Trade show mergers and acquisitions are in full swing, with two big organizers – Urban Expositions (recently bought by Clarion Events) and Marketplace Events – scooping up more shows for their rapidly expanding portfolios.

Hot on the heels of the first acquisition, Womens Wear in Nevada, under the Clarion ownership, Urban Expositions also bought Hamptons Expo Group.

The New York-based show group founded and produces ArtAspen, ArtHamptons, Houston Fine Art Fair and Palm Springs Fine Art Fair.

The off-price industry is enjoying a heyday in which more national retailers are turning to the channel looking for a boost, and the OFFPRICE Show in Las Vegas remains a vital place to go for stores of all sizes from across the country.

This year’s summer show, held in August at the Sands Expo & Convention Center during Las Vegas Fashion Week, not only saw an uptick in attendance, but also in net square footage.

The footprint of the showfloor increased from 131,000 net square feet last year to 135,300 net sq. ft.  at this year’s event.  

Once a year, National Retail Federation staff members and key stakeholders gather together and brainstorm on how they can not only solve challenges they have with their trade shows – Retail’s BIG Show and Shop.org Annual Summit, but also talk about how to make them a more personal experience for attendees.

They call the sessions “Blue Sky Meetings”, according to Eric Olsen, NRF’s vice president of education strategies, at which they discuss “anything under the blue sky you could think of” in regards to improving the shows.

U.K.-based Clarion Events, with more than 200 events in 35 countries, has become a majority partner in Kennesaw, Ga.-based Urban Expositions, which has a portfolio of 37 events serving nine industry sectors.

"We are thrilled to partner with such a well-established, international event organizer as Clarion," said Doug Miller, president and CEO, Urban Expositions.

Attendees and exhibitors to this year’s IMEX America, on tap Oct. 13-15 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, will experience a show that’s even greener than last year’s.

A new charity recycling initiative, becoming part of the Green Team and attending relevant education sessions will help attendees to reduce waste and increase their awareness of corporate social responsibility.

This follows the results of the MeetGreen® Sustainability Report for IMEX America 2014, which showed a 31 percent reduction on total waste from the previous year.

Even with so many attendees it's not easy to find a hotel room close by and some exhibits are outside in tents, Emerald Expositions’ Outdoor Retailer community has spoken loud and clear saying they want to stay in Salt Lake City.

The company listened and recently signed a contract to keep the massive show in the city through 2018.

“Salt Lake, and the State of Utah have proven to be wonderful hosts to the Outdoor Industry and to Outdoor Retailer over the years,” said Marisa Nicholson, vice president and Outdoor Retailer show director.

Trade Show News Network (TSNN) has unveiled the TSNN Top 50 Canadian Trade Show list of rankings.

Culled from show management and data supplied to TSNN, the list represents the top 50 trade shows held last year ranked by net square footage in Canada. The full list can be found at: http://www.tsnn.com/toplists-cdn.

Snagging the No. 1 spot once again was Regina Exhibition Association’s Canada's Farm Progress Show, with a whopping 1,232,670 net square foot showfloor at Evraz Place in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Exhibition industry leaders from across Latin America are heading to Mexico at the end of August for two major industry events: Reed Exhibitions Mexico’s ICOMEX, and the AMPROFEC annual congress.

ICOMEX, a part of Reed’s global IBTM business event series, takes place Aug. 24-26 at Centro Banamex, Mexico City. It will be followed by the 18th edition of the Mexican Association of Professionals of Fairs, Expositions and Conventions’ (AMPROFEC) annual congress in San Luis Potosi Aug. 26-29.    

LIGHTFAIR International, billed as the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, will return May 7-11, 2017, to Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Convention Center in 2017 for its 28^th annual staging, according to Jeffrey L. Portman, Sr., vice chairman, president and COO of LFI managing partner AmericasMart Atlanta.

Produced annually alternately on the East and West Coasts, LFI was last staged at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in 2013. 

Walking the packed showfloor for the American Society of Association Executives’ Annual Meeting, held this week at Detroit’s Cobo Center, it was abundantly clear that the busiest booths, by far, were ones that created a really fun, engaging attendee experience.

Some booths went for the straight up business approach with salespeople standing at the ready to talk with customers about the company’s latest offerings, other booths had the traditional promotional items – stuffed animals, pens, water bottles, etc. – and others stepped it up a notch.