It’s sometimes said that nobody remembers the second guys to climb Mt. Everest. Not the case. It was Jurg Marmet and Ernest Schmidt. Now you remember, right?
It is probably true, however, that nobody will be paying much attention to the other conventions that are being held in the Chicago area this week.
“We’re having a problem getting publicity,” admits Dennis Nelson, event chairperson for the Illinois Certified Public Accountants Society’s Midwest Computer and Accounting/Business Management Show, which opens Tuesday at the Rosemont Convention Center, putting it in direct competition with you know what. “We would normally get coverage from the business writers,” says Nelson. “But they’re all over at United Center.
“They tend to go where the action is. And, uh, accountants don’t generally create a lot of excitement.”
Also going up against the Mr. Bill Show this week are such worthy conveners as the Women’s Army Corps Veterans Association, mustering at the Chicago Marriott, and the Musical Box Society International, tuning up at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield.
Brad Lewis of the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau says the city’s resources are more than able to accommodate the accountants (15,000 attendees), the WACs (500) and Music Boxers (450) at the same time as the Democrats (35,000). “You’d have a hard time finding hotel space downtown, but there’s plenty near O’Hare. And in terms of infrastructure-traffic capacity, etc.-Chicago’s great. It’s our big selling point versus Las Vegas, where cab lines take hours, or Atlanta, where hotel space is in Timbuktu.”
The accountants even got a bonus by coinciding with the Dems. Time mag pundit Hugh Sidey has agreed to come by and speak.
Nelson admits his group may have trouble getting nightspot reservations in a town choked with political types. “But accountants don’t party anyway,” he says.
