Realities, Ramblings and Recovery My Take on the Current State of the Las Vegas Events Industry

Foreword: As a DMC for 20+ years, it's an understatement to say that my usual daily outlay of creativity is bottled up. I've been itching to write lately, and today chose to express my perspective of the reality of the current Las Vegas Hospitality Industry. After 7 months of reflection, this is my take on where we are, what many don't realize, where we're going, and how we can survive as a community to get there. In a rush? Read the bolded paragraphs and it'll give you the abridged version. Thanks for your interest.

In the world of Live Events, there are so many different categories, all driven and impacted by different factors. Just because one category is able to start to come back from the COVID Collapse, that doesn’t mean that others are.

Since the Governor's expansion of the rules that went into effect on October 1, we’ll first start to see outdoor events return. Not full blown festivals, but small bill concerts, Heritage Festivals, trunk or treat at schools for Halloween, maybe. Those are opt-in family friendly events that can be operated with the most basic of social distancing protocols, including masks and the suggested 6’ separation. 

With the new guidelines, we’ll see smaller indoor events. Groups of up to 250 or 50% Occupancy, whichever is less depending on the location. Temperature checks, masks, and social distancing in place, these will be local or “drive-to” groups, usually opt-in such as organization or union meetings, board meetings, and similar. With food service as needed, primarily educational or informative in nature for daytime, primarily charitable or social in nature for evenings.

As venues submit their plans, we’ll see smaller shows and even sporting events. Ticketed opt-in events, where venues can be utilized to 10% capacity or the maximum number of seats allowed by local statute, guests/groups socially distanced within the facility. For sports, the seats will be at a premium; if they are even available to the public, likely reserved for season ticket holders, boosters, etc.  Ticketed shows will be smaller productions, local acts in venues that can support the limited capacities within budget.

Multi-space trade shows are allowed for up to 1,000 attendees, but based upon that the projected ROI for a major company to bring in their exhibit and crew to market to such a low number of potential buyers is not justifiable.   For example, two major January trade shows, CES and SHOT bring in 180,000 and 60,000 respectively. Those numbers are needed to justify the overhead for exhibitors to participate.  CES has gone Virtual and SHOT will make their announcement by November 1 on whether it will operate as scheduled. So, until the allowed capacities rise, the trade shows that we will see will be locally based; bridal shows and lifestyle shows like health, jewelry, or gun shows, where attendees and exhibitors are within driving radius.

This is all great, and a step in the right direction, but it’s not going to make an impact at all on the greater Las Vegas Hospitality Industry.

The sad truth is that if numbers continue to rise as they currently are, we may have to hold at this stage of reopening for quite some time; but the thinking on that is reasonable. It’s better to open up safely than to have to open and close again. Why? Because the bottom line is that until it’s fully safe to open, the shows that are the true revenue drivers and employ the majority of those out of work in our state will not come back. 

Some of these shows are obvious. The major production shows being the first that would come to mind for the average person. Consider the months of planning and rehearsals that are required to open such shows, which is only justifiable if you can safely project that you will sell sufficient tickets to cover the related expenses of pre-production in a reasonable amount of time.

If you take into account the operating expenses of the theater, box office, and cast; one quickly realizes that the spreadsheet cannot be balanced with 10% occupancy. It likely can’t balance with as high as 50% occupancy. When you’re talking about a company of hundreds to bring it to life – the creative team, the talent, the production team, the box office and sales team, the marketing team, and the theater staff the financial risk is too high without assurances that you can earn the ticket sales needed to support the production.

National Acts? Not until there can be enough seats filled to sustain their paycheck, which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars per performance on top of the operating expenses of the theater and support network.

Showroom productions and Concerts are a big factor, but even more impactful is the void left by an absence of Corporates. Not the big Industry Based Trade Shows, but Private Corporate Sponsored 4,500 person field team meetings, 3,500 person customer events, 200 person incentive programs, 750 person product launches, 40,000 person partner conferences, the 50 person sales meetings that happen every week except holidays at virtually every hotel in our city and unless you are in the industry; you may have no idea that they even happen. 

There are thousands of these per year in all shapes and sizes that are responsible for keeping thousands of people employed in industries that the average resident doesn’t necessarily realize exist. Destination Management Companies, Hotel Convention Services and Banquet Teams, Printing Companies, Production Companies, Transportation Companies, Entertainment Companies, Décor Houses, Staffing Agencies, Teambuilding Companies, Restaurants, the list goes on. 

Locally, we’re seeing that layoffs continue to be announced. The hotels that were optimistic that business levels will return swiftly are realizing that 50% of the customer base that kept them occupied will not be returning soon.

Hospitality industry based small businesses are on skeleton crew, or closing. Programs like the Paycheck Protection Program covered an 8 week window… 6 months ago. 

Unemployed hospitality staff are without opportunities, and in Nevada still without the supplemental stimulus funds of $300 a week that were supposed to start at the beginning of August. 

