Just walking around the Lobby of the Mandalay Bay hotel you get the feeling that parking has taken over this town. Parking Folks are everywhere.
I was sitting at breakfast with Impark COO Herb Anderson and Jim Eversman from the City of Wilmington, Chuck Cullen from CEG, and Kim Jackson, factum factorum of the IPI walked by. A few minutes later I met Don Shoup, UCLA Professor of Planning and Parking, Richard Matarangelo from Innova Park, and Tom Wunk from Scheidt and Bachmann. And all that was in a 20 minute period, two full days before the exhibition opens.
The PT Group is staying next door at the Luxor. You can take a tram over to the show or walk. If you walk you cross a covered bridge where shops abound. When you reach the Mandalay Bay, you then have a half mile walk through the hotel and convention center to the exhibition floor.
I hope the IPI doesn’t have the same issue it had in New Orleans, walking fatigue. People came to the show once, then didn’t come back because of the very VERY long trek to the Super Dome. Its a hike here, that’s for sure.
The union is in full force during set up. If you hire union help, it could be an adventure. I passed one booth and overheard the owner tell a union helper – "No No, its the one you just tripped over." Ah the adventure of setting up your booth at a trade show. Nothing better.
