National location in 2024 and future

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by x2drich2000

For reference AC as I mentioned above is 490k sqft.

DC (Walter Washington Convention center) - Hall ABC looks to be 473k sqft - so a little small but maybe possible especially if you would be willing to separate into the 2nd floor hall as well. But I'm not sure breaking the show into multiple areas would be a good thing.

Philly would work based on size (main hall is 528k sqft + the ballroom if you wanted to separate for more space).

Baltimore - IMO the show has now unfortunately outgrown the convention center. The main hall is only 300k sqft.

The Washington Convention Center is not a great place for the show. I have gone there for the auto show, World Stamp Expo, Health and fitness expo and small events. The main hall is only about 160' x 90', or 155' x 60'. I used their virtual floor plan program with measuring tool and got several different measurements. The Auto Show uses multiple floors. Even though the main hall is a nice rectangle, it would not seem practical. I believe the main hall is also in the basement.

I have walked in the area quite a bit when I go to the D.C. Archives for research. The convention center takes up about 3 old city blocks. Directly to the north is mainly residential rowhouses and Howard University. To the west is mostly rowhouses, small condos. To the east is low income housing and Dunbar High School. To the south across the intersection of two major avenues (New York and Massachusetts) is Chinatown and Capital One Arena. There is not enough parking close to the building with no parking structures. There is a parking area in the building, but that may just be for exhibitors and deliveries. Very few places to eat - Subway and some small restaurants. As for hotels; there is one in the next block - Marriott Marquis. After that all of the larger hotels are 5-8 blocks away - Grand Hyatt, Hilton Garden Inn, Sofitel, Washington Marriott, Washington Hyatt.

The only positive is the Mt. Vernon/Convention Center/7th Street Metro stop is directly below the building. The exit/entrance to the subway station is under part of the building so you come up the escalator and walk 30 feet into the building. One of the subway lines that stops here goes to Crystal City in Arlington, future home of Amazon HQ2, and there are 13 hotels there.

[Lobo Aullando]

The big hall(s) down below street level is/are 473k sqft. The big hall up the giant escalators is 230k sqft. It might be acceptable to stick the graders and signers upstairs, and then have the dealers and mandatory corporate booths downstairs. They could even put some corporate stuff on the mezzanine between the street level and the lower halls; everybody will have to walk by it.

There is also the matter of some onerous union rules. You can take it in yourself, but no carts.

Originally Posted by Michael B

The Washington Convention Center is not a great place for the show. I have gone there for the auto show, World Stamp Expo, Health and fitness expo and small events. The main hall is only about 160' x 90', or 155' x 60'.

Edit: Looks like DJ already had the measurements. 473k sqft works out to 500' x 940'.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by Lobo Aullando

The big hall(s) down below street level is/are 473k sqft. The big hall up the giant escalators is 230k sqft. It might be acceptable to stick the graders and signers upstairs, and then have the dealers and mandatory corporate booths downstairs. They could even put some corporate stuff on the mezzanine between the street level and the lower halls; everybody will have to walk by it.

There is also the matter of some onerous union rules. You can take it in yourself, but no carts.



Edit: Looks like DJ already had the measurements. 473k sqft works out to 500' x 940'.

When I first pulled up the site the ABC hall showed up as much smaller. When I reentered the site the real exhibition hall came up and it is 1290' long 290' wide for half the hall and 370' wide for the other half. So roughly four football fields long and one football field wide, more or less. That makes it seem like it is longer and wider than AC. City owned convention center so not surprised it is union. It fits the cities' politics. Other than that there are still the parking, food and hotel issues. Those pretty much put it out of the running.

[mrreality68]

I would love for them to just make it simple. Find the Convention Centers that have the right size to handle the Show and the right number of hotel rooms to handle it and then rotate it thru out the country each year. This gives those that do not or cannot travel the opportunity to go every so many years and it gives those able or willing to travel the ability to get there but also explore that city or surrounding areas, take in games and events in different parts of the country.

The economics is the only factor that may affect this from the cost of the venue and the area of the country that the Shows organizers feel if an area can support the show.

Regardless Book it and lets go

[t206blogcom]

Why not Richmond, VA? https://www.richmondcenter.com/about

[Snapolit1]

One think a lot of people aren’t considering is air fare. Those who travel for business a lot realize that tickets to Chicago and New York are DC are usually way cheaper than smaller and midsized cities. See how many people fly to one of the smaller cities being mentioned when the airfare is $2000.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

One think a lot of people aren’t considering is air fare. Those who travel for business a lot realize that tickets to Chicago and New York are DC are usually way cheaper than smaller and midsized cities. See how many people show us to one of the smaller cities being proposed when the airfare is $2000.

Very good point air travel cost should be considered as a factor but I still believe there are enough good locations that could support a healthy rotation thru out the country.

[Jewish-collector]

Regarding the Washington, DC convention center, there are plenty of hotels within 2 blocks of the facility. The problem is there isn't much parking.

[Bigdaddy]

I've been to large trade shows in Atlanta and Orlando recently and both of those cities have large convention centers and plenty of hotels and cheap flights. Next year it will be in Denver.

I agree with the above poster about segregating the floor space depending on the type of wares you are peddling. That could actually open up the choices since a single large, contiguous floor space would not be the only deciding factor.

Let's give the new management team a chance. I am hopeful they will bring some fresh ideas to the table.