This Week in Exhibit Industry News

TSNN has announced the list of Top 250 U.S. shows in 2011. It’s no surprise who tops the list: CONEXPO-CON/AGG, produced by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, which covered 2.4 million square feet at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Also no surprise, Las Vegas hosts the most shows on the list. But some of the other top 10 cities may not be the ones you expect. To read a summary of the list, visit the TSNN site or to see the entire list of shows, go to http://www.tsnn.com/datasite-us.

One show that will never make the list — yet makes a big impression on attendees — is Berkshire Week in Omaha. As the annual shareholders event of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway organization, this private show draws as many as 35,000 attendees who shop the 42 displays of Berkshire companies. The entire city gets involved to pull out all the stops that will impress their guests.

When Mashable launches something, people pay attention. So it’s a great indicator of the importance of meetings and events when they announced their new Events Board this week. Planners must pay to list events, which are searchable by industry category, country, location, and time period.

Destination News

Last week, we covered the announcement that Outdoor Retailer is considering a move away from Salt Lake City. Now they’ve announced a special website focused on collecting input on the direction of the show, including discussion and analysis of potential sites.

And once again, the Javits Center is in the news. Now the controversy is whether or not the center should be doing renovations totalling $463 million, only to be torn down in a few years if plans are approved for the proposed new convention center in Queens. This article from the Architectural Record discusses the pros and cons of convention center upgrades across the country.

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