Showfloor Buzz – February 28, 2022

EACA News

CBA Renewals.2022 will see a number of collective bargaining agreements that are up for renewal and the EACA is supporting our members by communicating renewal and negotiation dates and by organizing member caucus groups.

The first labor locals on the schedule for this year are Teamsters Local 25 in Boston and Teamsters Local 631 in Las Vegas.   Negotiations have already begun in Boston and will be coming up soon in Las Vegas.   If you want to be in the loop on Boston negotiations and haven’t already taken part contact Bob Dobinski with Corporate Events I&D.    If you want to be in the upcoming Las Vegas pre-negotiation discussions please reach out to Bill Muller with Nth Degree.     And, if you would like to receive a spreadsheet of the all the 2022 CBA renewals send an email to Jim Wurm at [email protected].
Chapter Zoom Calls.At the Board meeting in December the EACA committed to organize quarterly Zoom calls with our Chapters so we can better understand your challenges and serve your needs.  Invitations to join these calls will be sent out as meetings are organized.  If you would like to assist in organizing a call for your Chapter please contact Jim Wurm at [email protected].  The current schedule of calls for Q1 of 2022 is as follows:
  • Chicago Chapter Zoom                           March 14 @ 11am PT

EAC Registration Schedule. EACA is supporting the following events with our EAC registration services:

  • Game Developers Conference                    March 21-25                      San Francisco
  • Enterprise Connect                                      March 21-24                      Orlando
  • IWCE                                                           March 21-24                       Las Vegas
  • Channel Partners                                        April 11-14                          Las Vegas
  • Summer Fancy Foods                                 June 12-14                          New York
  • Biotechnology Conf.                                    June 13-16                         San Diego

Billing & Collections Reminder. The Executive Committee authorized a reminder to all members about our Best Practices on Billing & Collections.

As many of you might recall, billing and collections has proven to be troublesome in the past – particularly after our industry experiences a slowdown or shutdown.

Third party clients, like many in our industry, struggle with cash flow after work slowdowns or stoppages.     We first authored our Best Practices on Billing & Collections after 9/11 when many members experienced a rash of slow pay and no pay accounts.   This document was revisited and updated after the 2008 recession and was revised again in 2017.   Upon review of that version it is clear that another revision is warranted and is in process.     Meanwhile, here are the current recommendations from the Executive Committee:

  • The EAC community is the only stakeholder in the business event industry that has a history of granting unsecured credit.     This practice leads to slow pay and no pay accounts.
  • Request and receive deposits when at all possible, particularly from New clients and International clients.
  • Take deposits by money transfer as credit card deposits can be disputed.
  • Generate estimates for deposits on jobs internally.  Clients have a tendency to under estimate the total number of men or hours which causes problems with show floor operations and then collections later.

EACA Member News

Court legal gavel and Mask Mandate facemask

Mask Mandates Removed in Several Cities.   As the COVID pandemic begins to ease a number of states have announced that mask mandates have been removed or will be soon.    Here is the current list of states who are removing mask mandates:

  • California                               as of Feb. 15
  • Illinois.                                   as of Feb. 28
  • Maryland                               as of Feb. 22
  • Massachusetts                      as of Feb. 28
  • Nevada                                  as of Feb. 10
  • New York                               as of Feb. 21
  • Pennsylvania                         as of Mar. 7
  • Washington DC                     as of Mar. 1

Why Is It So Hard to Find Employees Right Now < Employco USA>  Employers across the country are facing an unmistakable issue right now: too many open positions and not enough workers. On its face, it might seem like there are not enough workers available for jobs—hence all the openings. But, confoundingly, that’s not the case.

Employco has created an HR Insights article that explores the current labor market, offering potential reasons why individuals have been slow to return to work despite available positions and suggesting ways for employers to attract some of these workers.   Read more.

Industry News

EACA Supports Fancy Foods Show and Celebrity Guests  In a great sign that our industry is coming back after the 2 year shutdown because of the COVID pandemic, the EACA was recently at the Winter Fancy Foods Show in Las Vegas.   We provided the Specialty Food Association with our EAC registration services at the event which moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas this year to ease the process by which exhibitors could provide food samples to those that attended the event.

Fancy Food exhibitors were ecstatic with the quality of those in attendance and reported that sales commitments far exceeded expectations and even non-pandemic experiences.    There were even celebrities in attendance at this year’s event as indicated by the picture at right of John Legend and Chrissy Tiegen.

UFI Report: Exhibition Industry Poised to Bounce Back This Year  <TSNN>  The recovery of the exhibition industry is accelerating, with global show revenues expected to reach 71% of 2019 levels this year, according to the 28th edition of the Global Barometer report, released on Feb. 24 by UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.  Designed to assess the impact of global economic conditions on the exhibition industry, UFI’s latest research report provides updates on the impact of COVID-19 and perspectives for the industry in the year ahead.

Freeman Introduces Alan Grottle as New CFO  <Exhibit City News>  Freeman recently announced that Alan Grottle has joined the company as chief financial officer to lead its finance organization focused on accounting, financial planning, tax, treasury and business analysis.  Prior to joining Freeman, Alan was CFO of National DCP (NDCP), a $2 billion full-service food supply chain provider. At NDCP he lead a team of nearly 100 focused on finance, inventory control and IT, and oversaw logistics for 9,500 stores, a network of nine distribution centers, and a fleet of 500 trucks.