Montréal tops 2016 North American rankings of most popular cities for international conventions, reports the ICCA

[Mondo_Grosso]

1 hour ago, GDS said:

No, ,you don't understand. It is comparing int'l delegates for member convention centers only. Since there are only 5 members in the USA, the statistic is meaningless. Since McCormick Center in Chicago is not a member, comparing Montreal to Chicago is a falsehood. This doesn't even cover that American  attendees are considered int'l in Canada. What cities care about is that non local people attend and book flights, hotels, eat in restaurants etc.

Its not that I think Palais des Congres is doing a bad job, its that we are not the most popular North American destination for int'l visitors. Like I mentioned, Dreamforce has 170,000 attendees. They don't break it out, but I would surmise ~30% are international. That one event would have more than Montreal in one year. Just think of other major event that probably attract large int'l numbers - CES, Detroit Auto Show, SEMA,

No, you are the one misunderstanding my friend. The 37,000 the article talks about is not total attendance at the Palais de Congres or total international attendance, it is only "business travelers and delegates". This is not defined as anyone who is an international attendee, they mean individuals who represent governments, NGOs, research groups, business associations, etc.

The attendees at Dreamforce do not fit this definition, and the presenters are almost all local. Any normal Joe can buy a ticket to attend, and even if he is coming from Germany it does not make him a delegate. For example, the Montreal International Auto Show draws 200,000 visitors annually, most are just locals and some from the United States, but they don't count as business representatives or delegates.

As indicated in this annual report, the Palais des Congres de Montreal sees nearly 850,000 attendees, but only 37,000 are considered delegates/business representatives. It's also important to not that the award is for the most international conventions, not the most attendees.

This report published by McCormik place says that they held 54 conventions last year, PdCMTL had 76. The report even goes as far as to say that they aren't getting enough international visitors and that it is killing the hotels nearby.

Modifié 17 mai 2017 par Mondo_Grosso

[GDS]

Dreamforce has 170,000 delegates, that is seperate from the seminars that anybody can buy tickets for. They are members, resellers and agents, but either way that is not the point.

 

The point is that 37,000 is the highest number of int'l delegates for members of the ICCA in North America. Since almost no convention center in the USA is a member, we have no idea how well that number really stacks up.

Member venues in USA

Hawaii Convention Center/AEG

Honolulu, HI, U.S.A.

Massachusetts Conv. Cen. Authority/ John B.Hynes Veterans Memorial Conv. Cen

Boston, MA, U.S.A.

Massachusetts Conv. Center Authority / Boston Convention & Exhibition Center

Boston, MA, U.S.A.

MGM Grand

Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.

 

Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago

Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

 

No McCormick Center, no Las Vegas Convention Center, no Orange County Convention Center, nothing in New York, nothing in California.

 

We are number 1 on a list that is not serious at all.

[Mondo_Grosso]

1 hour ago, GDS said:

Dreamforce has 170,000 delegates, that is seperate from the seminars that anybody can buy tickets for. They are members, resellers and agents, but either way that is not the point.

 

The point is that 37,000 is the highest number of int'l delegates for members of the ICCA in North America. Since almost no convention center in the USA is a member, we have no idea how well that number really stacks up.

Member venues in USA

Hawaii Convention Center/AEG

Honolulu, HI, U.S.A.

Massachusetts Conv. Cen. Authority/ John B.Hynes Veterans Memorial Conv. Cen

Boston, MA, U.S.A.

Massachusetts Conv. Center Authority / Boston Convention & Exhibition Center

Boston, MA, U.S.A.

MGM Grand

Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.

 

Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago

Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

 

No McCormick Center, no Las Vegas Convention Center, no Orange County Convention Center, nothing in New York, nothing in California.

 

We are number 1 on a list that is not serious at all.

The ICCA is not perfect, but it is still worth something. There are only 3 conventions centers larger than Boston convention center that are not registered with the ICCA, so it's not like a massive amount of big players are missing. It's pessimistic of you to focus only on the none members and to completely ignore the great cities and convention centers that are included that Montreal did beat. I will do the exercise just for sake of efficiency and curiosity, but lets keep in mind the definition of delegates per the ICCA and that the award given to Montreal was for most international conventions, not highest attendance.

Convention center: number of international conventions

Palais des congrès de Montréal: 76 

McCormick Center (largest in USA): 54

Las Vegace Convention Center: 49

Orange County Convention Center (Second largest): 230 but they don't separate conventions from other small events

NYC Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (largest in New York): 177 but again no distiction between international conventions and other events.

Stats are hard to come by for the large centers not covered by the ICCA, but there's a very high chance that Montreal gets more international conventions than any of them.

 

Modifié 17 mai 2017 par Mondo_Grosso

[GDS]

Square footage is not the only factor, there are over a dozen in the US that are larger than Montreal, not just the 3 bigger than Boston. Jacob K Javits is smaller. Also, international implies many countries, not just one. 

So when 2500 people attend American College Personnel Association in Montreal, they are considered int'l, but had it been in the US, it would be local, as all or most of the delegates are from the US.

Just a quick glance

Dates : 6 au 9 mars 2016
Organisé par : American College Personnel Association
Participants attendus : 2 500

Dates : 31 mars au 3 avril 2016
Organisé par : American Counseling Association & Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association
Participants attendus : 2 800

Dates : 7 au 9 avril 2016
Organisé par : American Bar Association
Participants attendus : 2 000

It's not a question about being pessimistic, it about not boosting ourselves up with alternative facts.

[mont royal]

These are very helpful clarifications and I would agree that the context of these statistics should be presented more clearly. I am not sure though that the figures should be defined as `alternate facts`, which, let’s face it, is just a euphemism for a `lie`. Yes, it may be intentional misleading to not clarify the context, but if it really means that we have the most international conferences (not delegates) in Montreal, that is still a significant accomplishment in and of itself. It should be a source of civic pride, rather than disdain