If early registration numbers are any sign, attendance at RECon 2016 appears set to exceed last year’s level significantly. By late February preregistration was up more than 27 percent over that of the comparable time last year.
Some 36,000 people attended RECon last year, up from nearly 34,000 in 2014, marking steady growth since the end of the recession. RECon 2015 brought together nearly 1,150 exhibitors, and organizers are expecting no fewer at this year’s show, which runs May 22–25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Westgate Las Vegas Hotel. Roughly a dozen of this year’s exhibitors hail from outside the U.S. Some 80 public-sector exhibitors will also take booths.
“These numbers underscore not just the continued growth of the economy, but the importance of our industry to that economy, and to the communities it serves,” said ICSC President and CEO Thomas McGee. “The retail real estate industry is strong because it is successfully evolving to meet the needs of consumers and the market.”
RECon, the largest retail real estate gathering in the world, is a massive undertaking — encompassing some 1.5 million square feet and offering a sizable lineup of deal making, networking, educational workshops and presentations. Among some new features this year is the Innovation Lounge, held in the Grand Lobby, which will showcase retail real estate technology exhibitors. A panel of judges will rate these startups as they compete for innovation supremacy.
The week’s highlights include inspirational talks by business icons at the Westgate Hotel. NBA legend Earvin (Magic) Johnson takes the podium at 1 p.m. on Sunday to share some of his experiences as a business mogul and philanthropist; he is a two-time inductee into the Hall of Fame and a Major League Baseball owner. Earlier that day, at 11 a.m., Parag Khanna, CEO and co-founder of marketing firm Factotum, will offer perspective on a number of global issues. Khanna, who is also the managing partner of advisory firm Hybrid Reality, is featured on the Wired magazine Smart List and ranked among Esquire’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. At 2:30 p.m. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos and author of New York Times bestseller Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, will round out the Sunday presentations. Hsieh heads the Downtown Project, a group committed to transforming downtown Las Vegas into the most community-focused large city in the world. Attendees can learn more about the Downtown Project at a reception later that afternoon. Registration is required for this offsite event, but participation is free to RECon badge holders.
Other high-profile speakers will help keep motivation high through the conference. Gary Friedman, chairman and CEO of Restoration Hardware, takes the stage at 12:30 p.m. on Monday. Before joining Restoration Hardware in 2001, Friedman held various posts at Williams-Sonoma for 13 years. He also worked for 11 years at Gap Inc., becoming the youngest manager, district manager and regional manager in the company’s history. At 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, attendees will hear from Bobbi Brown, founder and chief creative officer of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. “We have a really eclectic and diverse group of speakers this year,” said Jesse Tron, an ICSC spokesman.
ICSC moved RECon’s keynote presentations and education sessions to the Westgate Hotel last year, to make room for the Specialty Retail Entrepreneur Expo & Conference (SPREE), alongside the Marketplace Mall, in the Convention Center’s North Hall. SPREE, now in its 12th year, is the world’s largest trade show for the cart, kiosk and temporary-retail subsector. It became part of RECon last year. “SPREE-RECon 2015 was tremendously successful,” said Patricia Norins, ICSC’s vice president of publications and specialty retail, and publisher of SCT. “The show truly benefited from being part of RECon, because we had so many permanent retailers who came to the show to explore the possibility of opening a pop-up. We were introducing thousands of new people to specialty leasing who hadn’t really explored all of the benefits before.” Sharing between the conferences worked both ways, Norins says, as returning SPREE participants gained access to the Marketplace Mall. “It was a phenomenal learning opportunity for the whole industry.”
With some 200 SPREE exhibitors on tap for this year, organizers have scheduled about a dozen educational sessions for Monday and Tuesday on the SPREE floor. The topics include “How Food Is Changing the Face of Specialty Retail.” Other SPREE sessions will address mall communications, trends in automated retailing and vending, and ways to expand property use beyond retail.
A RECon badge gains the bearer admission to SPREE and to the Marketplace Mall. Admission is also free to RECon’s opening reception, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday at a new venue: XS Nightclub at Encore. Preregistration is required for the U.S. MAXI Awards (at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday), which recognize best practices in retail marketing, new-media strategies and much more.