Nevada Development Authority gets convention booth

Thanks to a new agreement that gives it a permanent space inside the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Nevada Development Authority could spread its economic-diversification message to more than 1 million people in the next year.

"It's the biggest opportunity that we've ever had, when you realize how difficult it is for us to travel around the country," said Somer Hollingsworth, president and chief executive officer of the authority, at a Wednesday press conference announcing the deal with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "It costs a lot of money, and if you go cold-calling, you never know who's going to answer the door. Right now, the whole world comes to Las Vegas. There's so much hard-core business done in these conventions. It's a natural for us, and it's a natural for Las Vegas."

The Nevada Development Authority sowed the seeds for the partnership when its executives began identifying influential industry groups for cross-marketing purposes. Chairman Glenn Christenson said the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority came to mind first because "they're the best marketers in the country -- arguably in the world."

For Rossi Ralenkotter, president and chief executive officer of the convention authority, the idea wasn't a tough sell.

"This is a great opportunity for both the NDA to tell their message of the business climate and the attributes of Southern Nevada for relocation, as well as for us to get the message out that Las Vegas is a great place to do business and to meet," Ralenkotter said.

About 1.5 million convention-goers will walk past the new booth each year, Ralenkotter added.

The permanent display, on the convention center's grand concourse, is the most visible component of the new partnership. But the deal doesn't end with the exhibit, Ralenkotter noted. The two authorities will trade leads and attend industry-oriented functions together, and pitch each other. The diversification authority could point to Southern Nevada's possibilities as a relocation site, while the tourism agency spotlights the market's advantages for corporate meetings.

The partners unveiled their agreement as InfoComm 2010, a 30,000-attendee trade show for the audio-visual industry, met at the convention center.

The development authority doesn't have estimates on how many inquiries might come from the booth, but Hollingsworth noted that if just 1 percent of the facility's 1.5 million annual visitors expressed interest, that would be 15,000 people. Plus, InfoComm's attendance through Friday will number far more people than the development group has met with in the last decade, he noted.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman attended Wednesday's unveiling.

"It's a terrific opportunity for us to be able to attract folks from all over the world who are here enjoying themselves and doing serious business at conventions and meetings," Goodman said. "And when they're free, and having a good time and doing what Las Vegas does best as far as tourism is concerned, they'll also have the opportunity now to ask serious questions about what's available, and why they should come to Las Vegas with their business. That, in and of itself, will help us diversify our economy."

The entire convention-center campaign, which includes a booth built by exhibit-services giant Czarnowski and a text-messaging system for relocation inquiries, cost about $100,000. The convention and visitors' authority is donating the booth space.

The Nevada Development Authority also launched a $1 million advertising campaign in California on Wednesday morning.

The ads will air in Southern California markets through August. They continue the authority's "monkey" campaign, which the group unveiled in August. The ads compared California lawmakers to chimpanzees, and highlighted Nevada's relatively lower cost of doing business.

Hollingsworth said the authority had already fielded calls from the ads by mid-morning Wednesday.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison @reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.