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Wednesday, May 9, 2012

National Restaurant Association Show 2012

I attended the recent 2012 (May) National Restaurant Show in Chicago. While I liked some area's of it, what I didn't like (again) was the lack of organization of it.
I see again for next year it will be on weekend and then monday & tuesday. It's nice that one gets the Metra Weekend Rate, however the CTA has limited buses to get to either the hotels or McCormick, and those they do have require numerous transfers, meaning MORE waiting in the rain. So what during the week days takes about 20 min to get to McCormick on one bus from Metra (the 129 South), on weekends took over 3 hours!!! EACH WAY.
Now they do have shuttle buses from the hotels, but those are very infrequent, and you better hope you make it in time or again, you have another long wait. Again I question, why not have shuttle buses on the weekends at least from Ogilve and Union stations? And why was the most popular RED bus located at the far far far end of the south side of McCormick to pick up and drop off?
When they mail you their badges, they include a tri fold opening brochure with a map of where these hotels have shuttle buses. One cannot read the map, the font is THAT SMALL. Also, this map of hotel locations is NOT on their web site for pdf that one can enlarge. On this is a pass to ride the Metra Electric line (Van Buren; which has no attendant on Sundays) from Milennium or Van Buren. Of course they don't supply cross streets for these stations so one can try to get a CTA bus to them. The CTA bus 151 drops off at Milenium, but NOT the Metra Milenium station. It was hit and miss asking people on the street, and finally someone in Walgreen's, just WHERE the Metra Milenium was. SUPPLY CROSS STREETS. The attendant of the Metra Electric Milenium station was of no help, why she sat at the info booth is beyond me. I asked her regarding buses either as a straight shot to McCormick as well as returning to Union from there and she said she didn't know, and there were no maps of this. I found a pile of maps on the counter top inches from where she sat.
Metra is Metra, and again, why not have a shuttle bus interlinking all Metra stations??? This way, the NRA doesn't punish the customer.
On the NRA site they should have a help wanted section. On Craig's list there were quite a few listings for promo people, so why not offer this to the exhibitors? (NOTE: One of the Craig's list ad stated that the position included the $10 parking fee. Last time I looked, for this show the parking was $21. Now based on this and them offering a mere $10 per hour; if the hiree drove (about $10 gas round trip estimate), parking at $21, their cost would be $31. Each day this lister on Craig's only wanted promo's for 5 hours. So for 5 hours of work, their net would have been $20, and that's with a 1099!!! It comes to less than $4 an hour to work at this booth. Again, if the NRA would offer the option of "employment" to be spokes people/promoters at booths, i.e. nice looking gals, they could state on that link what parking is, shuttle bus links etc., and request of exhibitors in their terms to use this and pay a minimum hourly rate!!)
Here was my itinerary:
SATURDAY
  • took 817 am Metra train in from Roselle; arrived approx 917
  • exited the train station on East side of Canal, could not find the bus sign for the 151, someone on street said it was WAYYYYYY on the west side of Canal. Managed to catch the 151 just in the nick of time.
  • Took the 151 to a few blocks from Palmer house, home of one of the shuttles (the red). Had to walk thru the whole hotel to Wabash door and wait for the shuttle bus, about 20 min.
  • By the time we were dropped off on the south wing and made our way up the elevators to the show it was 11:37. Total time 3 hours.
  • It was 2pm. Went to the "Travel Booth" at NRA to inquire about a CTA bus that would go back to Union and they didn't know. Asked what time the shuttle buses went back to hotel, and she said she thought 4pm. We chanced it and walked over to shuttle buses anyways, a long walk, and found out they were operating; at least the Red one was. Arrived BACK at Palmer house, and walked thru the hotel again, asked the 151 bus driver if it went BACK to Union and she said no. We had to pick it up on Madison (a couple blocks north). I had thought that she had thought we said Ogilve (as that is on Madison) and gave us mistaken info. We walked from Palmer house to Union, AROUND the Sears tower as Adams and LSD no longer existed (construction).
  • Managed to catch the 4:30 train back to Roselle. Arrived at Roselle at 5:45. Total time almost 4 hours!!
