AHMA, Reed to Split

Meetings & Conventions: Newsline newsline.gif (8042 bytes) AHMA, Reed to Split
Rift Leads to Competing Events
Rob Cappiello The American Hardware Manufacturer’s Association in Schaumburg, Ill., ended its 28-year deal with Reed Exhibitions, manager of AHMA’s National Hardware Show.

Starting in 2004, Norwalk, Conn.-based Reed will take the NHS to Las Vegas and will spin off various components within the event, said Reed’s Rob Cappiello, industry vice president of the show. Another major change will be the addition of a substantial conference program. Meanwhile, the AHMA is launching its own hardware show in Chicago in April 2004, three weeks before May’s NHS.

The association’s president and CEO, William Farrell, charged that Reed had pitched a change of venue as a panacea to issues. “Las Vegas was a miracle cure in Reed’s mind. But our problem is not location,” he said.

“Vegas is not the automatic default to every problem,” said Steven Hacker, president of the Dallas-based International Association for Exhibition Management. “If a show is not well managed, it doesn’t matter where you put it.”

This is not an isolated case, added Hacker. IAEM is preparing a white paper on recent trade show rifts in industries ranging from high-tech to gaming and the resulting creation of competing events, he said.

• MARTHA COOKE