Movie Theaters as B2B Event Venues: The Next Big Thing?

by Trisha Richards

Meetings are to exhibitions as cheeses are to wines: complementary stimuli that enhance the participant experience.

With countless exhibitions incorporating education and entertainment as part of the proceedings, exhibition organizers must also consider meeting venues as auxiliary spaces in which to hold supporting events.

Convention centers, of course, offer  plenty of meeting rooms, as do adjacent hotels. But these don’t always fit the bill, when it comes to providing the novelty and excitement today’s attendees crave.

That’s where an alternative space like a movie theater comes in.

Dyson discovers movie theaters

Chris Laidlaw, Dyson Canada’s national product training manager, is responsible for coordinating Dyson Academy, his company’s annual nationwide road tour at which new products are demonstrated to associates from several prominent retailers.

Within a four-month period, he and his small team of six travel to 11 cities across the country and host identical presentations to groups of 200 or more audience members. Collaborating with a venue…