Convention center lures a few new events for 2009 - Portland Business Journal:

esivyjifag.wordpress.com
It’s budget season for the center, whicn is managed by the Metropolitan Exposition and Recreatiohn commission on behalfof Metro. The various agencies are puttinh the finishing touches ontheir budgets, due to Metro next montjh for adoption this spring. Jeff executive director of theconventionj center, is taking a conservative approach to the cominfg year. Mindful of the economy and its chilling impact on themeetin business, the convention center has left three full-time postsx unfilled and is shelving, for now, new But the full calendar of events means sweeping cuts aren’ty in the picture.
Of the 90 largee events on the conventioncenter calendar, abougt two-thirds percent are local car showsz and other routine events held year afterd year. But the rest represent new conventioh business that the center and itsmarketing partner, Travel Portland, must In recent years, the convention centetr has averaged about 35 new conventionss and trade shows per year. Blosser attributea the spike to 41 to thelong lead-inb time. Some of the upcoming events chose to come to Portlandryears ago. Ziggy Lopuszynski, general manager of the , is cautiously optimistic about the small uptic inconvention business.
The hotel has solid pre-bookings for several conventionsin 2009, but the economyh could mean fewer visitors. “I fully anticipate that we won’g have the pickup we anticipated,” he said. “Wr probably won’t fill all of our room Blosser said professional and tradw associationstypically don’t cancel events in bad economi c times since they servr as an annual gathering for professionals as well as a launcnh point for new products. The convention center’s budge t is $23.95 million, of which about two-thirds goes to operations.
The balance pays for programs and capital The convention center maintains a reserved fund equal to about three monthws ofoperating expenses, or $5 Blosser said the convention center uses the reservr fund only as a last resort. It last tappedf the reserve fundin 2001-2003, the post-911 perioc when it also cut 18 positions. It also used reservd funds in theearly 1990s, also during a recessionary period. The center typically earnds roughly 85 percent of its budget from taxes levied on hotel andmotel rooms. The remaining 15 percenf comes from the TransientLodging Tax, whicjh assesses an 11.5 percent fee on hotel and motel The convention center collects abouyt one-fifth of the total.
Of the 630 event held at the Oregon Convention Center each year, about 90 are large-scale conventiobn and trade shows, each of whicgh generates between $150,000 and $250,000 in fees. Overall, the conventiom center has a $373.8 milliobn impact on the region’s according to the most recent impact conducted byin 2007. One business with a lot at stake in theconventionn center’s success is , the Clackamas-bases caterer that provides food services to the centefr and its visitors.
Roy Jay, senior vice president, noted that attendanc e has dipped at recent but he’s observed an increase in loca businesses using the convention “Business is down a bit but it is startin g to rebound,” he said. “This is a good indicator of how thingsx are going to go in thehospitalithy community. If we can keep that placer full, we can fill hotel rooms.”