Nursing mothers now have a couple of private sanctuaries to retreat to when attending conventions and meetings at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland.

The SMG-managed facility has installed two portable lactation suites for female attendees and exhibitors wishing to breast feed their infants or use breast pumps in privacy.

“We are offering the new lactation suites during conventions, meetings, and trade shows to offer comfort and convenience for our guests,” said Mark J. Leahy, general manager of the HCCC.

In order to meet the growing needs of convention groups, retain existing clients and compete with other similar-sized destinations for group business, more and more cities and their convention and visitors bureaus are recognizing the importance of investing in convention center upgrade and expansion projects.

The city of Cincinnati, Ohio is such a destination. The Queen City is setting its sights on expanding the 49-year-old Duke Energy Convention Center, which was renovated in 2006 but hasn’t undergone a significant exhibition space expansion in nearly three decades.

Positive vibes, robust attendance and a bustling, sold-out trade show floor added up to a record-breaking year for the International Roofing Expo, held March 1-3 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Owned and operated by Informa Exhibitions, the annual tradeshow and conference for the roofing industry drew 11,273 commercial and residential roofing construction professionals and 476 exhibitors spanning a 131,700 square foot showfloor.

Decked out with spring flowers, EXHIBITORLive 2017 offered a fresh take on attendee engagement and experiential marketing, blending ingenious design with seamless technology and thoughtful giveaways.

The 29^th annual conference and expo drew approximately 6,000 trade show and event marketing professionals March 12-16 to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Among the show’s more than 200 exhibitors, the showfloor sparkled with ideas, including a wide range of innovative engagement experiences.

The trade show industry is no stranger to teaming up with charities and demonstrating its commitment to social responsibility, and one recent Las Vegas-based trade show went out of its way to exemplify that dedication to helping those in need.

As the world’s largest trade show and conference for the construction industry, CONEXPO-CON/AGG and IFPE showed its solidarity with U.S. military veterans by hosting several fundraising events during its most recent event, held March 7-11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Trade Show News Network (TSNN) is pleased to announce the release of the 2016 TSNN Top 250 Trade Shows in the United States. Culled from show management and data supplied to TSNN, the list had a record number of submissions and represents the top 250 trade shows held last year in the U.S. ranked by net square footage.

The full, searchable list, sponsored exclusively by Expocad and the Orlando/Orange County Convention Center, can be found HERE.

EXPO MANUFACTURA 2017, an event jointly organized by Tarsus Group and E.J. Krause & Associates for the manufacturing and processing industry in Mexico, was held Feb. 7-9 and drew more than 12,500 professionals to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.

The three-day event, under the theme “Manufacturing 4.0: Maximum productivity and competitiveness”, brought together more than 600 brands and technology solutions from 311 exhibiting companies.

EXPO MANUFACTURA’s footprint grew 9 percent, assembling the largest event to date and had an 18 percent increase in attendance.

The city of Albany has unveiled the Albany Capitol Center, a $78.5 million, state-of-the-art meetings and convention facility.

As the newest addition to the city’s downtown Capital Complex, the ACC joins the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, The Egg Performing Arts Center and the Times Union Center to comprise a four-building campus now known as the largest meetings and event space in upstate New York, with 160,000 square feet of combined space.

It goes without saying that trade shows and events are incredibly tough on the environment, producing massive amounts of waste and carbon emissions each year. According to MeetGreen, the typical conference attendee creates more than four pounds of waste and just under 400 pounds of CO₂ emissions per day.

As a show organizer, you know you should do your part to help the planet by taking your events in a more sustainable direction, but you’re concerned that going green will not only be more labor intensive, but also more expensive.

U.K.-based Informa's Global Exhibitionsdivision bought Yachting Promotions, the operator of some of the largest yachting and boat shows in the U.S., for $133 million.

“With this acquisition, Informa Exhibitions becomes the world’s leading yacht show organizer,” said Charlie McCurdy, Informa Exhibitions’ CEO.