Changes Make Chicago a Whole New Convention Game
(Chicago Tribune) — The McCormick Place overhaul legislation that barreled through the General Assembly late last week was so sweeping in scope and so dramatic in its specific changes that it has the potential to give Chicago’s embattled convention business its game back, say some of the city’s top trade show organizers.
While McCormick Place has trumpeted incremental steps toward reform in the past, nothing so far has made much of a dent in trade show organizers’ unhappiness with high costs, restrictive labor rules and a management team larded with the politically connected. But this time the revamp gives the city a fighting chance to reclaim some of the business that has migrated to sunnier, lower-cost cities, critics says.
