The Motivation Show, a longtime meetings and incentive industry trade show, has canceled plans for its May 2014 event in Chicago.
Hall-Erickson Inc., the show’s exhibition management company, has said that new venues or models for The Motivation Show are a possibility for the future, but no plans are in the works.
The Motivation Show launched in 1931 as the National Premium Buyers Exposition at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. In 1972, the Incentive Travel & Meetings Exposition (IT&ME) was added, and the combined event later became known as The Motivation Show. For years, the show was a fixture on the fall schedule for meeting and incentive buyers and suppliers, however competition increased greatly with the arrival of two new U.S. hosted-buyer shows in 2011, Reed Exhibitions’ AIBTM, the Americas Meetings & Events Exhibition, held in Baltimore; and The IMEX Group’s IMEX America, which launched in Las Vegas. This year AIBTM will be held in June in Chicago.
Hall-Erickson did not have a 2013 date on the books for The Motivation Show but had announced last July that the Chicago show would be held next in May 2014 and that it would produce a new annual conference and exhibition in cooperation with the Promotional Products Association International’s “brand” event in Las Vegas in January 2014. Hall-Erickson was working with the Incentive Marketing Association to produce the new Las Vegas show. Reporting the news to its membership, the IMA wrote, “the proposed Motivation Show Las Vegas will now be merged into the PPAI brand Expo. PPAI will handle all exhibit inquiries and logistics. The Motivation Show plans to be involved in the education and attendance promotion program to attract end-users to PPAI brand 2014.”
A call to Pete Erickson, president of Hall-Erickson, was not returned by press time.