Nov
1
Apples to Apples
Filed Under Industry News, Interbike | Comments Off
Just a little point of clarification here on this whole possible new US trade show story. With so many postings and bits of news flying around the net out there in the last few days, I’ve seen some numbers and statistics being presented incorrectly.
There are many discussions of the probable new home for the Portland show comparing it in size to Interbike and the Sands Convention Center and listing square footage for each. Here’s an explanation of the numbers that are out there so that you can compare apples to apples.
When Interbike states that we had 310,000 net square feet (28,000 square meters for our non-American readers), that is the area occupied by the booths and does not include the meeting rooms and ballrooms that also get used by exhibitors. The total size of the halls that the industry occupies at the Sands equals 660,000 gross sqft (61,316 sq. meters). The net occupied booth area is determined by how much space the exhibitors want tempered by the local firemarshall’s safety requirements. Typically, this yields around 50% of the gross convention center exhibit hall size here in the US.
What I have seen written about Portland’s convention center is that the exhibit hall area is 255,000 gross sqft (23,690 sq. meters). Using the 50% yield rule of thumb, you end up with a usable space of 127,500 sqft (11,845 sq. meters).
So at its sold out capacity, Portland’s convention center should be able to hold about one-third the number booths as were at Interbike’s 2006 edition. No judgement calls here, just clearing up some misinterpreted numbers.