McCormick Place Overhaul Has Cut Exhibitor Costs

This is great news for all my trade show exhibit managers!! The overhaul of union work rules at McCormick Place is cutting exhibitors' labor costs by an average of 37 percent, according to the first independent audit conducted since the changes took hold.

trade show services chicago The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, the state-city agency known as McPier that owns the convention center, presented the report at its monthly meeting late Tuesday afternoon.

The audit, by Crowe Horwath LLP, involved gathering information from a sampling of exhibitors who displayed their wares at the same major trade shows, in the same size booths, before and after the changes.

The shows were the International Manufacturing Technology Show, Graph Expo and the International Home and Housewares Show.

Of the pool of 107 exhibitors, 84 percent reported savings. Those exhibitors spent $1.8 million on labor after the rule changes, compared with $2.9 million under the old rules, according to Bert Nuehring, a partner at the accounting firm.

The findings represent just a sampling, but cannot be applied broadly to all exhibitors because there was inconsistency in the available information, the firm said.

The audit was required under the new law revamping McCormick Place operations. But the law lacked sufficient detail on what information needed to be provided and when, the auditor said.

The firm recommended tightening up that language in the law.

The law aimed to cut exhibitors' costs by allowing them to do their own booth work, and the audit found this change was adhered to.

The aim was to make Chicago more competitive with lower-cost rival cities.

McPier's Labor Advisory Council, which includes organized labor representatives, will be briefed on the audit Wednesday morning.