  • Total TOTAL travel time: 7 hours
  • Total spent: $14 for 2 weekend passes, $4.50 for 1 bus ride (2 people)
SUNDAY
  • Missed the 8:17 from Roselle, so took the next train 10:17. Arrived at Union 11:17. Raining. Walked "under" Union to older section (the column side) and exited a few feet from the CTA 151 stand.
  • 151 came 20 minutes later, and decided to take it to the Metra Electric at Milenium.
  • Arrived on Michigan & Washington, and found out that the Metra Electric was a few more blocks NORTH. Sheesh. Walked there and thru the pedway, and the info lady above didn't know what track we were on yet. Finally at 12:30 we boarded the Metra Electric. 
  • Arrived at McCormick a few minutes later.
  • Total time 2 1/2 hours
  • Left at 2pm and took the shuttle back to the Palmer house. Had to take elevator at Palmer to find concierge to ask WHERE do we pick up the 151 to Union. 2 blocks North on Madison and Wabash. In the rain. waited and waited and finally 151 picked up. Arrived at Union at 3:45 and waited for the 4:30 train.
  • Total time going back 3 1/2 hours
  • Total TOTAL travel time: 6 hours
  • Total spent $9.50 bus fare
In 2 days:
Total spent to get there and back $28
Total time spent to get there and back 13 hours
IF the NRA had a shuttle bus at least on the weekend, at least the time spent on travel and walking to bus stops and waiting could be drastically reduced. Why don't they?
The Map supplied at the show only showed "booth" numbers and NOT the exhibitors. That's of no help. The map that one "can" somehow manage to download to pdf on computer from their website (powered by A2z; a poorly designed web company) you had to go to map icon, pick the location (north or south hall) then zoom, print floor plan; turns into a pdf that THEN one can enlarge so one can actually read WHO the exhibitors are, click print to file, choose printer, erase the page numbers and choose print "current" view. One has to do this to get the entire map several times, then actual use scotch tape to attach all the pages. Once I was done with this, and laid it out on the dining room table, my son joked that it was my "battle plan". It did look like a battle plan, and took up my entire 6 seat dining table. I noticed at the show at entrance to North hall, that their map posted was about the same size as mine and HAD the exhibitors.
All in all, it was poorly organized.
  1. They need to supply a large map WITH the exhibitors on it (that one can read; i.e. large enough font) MAILED BEFORE THE SHOW along with the badges. (that way people can actually circle the booths they want to visit and have their "battle plan" instead of going thru the frustrating process of printing it out and scotch taping it together)
  2. If possible, mail the BOOK of exhibitors as well (I KNOW the USPS has rates on this) This A2z web site is HORRID. I think the one they used a few years ago was much better than this one, if memory serves me right.
  3. Include the map of hotels ON the web site for pdf so one can enlarge
  4. On printed map that is mailed, MAKE IT LEGIBLE!!!
  5. Include the cross streets for both the hotel PICK UP locations and Metra Electric
  6. While it is nice to have the sponsored hotels on the map, PUT THE PICK UP locations first with cross streets of that location; i.e. such and such hotel is sponsored but pick up is at different hotel on different street (with cross streets)
  7. On web site, have links to those hotels
  8. Include the RTA trip planning number on ALL correspondence 630 or 312 area code, 836-7000 WITH links from web site to their Trip Planner
  9. Actually have the nearby shuttle buses pick up and drop off at Ogilve and Union stations
  10. I would imagine it would be nice to also have a shuttle bus at some of the Blue line el stations for those who are staying at Rosemont hotels near the airport instead of downtown.
  11. Have an employment link on website for any exhibitor wanting to hire booth help with links to parking and maps for those potential employees. Have as terms of agreement a min amount hourly and/or daily rate they must adhere to.
  12. Allow attendees the same option as exhibitors. Attendees should be able to download excel data base of exhibitors.
We did not attend Monday or Tuesday. It was too frustrating and time consuming to get there on Saturday and Sunday. We don't know if we will be attending next year or not. Probably not. As much as I try to be organized about attending the NRA, it is like they are punishing the customer just to get there with their lack of good information being supplied.Doreen's Kitchen