Boston’s gigantic, beautiful new convention center, the BCEC, opened just in time for a waning in super-huge shows, according to an article in yesterday’s Boston Globe.
- When the Macworld Conference & Expo opens tomorrow at the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the 10,000 computer geeks expected to attend will have the run of the massive South Boston meeting hall.
Well, sort of.
While the Macworlders grab their name tags and head for the center's sprawling exhibit floor, about 1,200 others will be attending a corporate meeting sponsored by German software maker SAP in the meeting rooms upstairs. And chances are that those attending one convention will never encounter participants from the other.
For the convention center, Macworld is the first high-profile show. But the event represents more than an opening; it marks a shift in strategy.
So now it sounds like the plan is to put several smaller shows into the big new venue that was built to draw the rapidly shrinking number of super-events. Good plan, as far as it goes, but now that what seems like every city is either contemplating, in the midst of, or just opening a new or newly expanded center, makes you wonder if it’s worth all the effort and money to build something that's no longer needed, at least for the short term, doesn't it?
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