The following posting was found on the Motivations Show website. For those that may be new to the meetings industry, The Motivation Show is one of the largest industry events in the country. It features vendors and educational seminars dealing with all aspects of meetings and events.

The Motivation Show announces schedule changes for 2010

CHICAGO (Sept. 29, 2009) – The Motivation Show announced today a change to the exhibit and conference schedule in 2010 designed to reduce exhibiting costs while maintaining a full three-day program of education, exhibits, and networking for attendees. The preliminary schedule will include a dedicated “Education Day” on Tuesday, October 12, from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m., followed by two full days of exhibits on Wednesday, October 13 and Thursday, October 14, also from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. “Our new three-day Show schedule for 2010 is intended to expand our education and networking offering, while maintaining a full 16-hour exhibit schedule at a reduced cost to our exhibitors,” said Peter Erickson, Managing Director of The Motivation Show.

2010 Preliminary Show Schedule:

• Tuesday, October 12, Conference Sessions, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • (plus Keynote Luncheon, Evening Networking Event)
• Wednesday, October 13, Exhibit Hours, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • (plus Conference Sessions, Keynote Luncheon, Evening Networking Event)
• Thursday, October 14, Exhibit Hours, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • (plus Conference Sessions, Keynote Luncheon)

Increases education offering to attract new attendees

The Tuesday Education Day will allow The Motivation Show to expand its highly successful Engineering Engagement Conference to include more sessions that do not conflict with exhibit hours. The conference has grown to include more than 70 seminars, two morning keynotes, and two luncheon keynotes. “Having a dedicated education day next year will help us design a more concentrated education offering for those attendees looking to improve their professional skills,” said Donna Oldenburg, Conference Director of The Motivation Show. “Our research indicates that a higher percentage of conference attendees are “first time” visitors to the show, and they tend to stay longer than exhibit hall only attendees. So our goal in 2010 will be to provide an education program that attracts more new and qualified attendees to The Motivation Show.”

Reduces exhibiting costs to improve ROI

The new two-day exhibit schedule will mean one less travel day for exhibit booth staff and one less night in a hotel. Instead of three nights, most exhibit staff will be able to reduce their stay to just two nights, resulting in a 33 percent savings in hotel and meal costs. This new two-day exhibit schedule (Wednesday-Thursday) will also reduce exhibiting costs by adding an additional straight time (ST) day for exhibitor installation (Monday and Tuesday) resulting in reduced drayage costs. Additional savings include:

• Eliminating inbound overtime charges (OT) for material handling and double time charges (DT) for other building services by closing the exhibit hall on Saturday-Sunday
• Providing exhibitors with two full installation days at straight time rates by having all advance warehouse freight delivered prior to Monday morning at 8 a.m.
• Reducing daily costs from three days to two days for cleaning and other services
• Providing straight time dismantling rates until 8:30 p.m. for carpenters, decorators and riggers, following the close of the show at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

“The new 2010 schedule will result in significant savings to help our exhibitors control their costs and improve their show return on investment,” said Nancy Petitti, Show Director for The Motivation Show. “The exhibit space rate will not be increased in 2010 in an effort to hold down overall exhibiting costs.”

Moving to the new state-of-the-art McCormick West Building

Next year will also bring a change in venue as the show moves to the new McCormick West. This state-of-the-art exhibition facility includes a 2,100 car parking garage, more than 60 Wi-Fi enabled meeting rooms and six restaurants and cafes for show attendees.