Trade Show News Network has named Atlantic City, N.J., as the host city for the 7th Annual 2016 TSNN Awards: Celebrating Trade Show Excellence.

As the premiere awards program in the trade show industry celebrating fastest-growing shows, more than 50 show organizers will be feted during the three-day weekend event Oct. 28-30 (www.T-awards.com). 

Walking the aisles of the EXHIBITORLive! 2016 showfloor at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas last week can best be described as awe-inspiring, enlightening and engaging.

There are literally row after row of beautiful booths, with not only all the bells and whistles of the actual construction being shown off, but also some truly unique examples of experiential marketing to grab the attention of attendees walking by.

EXHIBITORLive! 2016 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas was all about educating and empowering the trade show and events industry. 

With more than 80 education sessions during the five-day conference, new formats to education and a record 52 graduates of CTSM this year, the importance of educating our industry was evident.

“We saw an 11-perfcent increase in educational participants, and a focus on communication and dialogue among peers,” said Randal Acker, president at Exhibitor Media Group, which runs the show.

With events spread throughout the world, Reed Exhibitions was not immune to macro economic pressures last year, posting an overall revenue decrease of 4 percent, compared with the year before.

Overall revenues for Reed Exhibitions in 2015 were $1.21 billion (£857 million), a dip from $1.26 billion (£890 million) in 2014.

U.K.-based Tarsus Group posted overall 2015 revenues of $122 million (£86.9 million), a 15-percent overall uptick over comparable year 2013, as well as a 10-percent *like-for-like revenue increase for the year.

"2015 was an important year for Tarsus,” said Douglas Emslie, Tarsus’ managing director. “We passed a significant milestone in the strategic progress of the Group with the sale of our French business. This will allow us to concentrate resources on our selected core geographies, which offer the best opportunities for growth.”

This year’s NY NOW, the Market for Home, Lifestyle + Gift drew almost 25,000 attendees, marking a 6 percent increase when it ran Jan. 30-Feb. 3 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York.

“This year’s NY NOW winter market continued its tradition of being a truly global stage for companies to share their new products with buyers and the industry,” said Randi Mohr, NY NOW co-director and vice president.

UBM announced last year its strategy was going to focus on putting ‘Events First’, and those efforts paid off, with full-year 2015 total revenues surging 30 percent to $1.3 billion (£974 million) , compared with $1 billion (£746 million) in 2014.

The addition of Advanstar Communications to the company’s portfolio was a boost, with a first year return on investment of 10.3 percent. UBM also sold PR Newswire for $841 million last year, further solidifying its ‘Events First’ strategy.

By Elizabeth Johnson

From classic toys like Lincoln Logs and Legos to innovative tech toys like drones, the world of toys came together for the 113^th time Feb. 13-16 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York.

This year’s North American International Toy Fair exceeded 30,000 play professionals from 92 countries - a 16-percent increase, compared with 2015.

UK.-based Informa Exhibitions has scooped up the WATER & WASTEWATER EQUIPMENT, TREATMENT & TRANSPORT Show from Cole Publishing. Terms of the deal were not discussed.

“Bob has spent the last 40 years creating and building the leading environmental services industry event,” said Rick McConnell, president, of Informa Global Exhibitions.

At last year’s AAPEX, a show for the aftermarket auto parts industry that is held in November at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, decided to up their attendee engagement game by hiring a bevy of customer service staff members they called “Ask Joes” to help people out at the show.

The “Ask Joes” auditioned for their roles to demonstrate their ability to meet and greet attendees with enthusiasm, according to show management, and then they also received comprehensive training and were stationed at custom-designed Ask Joe Service Stations throughout the showfloor.