It's official: Las Vegas is the monster of all convention destinations in the U.S. It topped the Tradeshow Week 200 this year. That is itself is nothing new—Las Vegas has been leading the list for 12 years now—but the record 44 shows held there last year sure is. The city even topped its own record, 40 shows in 2001. According to this article, no other city has gotten more than 40 in a year before. Orlando came in a distant second, with 26. I'm sure some of Las Vegas' extraordinary year was due to relocated New Orleans meetings, but we'll see if this mega-meetings trend continues. I'm guessing it will.
But when Las Vegas scores, someone else loses: In this case it's Chicago, which for the first time came in third in terms of both conventions and exhibit space used (20 were held in Chicago). Here's an interesting article from the Chicago Tribune about the competitive pressures the city is facing when it comes to luring in the big shows.