Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center closed last month after a 20-by-60-foot section of floor in the center's loading area collapsed February 5 under the weight of a tractor-trailer, sending a mixture of concrete, steel, and equipment onto a public area below and leaving the 48-ton vehicle suspended in midair.

There were no injuries except to the center's convention and meeting business. A number of events were canceled, rescheduled, or relocated, including a two-day regional meeting of Creative Memories, a St. Cloud, Minn.-based scrapbook supply company.

Initial reports after the accident had officials hopeful that the convention center would quickly reopen. Cindy Klaverkamp, senior event planner for Creative Memories, was scheduled to bring her 300 attendees to Pittsburgh February 9, but didn't receive word until two days after the collapse, and two days before her meeting, that the convention center was definitely a no-go.

For Klaverkamp, that Wednesday turned into one of those scenarios that planners usually experience only in nightmares. While waiting to board her flight from Minneapolis to Pittsburgh, she received the call telling her the convention center was going to remain closed. To make matters worse, her flight was delayed, leaving her stranded at the airport for most of the day and forcing her to rearrange her convention via cell phone.

The Show Can't Go On

A small consolation for Klaverkamp was that she was not the only planner forced to make last-minute changes. The biggest event affected was the Pittsburgh International Auto Show, which was scheduled to begin a nine-day run at the center February 9 and was forced to reschedule a scaled-down version of the event for the end of April. Among the other groups affected by the closing was the Learning Disabilities Association of America, scheduled for February 13-17.

The building's architects and engineers were called in to try to determine the cause of the collapse. At the same time, two companies were called in to perform independent reviews of the facility, and the building was completely closed. On February 21, the center announced that it would reopen March 9.

A Change in Plan

“Needless to say it was pretty stressful,” says Klaverkamp of hearing that the center would not be able to host her meeting, due to start in less than 48 hours. She spent that Wednesday afternoon on the phone trying to rearrange the convention but found that most of the surrounding hotels, including the Westin, her convention hotel, did not have enough meeting space available. The Omni William Penn came to the rescue by rearranging meeting rooms to accommodate her. “Without that, we would have been forced to cancel the meeting,” she says.

Klaverkamp didn't get a look at her new venue until Thursday morning, 24 hours before her event was to begin.

She (and her attendees) were delighted with the hotel, but moving the meeting created several challenges. The biggest: Creative Memories was given meeting space on the 17th floor, which meant that the conference materials — 17 skids' worth — had to be transported up elevators on two-wheel dollies. “Fortunately the convention center let us use their people,” says Klaverkamp. The center also provided audiovisual equipment and support that the Omni wasn't able to handle at the last minute.

Klaverkamp lauded the efforts that convention center, Omni, and Westin staff made on her behalf. The Westin provided shuttle service to the Omni and helped to coordinate communications with attendees.

She was initially concerned that the Omni's kitchen might not be able to pull together a function for 300 people in 24 hours, “but they put together some wonderful menus and definitely had enough food available for everyone.”

Despite the stressful start, the convention went off with only a few hitches. “I can't tell you how well it all went,” Klaverkamp says. “One thing I kept telling myself was that it was good we only had 300 people attending. Any more than that, and we would have had to cancel.”