Between its world-class amenities, convenient travel access, and lots (and lots) of space for your people, Las Vegas is the best place for your convention or trade show. Here are six reasons why you should host your next event in Vegas.
The cool kids are already doing it.
Most cities would jump at the chance to host a Super Bowl for the economic boost it would bring to town. And with the NFL’s Raiders moving to Sin City—their black and beautiful “Death Star” of a venue under construction—rumors of a Vegas Super Bowl abound. But here’s the thing: Vegas doesn’t really need it.
You see, Las Vegas in mid-winter is already hosting plenty of parties (some, indeed, Super Bowl-related). Over 200,000 people are already here planning for and carrying out the largest trade show in the world. CES has a capped and badged registration of 170,000 techies. And that is just one of thousands of Vegas events, meetings, conventions, and trade shows. The bottom line is, all the people who really know how to put on a show already know about Vegas.
If convention cities were planets, Las Vegas would be Jupiter.
With 12 million square feet of existing event space and another three million scheduled to be completed in the next 18 months, the granddaddy of them all is only getting more grand. No other city even comes close.
Case in point: three of the 10 largest convention centers in the world are in Las Vegas. You and your super cool marketing conference folks know how obnoxious it can be to share limited space at a local hotel with Association of XYZ Business Jerks. More space equals fewer people in your space, less traffic congestion, less competition for restaurant reservations, and all the other perks you get with a little extra elbow room.
Nice place you’ve got here.
Add to all that space lots of places to rest your head. With more than 150,000 hotel rooms in Vegas, only two of the biggest trade shows ever come close to helping the city hit top occupancy. And again, this town just keeps growing. For example, Resorts World alone is adding another 3,500 high-end, all-luxury suites right on the Strip.
And it’s not just that there are a lot of rooms, there are a lot of jaw-dropping, amenities-included, incredible rooms. Many a convention deal is closed by savvy business folks who skip expensive booth fees in favor of holding meetings in their (fantastic) hospitality suites all week.
The quickest way between two points is a straight line.
When was the last time you had a meeting in Denver, Orlando, New York, or Chicago? Remember how you booked nearly as much time for the drive from the airport to your meeting as for the flight itself? Or how about this scenario: you can fly direct to your desired airport, but only on one airline and only on days that start with a “t” or an “s.”
With rare exception, you can fly to Las Vegas from anywhere in the country, three to 20 times a day, every day of the week. Not only that, but flights are usually cheap, and once you get here, you can take an Uber or other transportation to your hotel inside 15 minutes. Let’s face it, you can’t even get outside of O’Hare in 15 minutes.
“I’m starving.” “Nice to meet you, Starving, I’m Dad.”
Dad jokes aside, your people are going to be hungry after all that learning, presenting, and wheeling and dealing.
I admit that Paris, New York, or maybe even San Francisco, might have the best food or the most classically trained chefs in the world. But the fact remains, after they make it there, they all come here. Like the best boxers in the world and the best musicians, the best cooks all eventually end up in Vegas proving why they should be considered the crème de la crème.
That means you can take wining and dining your Las Vegas trade show customers to another level with the very best wines and the most delicious dines. Don’t forget to close the deal before the bill comes; life-changing culinary experiences usually aren’t cheap.
It’s easy when you pick a winner.
Las Vegas won the #1 Trade Show Destination award from Trade Show News Network last year. It also won in 2018, 2017, and 2016. In fact, Vegas has won every year for the last 25 years. It’s safe to say that you could take a restroom break at that particular awards evening when this category came up.
Maybe that’s because statistics show if you book your meetings in Vegas, your attendance goes up and more people visit your booth than in any other city (11.4 hours vs. 8.8 hours on average). Or maybe it’s because the more than 200,000 people in Las Vegas that work exclusively in the tradeshow and resort industry know what they’re doing.
Nearly seven million people will attend a meeting or convention in Las Vegas during 2020. They’ll visit during our 320+ days of sunshine each year, having flown in on one of the 1000+ daily flights at McCarren airport. They’ll eat the best food and stay in the best suites in the most luxurious hotels in the world. They’ll do business in top-flight, technologically-capable convention spaces and party the night away with their newest customers and friends. Don’t you want to be there, too?
Las Vegas tourism has a new slogan: “Vegas means business.” Clearly, they do.