Chicago has seen its share of ups and downs due to labor issues, and the latest comes from the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) which recently announced that it’s headed to Las Vegas. The KBIS will be co-locating with the International Builders’ Show for the next several years. Show organizers cited labor costs as a reason, as well as a desire to team up with a related show to boost attendance. (The number of KBIS attendees dropped by more than 60 percent from 2007 to 2012.)
Another show that’s going strong at McCormick Place is IMTS, the largest manufacturing show in the U.S. Held every two years, the next IMTS takes place in the fall of 2014 and will once again fill more than 1.3 million square feet in all four halls. For an interesting snapshot of the last 40 years of IMTS, check out this article by Peter Eelman, vice president of exhibitions and communications for AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology, producers of IMTS.
Another show that’s setting records is the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston. They achieved a 30-year high in attendance this year, a 17-percent increase over last year. The exhibit floor was also the largest ever, at 652,185 square feet. The OTC attendee list reads like a who’s-who list of the world’s energy industry leaders who gather to discuss the latest technology and challenges.
