The world's largest convention of exhibition and events industry professions, dubbed 'Expo! Expo!' opens today in San Antonio, and the group's president tells 1200 WOAI news politics has begun to rule his industry as well.
David DuBois, President of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, says critics of the so called 'Bathroom Bill,' the restrictions on transgender restroom use which was defeated twice in the Texas Legislature in 2017, were spot on when they warned that approving the bill would cause lucrative major conventions to bypass the state.
"Political factors come into play more than ever, when show organizers are looking at destinations to take their business," he said.
DuBois says the reason isn't that the exhibitions are taking sides on key issues, in fact the opposite is true. He says the goal of any meeting planner is to maximize the number of people and groups which will be in attendance, so they try to find politically 'neutral' sites whenever possible.
He says that means that if there are controversial issues on either side of the political spectrum being debated in a potential meeting location, the attitude among the meeting planners is to 'not get involved.'
"I might say, you know, let's not recommend that city or that state until this gets resolved," he said.
He concedes that, with more and more things being politicized as the parties spin to the extremes and President Trump is in office, that is getting more and more difficult to do.
"In today's administration, obviously, you can have opinions on both side is this, but they do come into play."
Among the issues to be discussed at 'Expo! Expo!' include security, especially in light of the Las Vegas shooting, as well as safety at conference, and women in the workplace.The conference last through the end of the week.