VSDA SETS NEW CONVENTION SITES

LAS VEGAS -- The Video Software Dealers Association is committed to Dallas, Los Angeles and Nashville as the sites for its Annual Home Video Entertainment Convention through the year 2000.

here was much speculation on the show floor that attendance would significantly fall off due to the move to Dallas, May 21 to 24, 1995. In addition, some exhibitors complained that the move to Dallas will be costly for them since many warehouse their exhibits in Las Vegas each year not only for VSDA but for the Consumer Electronics Show.

Said Jeffrey P. Eves, VSDA president, "The selection process was both time-consuming and complex. With each site, we had many criteria to consider."

Among the VSDA's requirements in selecting a site were: a city with at least 5,000 reasonably priced hotel rooms, a facility with over 300,000 square feet of exhibit space, reasonable convention rental space and availability during the VSDA's new convention time frame in May and April.

The new spring dates for the convention have ruled out any return soon to Las Vegas because the site there already has been prebooked by other events.

"Las Vegas was unable to accommodate us in April or May until the year 2015," said Eves. "Additionally, the level of cooperation and support from the Convention Center has been declining. The truth is, they don't need our business, and each year it has become increasingly more expensive and difficult to put on a convention in Las Vegas," he added.

The VSDA decided to change its venue following a review of comments submitted by more the 500 VSDA members and exhibitors in response to a questionnaire sent to 1993 convention attendees. The majority (78%) of the survey respondents prefer a convention date in May. Respondents said May is a slow month for video stores and an ideal time for planning and promoting major summer and fall releases, said Eves.

Besides next year's convention in Dallas, other future sites include: Los Angeles, May 14 to 17, 1996; Nashville, April 27 to 30, 1997; Dallas, April 23 to 26, 1998; Los Angeles, May 16 to 19, 1999, and Nashville, April 30 to May 3, 2000.