Attendees and exhibitors to this year’s IMEX America, on tap Oct. 13-15 at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas, will experience a show that’s even greener than last year’s.

A new charity recycling initiative, becoming part of the Green Team and attending relevant education sessions will help attendees to reduce waste and increase their awareness of corporate social responsibility.

This follows the results of the MeetGreen® Sustainability Report for IMEX America 2014, which showed a 31 percent reduction on total waste from the previous year.

Even with so many attendees it's not easy to find a hotel room close by and some exhibits are outside in tents, Emerald Expositions’ Outdoor Retailer community has spoken loud and clear saying they want to stay in Salt Lake City.

The company listened and recently signed a contract to keep the massive show in the city through 2018.

“Salt Lake, and the State of Utah have proven to be wonderful hosts to the Outdoor Industry and to Outdoor Retailer over the years,” said Marisa Nicholson, vice president and Outdoor Retailer show director.

Trade Show News Network (TSNN) has unveiled the TSNN Top 50 Canadian Trade Show list of rankings.

Culled from show management and data supplied to TSNN, the list represents the top 50 trade shows held last year ranked by net square footage in Canada. The full list can be found at: http://www.tsnn.com/toplists-cdn.

Snagging the No. 1 spot once again was Regina Exhibition Association’s Canada's Farm Progress Show, with a whopping 1,232,670 net square foot showfloor at Evraz Place in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Exhibition industry leaders from across Latin America are heading to Mexico at the end of August for two major industry events: Reed Exhibitions Mexico’s ICOMEX, and the AMPROFEC annual congress.

ICOMEX, a part of Reed’s global IBTM business event series, takes place Aug. 24-26 at Centro Banamex, Mexico City. It will be followed by the 18th edition of the Mexican Association of Professionals of Fairs, Expositions and Conventions’ (AMPROFEC) annual congress in San Luis Potosi Aug. 26-29.    

LIGHTFAIR International, billed as the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, will return May 7-11, 2017, to Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Convention Center in 2017 for its 28^th annual staging, according to Jeffrey L. Portman, Sr., vice chairman, president and COO of LFI managing partner AmericasMart Atlanta.

Produced annually alternately on the East and West Coasts, LFI was last staged at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in 2013. 

Walking the packed showfloor for the American Society of Association Executives’ Annual Meeting, held this week at Detroit’s Cobo Center, it was abundantly clear that the busiest booths, by far, were ones that created a really fun, engaging attendee experience.

Some booths went for the straight up business approach with salespeople standing at the ready to talk with customers about the company’s latest offerings, other booths had the traditional promotional items – stuffed animals, pens, water bottles, etc. – and others stepped it up a notch.

Two hundred attendees experienced the best that Dallas has to offer during three days of networking and education at the Society of Independent Show Organizers’ 2015 SISO Leadership Conference, held Aug. 3-5.

“Dallas as a destination should be considered by anyone in the industry,” said Lew Shomer, SISO’s executive director.

He added, “We put a program together to encourage young professionals to become leaders. The content was directed toward them, and we achieved that goal.”

Continuing the tradition of recognizing individual show managers across the industry, nominations are actively being sought for the 2015 edition of The Expo Group Show Manager of the Year Awards.

Since 2000, the crystal SMOTY obelisk has been presented to those people creating amazing experiences within their exhibition and convention.

“These awards began in order to honor show managers who make our industry great, who exemplify a can-do spirit,” says Ray Pekowski, president and CEO of The Expo Group.

International Carwash Association (ICA) and Automotive Oil Change Association (AOCA) will collocate AOCA’s annual convention and trade show with The Car Wash Show, beginning next year.

The Car Wash Show, the world’s largest car wash convention and trade show, attracted nearly 7,000 car wash and related business professionals this year – a 22 percent increase in attendance, compared with last year.

AOCA’s iFLEX, the international fast lube exhibition, regularly attracts more than 700 attendees.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society partnered with Interbike, an annual bicycle show, to present Bike MS: Las Vegas.

The fundraising cycling event will return to the Las Vegas community Sept. 19 and bring together hundreds of cyclists, volunteers, and people who want to change the course of MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system.