Hotel Online Special Report 
Five Major Shows Sign on to The Sands Expo; New Shows Bring 156,000 Visitors to Las Vegas LAS VEGAS- Feb. 22, 2000 – In its effort to attract new business to Las Vegas, The Sands Expo Convention Center recently booked five major shows.
These multiyear contracts will bring in more than 156,000 attendees. Additionally, these five contracts strengthen the already explosive growth of Las Vegas as a business destination.
The Sands Expo along with The Venetian Resort are the latest and most exclusive conference arenas actively seeking to bring new shows and conventions to the Las Vegas Strip. These new shows will not only increase the already saturated midweek room occupancy for The Venetian, but they will also bring significant midweek business to surrounding properties. SAP America, Wireless 2001, Safari Club International and the Communications Solutions Expo have all contracted the Sands Expo Convention Center for trade shows in 2000-2001. The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) deemed the Sands Expo so ideal a facility, that it will hold its annual show at The Sands Expo for the next six years.
The VSDA is one of the top organizations for the video industry, and its annual conference at The Sands Expo will house over 350 individual exhibitions and include more than 15,000 participants annually. The VSDA trade show has been in existence for almost 20 years, many of which were previously held in Los Angeles. Now, the VSDA can call The Sands Expo Convention Center its home at least through the year 2005. SAP America (Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing) will bring its show to Las Vegas for the first time in June 2000, and will include more than 15,000 new conventioneers. SAP is currently the largest supplier of business application software in the world.
In December 2000, the Communications Solutions Expo will take its trade show to The Sands Expo. The convention will draw more than 10,000 participants and will include the latest technology in business communications.
In January 2001, Safari Club International will hold its 29th annual conference at The Sands Expo, which was held in Reno, Nev., this past January. The SCI conference draws more than 11,000 participants from six continents, and in the past has included such speakers as former U.S. President George Bush and Retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf.
Wireless 2001 will take its annual conference to The Sands Expo in March 2001, making this the show’s debut in Las Vegas. The high-tech trade show will draw more than 30,000 new conventioneers occupying 350,000 square feet of convention space.
“We couldn’t be more happy with the multiple signings by these top trade shows. It is a tribute to the product The Sands Expo and The Venetian are able to supply exhibitors here in Las Vegas,” said Jeff Beckelman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at The Sands Expo Convention Center/The Venetian Congress Center.
The 1.2 million-square-foot Sands Expo Convention Center is an integral and exciting element of The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino. As the largest privately owned and operated convention center in the United States, The Sands Expo plays host to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious shows. Under one roof and connected directly to The Venetian via the 500,000-square-foot Venetian Congress Center, The Sands Expo is widely recognized as one of the most modern convention, meeting and exhibit facilities in the world. Combined, The Sands Expo and The Venetian Congress Center offer 1.7 million square feet of state-of-the-art meeting and convention space, all under the same roof. Its flexible floor plan is versatile enough to configure up to 110 meeting rooms, and includes 65 additional breakout rooms. Of these, 42 can be combined to create three additional 16,500-square-foot ballrooms.
“We have created the ultimate trade show environment. With our spacious exhibitor facilities and beautifully decorated ballrooms and meeting rooms, tradeshow participants now have their own designer trade show venue,” said Beckelman. “This coupled with the all-suite business-friendly rooms, the Grand Canal Shoppes, fine dining restaurants and entertainment has made The Venetian together with The Sands Expo a destination within a destination for exhibitors.”
Along with over 105,000 square feet of additional exhibit space, event facilities at The Venetian now feature the largest pillarless ballroom in America: the majestic Venetian Ballroom. Offering an impressive 85,000-plus square feet of pillar-free space, it fulfills the most demanding expectations. Additionally, The Venetian Ballroom can be made into 12 separate rooms for the utmost flexibility. The 13,500-square-foot Palazzo Ballroom, The Venetian Ballroom’s smaller but equally lavish companion, can be turned into five separate rooms. Built at the site of the former Sands Hotel and Casino, The Venetian includes the first all-suites hotel on the “Strip” with 3,036 suites (note, the standard room averages 700 square feet and includes two 27-inch color televisions, a safe, a mini bar, a fax machine which doubles as a copier and computer printer, three telephones and other lavish appointments to accommodate business and frequent independent travelers); a gaming facility of approximately 120,000 square feet; The Grand Canal Shoppes of approximately 500,000 square feet; and The Venetian Congress Center of approximately 500,000 square feet—all connected to the existing Sands Expo Convention Center.
Contact: www.venetian.com The Sands Expo Convention Center/The Venetian Jeff Beckelman 702/733-5361 Also See: Robert G. Goldstein Named President of The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino / Sept 1999 The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino to Raise Awareness and Funds To Preserve and Revitalize the Venice Lagoon / Oct 1999 Total Las Vegas Hotel and Motel Occupancy for December 1998 Was up 3.4 Percent / Feb 1999 Nevada Resort Association Declares Support for Las Vegas Convention Center Expansion Project / July 1999