Reporting from one of my colleagues: Trade Show Exhibitor Association and National Trade Productions just announced in a phone press conference that TSEA's trade show, TS2, has been sold to NTP. Cost of acquisition is "proprietary" information, says NTP president Bob Harar.
TSEA president Michael Bandy says that the move allows the association to "get out from underneath the considerable resources" needed to put on the show, and allows the association to focus on educating and advocating for exhibitors. TSEA will continue to provide educational content for the TS2, Bandy says.
Less than a year ago, TSEA decided to take the show management of TS2 away from NTP and do the job in-house, except for marketing, which NTP was to handle. (Click here for more) When asked why the sudden change in course in less than a year, Bandy said that managing the show inhouse would have been the right thing to do if the association had decided to keep the show. This new partnership, however, between an association and a for-profit show management company, "makes perfect sense" in today's competitive environment," he says.
NTP's Harar says that NTP is going to double the amount of money that TSEA was able to spend on marketing TS2, and that NTP is going to "go after" corporate event organizers as a new market segment to pursue, and it is going to cut the TS2 show from three days to two.
To comment on this post, click on "comments" below. To receive a weekly blog update, e-mail Sue.