking is the antithesis of the typical convention format and is only employed when all other on-site personal communication opportunities have been exhausted.

But other trends have had a pronounced affect on the composition of today's convention center. New facilities increasingly include raked seating auditoria, corporate executive meeting rooms with sophisticated finishes and appointments, and electronic audio/visual capabilities. Still other trends relate to the increased expectations of the users. Full service restaurants, child day-care facilities, fully appointed business centers, and on-site travel reservation services are several examples of such trends.

All of these changes combine to produce facilities with increased flexibility, greater capacity in size and services, more user amenities, and other features which meet the increasing needs of event planners, improve efficiency of operation, and provide greater solvency at the bottom line.

Many professionals, long close to the convention industry, had expected current use to plateau and growth to cease. That has not occurred. Instead, growth continues apace at a national average which doubles the total space available nearly every 10 years.

The convention industry and the facilities required to house it have indeed become an integral part of the economics, culture and physical environment of virtually every community in the nation.

Judsen Marquardt FAIA has been partner-in-charge of business development since the founding of Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm (LMN) in 1979, and has provided project partner leadership on many of LMN's most significant public assembly projects. LMN has been a design participant in over 50 public assembly projects, including 30 convention centers.

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