Westmont, IL – The 2014 Motivation Show, produced annually by Hall-Erickson Inc. in Chicago, has been cancelled. A new companion show, the Motivation Show Las Vegas, also was cancelled. It was scheduled to be co-located with the PPAI Expo in January. Instead, that show will have a presence at the PPAI Expo’s incentive-merchandise pavilion called “brand” and through buyer education sessions at the expo. The Motivation Show was absent from the Trade Show Executive Gold 100 rankings but PPAI Expo ranked No. 47 among the honorees last October.
The Motivation Show was cancelled due to a low number of responses to its February 15 initial space assignment deadline, according to Hall-Erickson President Peter Erickson. There had been no Motivation Show scheduled for 2013. The PPA Chicago chapter had been scheduled to sponsor a Distributor Day at the 2014 Motivation Show.
The Motivation Show was designed to provide a place where corporate America could find new techniques and products that would motivate salespeople, encourage customer loyalty and reward employees for performance. It offered professional seminars, and at one time had more than 500 suppliers of incentive products and services. It also ranked among the largest shows in the U.S. each year in the ‘80s, ‘90s and early 2000. But the show had seen participation slowly decline during the difficult years after 9/11, followed by the recession that began in 2008.
The Motivation Show was launched in 1931 as the National Premium Buyers Exposition at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The PPAI Expo has been staged since 1905.
Reach Peter Erickson at (630) 434-7779 or perickson@heiexpo.com
