CGS Sets Productivity Record in January
Pushes New Service Level

As spring blooms across the country, it’s hard to remember the record-low temperatures that engulfed us in January. But CGS was hot and busy breaking some records of its own with more meetings and more employees servicing those meetings in a one-month period than ever before. A daunting task for some, but for the team at CGS, it was business as usual to manage 140 meetings, including the world’s largest technology trade show.

The International Consumer Electronic Show (CES_^®) attracted a record number of people from all over the world—more than 150,000 attendees from 110 different countries. Produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), CES was one of the largest meetings on the CGS docket this January. Held at its usual venue of Las Vegas, more than 50 CGS employees, from Meeting and Event Managers to Information Systems personnel, were on staff at this massive show to help manage logistics and set up over 380 computers used for registration.

Following on the heels of CES, CGS helped support the 2006 International Builders’ Show^® (IBS), sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). NAHB attracted a record number of attendees to its event in Orlando—more than 105,000—reflecting more than 40% growth in the past four years.

“The economy is a major contributor to show growth,” said Geoff Cassidy, Staff Vice President, Operations, NAHB Convention & Meetings Group. “But attractive venues played an important role as well.”

Exhibitors continued to show up in droves at this year’s event; 1,600-plus exhibitors covering over 960,000 net square feet of exhibit space—another record for NAHB.

Cassidy remarked that NAHB was “cautiously optimistic” with regard to what they would see in 2007 and 2008 in terms of sales of exhibit space.

“We will be working very hard to continue the attendance figures that we’ve seen over the last few years,” he said.

Another record-breaker this January was IBM’s Software University (SWU). Their Las Vegas event exceeded company expectations and secured partner sales that surpassed initial projections by more than one million dollars.

Partnering with IBM for the last several years on other events, CGS was selected to manage this major event for the company as well. With over 10,000 attendees to assist, CGS devoted more than 70 employees to the planning of SWU. These employees spent approximately 15,000 planning hours securing 27,000 rooms with six different hotels and responded to more than 2,300 inquiries regarding housing for the event.

Wrapping up the last part of the busiest January in the history of CGS was the Sherwin-Williams National Sales Meeting held in Nashville. Their event drew more than 5,500 attendees and 1,200 vendor partners. The first endeavor with Sherwin-Williams in more than ten years for CGS, the gathering presented some interesting logistics challenges, including an early morning roll call requiring efficient transportation of attendees to the Nashville Municipal Auditorium from the Opryland Hotel.

A team of 42 CGS employees were put on the case utilizing 130 motor coaches to help the group make their 7:30 am opening session.

Additionally, the CGS team assisted the hotel in efficiently checking in an impressive 4,000-plus people in a six-hour period.

“We provided hotel staff with up-to-the-minute arrival information on expected guests so they could be assigned to available rooms prior to their arrival,” said Mike Burns, CMP, Vice President, Mid Central Region, CGS. “During peak arrival times, no guest waited more than 10 minutes to get their room key. We also had staff available in the lobby to assist guests or to expedite a solution to any challenge should one present itself.”

In a two-and-a-half week period alone, over 180 CGS team members took to the road to service just these four meetings.

But deploying record numbers of employees to these four meetings didn’t stop CGS from tending to its other clients’ needs. The CGS team was able to work through challenges while maintaining its commitment to “perfecting the event experience,” and give the130-plus other meetings held that month the same attention and dedication to quality service, making no sacrifices along the way.