Last week it was the Epic Users Group that had our city bustling with 8,000 or so out-of-town visitors. A few weeks earlier it was the Ironman triathlon that enticed 2,800 athletes and their families to visit Madison. And in two weeks, we’ll see more than 70,000 visitors for the city’s biggest event, World Dairy Expo.
These big events, along with many, many smaller ones, mean economic activity in a variety of ways:
- Direct visitor spending
- Spinoff business opportunities
- Paying for community amenities and infrastructure
- Putting Madison on the map as a can-do place to visit or work
World Dairy Expo is ranked by one trade magazine as the eighth-fastest-growing trade show in the U.S. Last year’s record attendance brought in $19 million of direct spending in the Madison area. Last year, the expo had a record 863 exhibiting companies from 28 countries.
I’m told that the worldwide attendees’ most memorable iconic image of Madison is not the Capitol but the red crown of the Alliant Energy Center. When a dairy producer in Germany sees it, he thinks, “Madison, World Dairy Expo.”
The Epic event not only filled area hotels but prompted Delta and United Airlines to increase capacity. United even had nonstop flights from and to San Francisco and Houston. These were scheduled flights, not charters. The catch: They were only offered for one day, the event’s peak travel day.
It’s been widely reported how the rapidly growing Epic is spinning off specialized consulting companies that support users. And these spinoffs further enhance the opportunities for entrepreneurs in all fields, because talented people like to locate where there are multiple opportunities.
Even Ironman has its local spinoffs such as Endurance House, SBR Coaching, numerous personal trainers, and specialized shoe stores. There is an entire secondary industry that exists here because of the history of the race in our area, which will continue until at least 2018. And that’s in addition to the direct spending during the event of about $2.5 million.
These events and their free-spending attendees pay for amenities those of us who live here can enjoy year-round. I attended the opening Ironman banquet at the Monona Terrace Convention Center and heard Mayor Soglin relate the controversial history of the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired building. “Never in our wildest dreams did we foresee that we would be hosting something like [Ironman] here,” said the obviously impressed mayor, as 1,950 guests were served dinner with amazing big-city efficiency.
(Continued)
A few weeks later in that same Monona Terrace ballroom, the MT staff served an excellent dinner, with apparent ease, to more than 1,000 for the Annual Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce Dinner. To be sure, that building is there for the Chamber and local wedding parties to use because it’s paid for by Ironman and other conventions. The same can be said of our many excellent restaurants, retailers, and our beautiful airport. It takes out-of-town visitor dollars to keep these available for us locals.
I’ve mentioned direct spending, spinoff businesses, and community amenities. But I think the biggest business benefit of visitor events is that it puts Madison “on the radar” for people who might consider us “flyover territory.” Madison has a favorable image far and wide. Why? Quite possibly because someone accompanied a family member to Ironman, visited as an Epic User, attended World Dairy Expo, or stopped by one of the thousands of smaller events held in Madison each year. And each visitor with a positive image just might someday become a resident, employee, customer, or investor.
Madison company on the Super Bowl?
Rimas Buinevicius, formerly of Sonic Foundry, is trying to win a Super Bowl ad for his new innovative wheelchair company, Rowheels. Intuit is giving one small business a TV commercial on the big game in February 2014. Your vote here will help: http://intuit.me/16SVqYy.
Click here to sign up for the free IB ezine – your twice-weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices, and the names you need to know. If you are not already a subscriber to In Business magazine, be sure to sign up for our monthly print edition here.
