The Oreo cookie mascot waves at a Mondelez International booth at the Sweets & Snacks Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago on May 23, 2023. Flanked by displays of lollipops and beef jerky, the Republican governor of Indiana delivered a message for Chicago: Indianapolis is prepared to compete with it for trade-show business.
As trade show operators stage comebacks in the post-COVID-19 era, they’re naturally reconsidering locations. Chicago is still viewed as a premier convention spot, and it can point to some recent successes. Those include re-upping the big Radiological Society of North America show at McCormick Place through 2032 and winning back the Microsoft Ignite information-technology conference, which will return to Chicago after nine years elsewhere.
For Chicago’s business community, at best, hosting the Democrats won’t hurt. At worst, look out below. More important for Chicago is slaying the dragons that still discourage conventioneers and other visitors. A city perceived as high crime, high cost and more concerned with pleasing union bosses than trade-show organizers must improve its reputation. For that, even a smooth-running DNC confab can only help on the margins, and it sure can damage the city’s reputation if it goes off the rails, as it did so infamously in 1968.
The show, which attracts some 16,000 attendees visiting around 1,000 exhibitors, still has a lot of connections with Chicago. Some of those manning the booths of classic local brands such as Garrett’s Popcorn and Blommer’s Chocolate were generally positive about the change in venue.