In addition to league meetings and award programs, the conference included the Baseball Trade Show, with 110,000 square feet of exhibits from 255 companies offering everything and anything for the sport: bats, stadium seats, team apparel, concessions, mascot costumes, souvenirs, architecture firms, field equipment, and more. For the first time, organizers set up a display on the trade show floor of the trophies and awards presented throughout the conference. “Since not everyone attends the award luncheons, we did this to recognize these accomplishments for the clubs and individuals,” explained Brantner. The conference opened Monday night with a cocktail reception on the trade show floor for about 1,200 people, in part to drive traffic to the vendors right from the start.
For the second year in a row, the trade show included a new product showcase. Brantner said 60 exhibitors submitted products for consideration, and a committee chose 24 to include in the display with a synopsis of the product and the exhibitor’s location on the trade show floor. To be selected, the product had to be introduced between January and December 2010, and it must be on the market by March 2011.
Organizers dedicated the fifth floor of the Dolphin hotel to the media. Several large sports news outlets set up temporary studios to broadcast live, while others used the 25,000 square-foot media room to transmit coverage.
