Showfloor Buzz – May 15, 2021

EACA News

EACA/EDPA Chicago Announce 18th Annual RSMGC Golf Outing.  The Chicago Randy Charity Golf Outing is back this year on July 26 to support the RSMGC in helping families in the exhibition industry who have suffered severe tragedies or face insurmountable medical expenses, as it has for the past 17 years. We plan on having a great day filled with sun, golf, food, drinks, and best of all, familiar faces!

The RSMGC Golf Outing will take place at Seven Bridges Golf Course and will include a 12pm Shotgun start followed by a dinner reception with raffle prizes.   Visit the Chicago Randy web site to sign up.

For additional information or questions contact Nancy Virene (773-491-6950) or Jackie Hake (773-213-2076).

Local 631 Contract Renewal.    The renewal of the CBA for Teamsters Local 631 in Las Vegas has been ratified and is available for acceptance of the agreement negotiated and signed by Renaissance Management and Nth Degree on behalf of the EAC community.

This contract extends terms for 1 year with a small adjustment to the benefits package.

EACA Zoom Schedule

EDPA Las Vegas Announces 18th Annual Golf Outing.  The EDPA Las Vegas 18th Annual Scholarship Fund Golf Outing takes place on June 9, 2021 at Bear’s Best Golf Club.

While this event has typically been about raising funds for the EDPA Foundation Scholarship program this year’s event will be a celebration of our community’s coming back together.

The event takes place on June 9 and will include a 7:30am Shotgun start.     Sign up here.

EACA Member News

McCormick Place Walking Tour.   EACA has reached out to McCormick Place to request a dry run through of its new worker access process as well as a review of the safety protocols required for entry.   McCormick Place has tentatively scheduled the walk through for June 28 and 29.   Additional details will be provided as they come available.

Can You Ask Employees if They’ve Been Vaccinated?  The HR department at Employco USA says, YES, employers are generally allowed to ask workers if they have been vaccinated. Companies are often times interested in employees’ vaccination status because it sheds light on return to work and social distancing planning, customer and co-worker safety, and possible employer-provided incentives for employees to get vaccinated.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has provided guidance indicating that not only can employers ask about vaccination status, employers can also ask for proof.

State Update for COVID Worker Leave Requirements.   Employco USA has shared the following response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.   States have passed new laws and issued new regulations and guidance about employee leave taken for COVID-19 reasons. These provisions are in addition to the federal Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act, passed on March 18th as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

In general, employee leave permitted under new state COVID-19 rules and guidance varies with respect to factors like which employers and employees are covered by the leave, the length and purpose of the leave, whether the leave is compensated and at what rate, and whether the leave is provided under a new law or rule, or covered under an existing provision.

Member Alert.  As we saw happen after business event interruption on 9/11 and the recession of 2008, it has come to our attention that GCs at some show kits are publishing extended EAC notification deadlines as industry events re-open.  Some deadlines have been extended as much as 90 days.    If you come across any notice of that kind please contact EACA HQ at [email protected] so we can be in touch with show management to correct the situation.

 

Industry News

First Look at Elon Musk LVCC Loop  <Exhibit City News>  The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has provided a first look inside Elon Musk’s innovative underground transportation system located beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center campus. The first-of-its-kind transportation solution, named the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, is operational and will be available when LVCC welcomes its first major convention, World of Concrete, in June 2021.

The $52.5 million system will serve as a fun and quick way to move convention attendees throughout the more than 200-acre campus, all 40 feet beneath the ground in all-electric Tesla vehicles.

California Venues Open as of June 15.  All venues in California have received word from state officials that they can re-open for events as of June 15.    From June 15 to October 1 any event with total attendance over 5000 must require vaccine or negative test for entry. After October 1all facilities will be wide open and vaccine and negative tests will no longer be required.  In any event, masks will be required for entry for the foreseeable future.

The first show at the San Diego CC will be SPIE on July 29.

Freeman Sells Las Vegas Property.  <Las Vegas Review Journal>  Freeman sold is 38.3 industrial property in the southwest valley of Las Vegas for $110 million to a San Diego investment firm, Realty Investment Corp, and rented it back for 15 years with three 5 year extension options.

ECA Partners With Epistemix to Support Industry Re-Opening  <TSNN> The Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance is turning to science as its best pitch to legislators to allow the full re-opening of business events.

ECA, through its Go LIVE Together campaign targeting local, state and federal lawmakers, announced a partnership with Epistemix, a leading analytics tool that forecasts the spread of infectious diseases. A scientific model conducted by Epistemix estimates that an event with 20,000 attendees this summer would have practically no COVID-19 transitions.

The data makes the case that current restrictions, like those in New York and what’s planned for when California re-emerges from the pandemic on June 15, unnecessarily limit the maximum number of attendees, which in turn diminishes the returns of an event and a destination’s economic impact.

Restaurants Call on Lawmakers to Replenish Aid Program <SBA> Less than a day after the Small Business Administration said the first recipients of grants to help the nation’s battered restaurants should begin seeing money in their bank accounts, the industry’s top lobbyist warned that the initial pot of cash is already in need of replenishment.

— “We now have a clear picture of how much need there is for this funding,” the National Restaurant Association’s Sean Kennedy said in a statement, citing immense demand for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund — 266,000 applicants have requested $65 billion worth of aid from the $28.6 billion fund, SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman said today.

— “We continue to urge policymakers in Washington — from the White House to Capitol Hill — to replenish the RRF to maximize relief for small independent and franchise restaurant operators,” Kennedy added, while praising the work SBA had done to get the grant program off the ground so quickly. “Americans can’t wait to get back into their favorite restaurant with their family and friends, and the federal government can play a key role in making that a reality.”