The PPAI Expo 2022 will return on January 10-13 to a refreshed, upgraded and fully revitalized Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Since The PPAI Expo was last held in-person at the facility in January 2020, the Mandalay Bay has undergone significant upgrades to make it a more comfortable, efficient and safer facility for the promotional products industry’s largest and longest-running trade show.
Several PPAI staff members are on-site in Las Vegas this week to see the work on the Mandalay Bay themselves, and they report that the facility’s improvements are 90 percent complete and will be finished well before the show opens in January. They are also meeting with facility personnel who will help the Association produce the show.
“There is nothing quite like standing in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center hallway, visualizing a year’s worth of planning coming to life,” says Ellen Tucker, CAE, PPAI’s director of business development and expositions. “This week, the PPAI team has been on-site doing just that, meeting with vendors, experiencing firsthand the upgrades that MBCC has put in place and taking the next step in ensuring we provide our members the world-class experience that they have come to expect from The PPAI Expo. We’re 81 days out from the show and we are excited to bring back the in-person experience that provides the industry the best of networking, education and the opportunity to do business.”
Among the changes that will improve the show experience, the Mandalay Bay has undergone a transition to a Cat6 internet infrastructure which will enhance the internet experience for attendees and exhibitors alike. Another change that will surely be welcome to attendees’ feet, is the removal of the cobblestone flooring in the walkway between the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and the convention center, near the restaurants and Starbucks.
The PPAI Expo attendees can also expect to see upgraded hotel rooms at the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor. In April, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino completed the final phase of a resort-wide $100 million remodel of its more than 3,000 guestrooms and suites, and this summer, the Luxor finished renovating the 1,715 standard rooms in the Pyramid. The Luxor remodeled its East and West Towers in 2018.
The Mandalay Bay has also taken steps to better protect its guests during the pandemic. The entire facility has achieved Global Biorisk Advisory Council accreditation, meaning that it has established and maintains a cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention program to minimize risks associated with infectious agents like the coronavirus. It has also undertaken proper cleaning protocols, disinfection techniques and put work practices in place to combat biohazards and infectious disease and the facility employs highly informed cleaning professionals who are trained for outbreak and infectious disease preparation and response. Additionally, the entire Mandalay Bay resort, including the exhibit halls, is equipped with an extremely highly efficient ventilation system that provides 12 full air exchanges per hour and is equivalent to the standard found in hospitals and other medical venues. For more on The PPAI Expo’s safety protocols, click here.
For more information on The PPAI Expo 2022, including the trade show, education and networking opportunities, visit expo.ppai.org. To register for The PPAI Expo 2022, click here.