Vendors who we have worked with for nearly 20 years have had to liquidate their inventory and close up shop – the overhead cannot be sustained indefinitely without ruining a career’s worth of retirement planning.

On the other side of the coin, clients are impacted too. Many corporate planners are finding themselves out of jobs with companies that they’ve served for decades, because the events that they planned regularly are not forecasted. Outside third party planners ranging from small mom and pops to major incentive houses find themselves without clients to support.

As an industry, while we can be hopeful; the truth of it is that until corporations are willing to risk the millions of dollars of investment that go into the planning and implementation of these meetings AND assume the financial and health risk of hosting their staff, customers, and vendors in a safe and manageable way that will provide the necessary ROI to justify that investment and assume that risk, a bulk of the live business meetings industry will remain dormant.

Multiply this conundrum across 50 states and countless International destinations where corporate meetings and events convene, and the state of the industry overall becomes clear.

When a safe, reliable vaccine is available internationally and widely distributed we will start to see some of these meetings get back on the calendar.  Starting with the opt-in Associations, Multi-Level Marketing, Labor Unions, Fraternal Organizations, and eventually the Corporate Sponsored.

While the landscape of corporate meetings may never be exactly as it was before, this crisis will spark creative solutions and innovations in the live meeting process that will force us to update what was an arguably stagnant industry. 

When live meetings come back, it will be with renewed passion. People will crave travel, human interaction, in-person collaboration, live entertainment, and creative delivery of information in an energized environment. 

As an industry, those who survived the storm will back stronger than ever, and there will be a renaissance in our industry when the clouds clear. It will be an exciting time to be in this business and there will be opportunities for those who have strong work ethics and are multi-talented to keep up with the demands.

While we wait it out, it is more important than ever to:

Be Kind: Show your support, celebrate good news, share opportunities, keep in touch with colleagues, clients, and staff to remind them that they are in your thoughts.

Be Respectful: We realize that many are without work right now, but it’s not the time to prey upon potential clients or employers without a solid lead or introduction from a mutual contact. 

Follow the Rules: Schedule appointments, wear a mask, and practice social distancing, submit your resume and application online and ONLY if a position is posted. Now is not the time to “pop in” on a past or potential client, or risk violating someone else’s safe interaction protocols. 

Share Information Actively: Resources for assistance, opportunities for employment, anything that could help a friend or colleague or brighten their day. Passive Social Media is great, but don’t rely on the fact that everyone you want to see that information will see it. Email, text, or call when you think you can help someone.

Stay Busy: Find productive ways to utilize your talents until it’s time to return to your usual position. Volunteer for local charities, knock out your home project list, and just try to find something to do each day that will give you a sense of accomplishment. Simple things like trying a new recipe, cleaning out a cabinet, writing a letter to an old friend or someone who inspired you… anything where you can see a tangible result will do wonders.

Take Care of Yourself Mentally: Turn off the news and turn on the History Channel, PBS, NPR, take a virtual museum tour, play along with Game Shows, play solitaire (without cheating), do a crossword, read a book, write your memoirs… we all have a story to tell.

Take Care of Yourself Physically: Anyone who knows me knows that I would be a hypocrite if I tried to tell you to work out every day, as I sure don’t, but just keep your body in motion. Even if you didn’t get scheduled exercise before, consider how much you would walk around on a regular work day and try to maintain those levels. When it’s time to get back to work, you have to have the stamina to shine.

Take Care of Yourself Emotionally: This can get very overwhelming, very fast.  Seek support when you need it and offer support to someone who you think may need it. 

Be Optimistic, Not Foolish:  Apply for positions that you are qualified for, with companies that you can see yourself contributing to the success of. Blanketing every posted position with your resume blindly is the applicant’s equivalent of cold calling. A thoughtful, targeted approach to appeal to a new employer or a new client will have a much higher success rate of getting to the next step. 

When it comes to bidding on business, the same applies. When we pick-up again, many less-than-seasoned clients will be soliciting bids from every vendor in the field to leverage the eagerness of us all to get back to work. Don’t sell yourself short, or sacrifice quality to meet a budget.

Since You’ve Stopped – Now Smell The Roses: We are all programmed to be going a hundred miles an hour though our day, it’s the nature of the industry. But now that we’ve had a forced stop… take a minute to appreciate all that you have and the beauty in our world.  How blessed we all are for the freedoms that we take for granted, and the luxuries to which we so easily become accustom.

Until that the Renaissance begins, remember that your value as an individual is not directly correlated to your position as an employee, a vendor, or a service provider. You are amazing, you are creative, you are strong, you are clever, and you are resilient. 

If you’re still reading at this point – thanks! I appreciate your time and your consideration. Bottom line is that we’re all in this together, and if one idea in the above ramblings taught you something, validated your opinion, inspired you, or sparked an idea then I’ve achieved my goal for the day. Take care, stay safe, stay positive, and I’ll see you on the other side before we know it.