The 200,000-square-foot Anaheim Convention Center expansion has sparked official notice by its biggest client that it, too, is in growth mode.
The center’s new wing, which brings its meeting space to a little more than 1 million square feet, is scheduled to open on Sept. 26.
Carlsbad-based National Association of Music Merchants, a nonprofit organization representing instrument and equipment retailers around the world, said its 2018 iteration of Anaheim’s biggest show—scheduled for Jan. 25 to 28—will include a new area devoted to event technology and that its education programs will be concentrated on four floors of the next-door Hilton Anaheim.
NAMM also suggested stronger show organization and traffic flow.
A news release didn’t specify show growth from the convention center expansion, noting that it draws “over 100,000 attendees from 139 countries and regions,” but NAMM and industry trade journals have reported increases in each of the past three years of 2% to 8% in exhibitors and attendees—with no additional space available.
