JCK Las Vegas was held from 3 to 6 June 2011. This year, the exhibition was moved to its new home, the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center, where the show celebrated its housewarming event and also the 20th anniversary of JCK Events, the organizer of the exhibition and a leading operator of jewelry events in the United States. JCK Las Vegas has managed to become not only a key event in the industry, but also a real treat for all its guests and participants.
According to the preliminary data, the number of visitors to JCK Las Vegas this year was up 16%. Its foot traffic accounted for more than 20,000 buyers from among retailers and distributors, including over 600 VIP retail stores. The organizers also noted increased interest from foreign participants, most of them coming from such countries as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China (Hong Kong), India, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and the United Kingdom. At the request of visitors, extra buying days on the show floor were given for the AGTA and Equipment, Technology & Supplies product areas.
Major innovations
1) The new venue - Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center
“I think the format of it is different this year. It's just getting a little bit getting used to it, because for years and years everybody was comfortable with Sands Expo & Convention Center. I think the new format is going to work out great. As soon as you come in it's right there. It's pretty well thought out in terms of how it is organized and how it is structured,” Jon Mitchell, President of Aston Luxury Group, said in his interview with Rough&Polished.
2) Improved navigation
Let's start with the red carpet. As you will probably agree, marching to the show venue and walking through its halls following the wide red carpet is nice and comfortable (no chance to get lost). And the organizers were smart to make it this way. This year's exhibition employed quite a number of "human show ambassadors” outfitted in "Ask Me" T-shirts who were very friendly and ready to answer any question as to where to go and where to find anything in the vast exhibition area. Additional information could be found on touch-screen kiosks throughout the venue offering tips about scheduled events and participants. I had a chance to take advantage of all the proposed means of navigation and I can say that it was very comfortable. Having visited the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, I got the impression the Chinese were the best organizers of public events – may be because they have more experience in everything related to handling mass events. However, JCK Las Vegas 2011 has left a very positive impression about the American approach to organizing and managing exhibitions.
3) Reorganized exhibition space
At the new venue the organizers outlined the hall a bit differently to make it easier for customers to navigate and place their orders. This year, the show featured additional product groupings focused on in-demand categories such as Bridal, Silver, Fashion Jewelry and Pearl. Watches and diamonds as well as jewelry goods from Hong Kong were also given separate sections at the exhibition.
4) Interactivity and Mobility
From the moment when you only think about visiting the show and to your real visit to JCK Las Vegas, its organizers made sure that you have access to all necessary information. This year, they introduced My Show Planner, an online planner for your visit to the exhibition. It provides an opportunity to put all the exhibitors you are interested in on your personal map, get more information about them and their contact details, feed the events scheduled to attend to your calendar and configure the best route. I immediately took the advantage of this wonderful tool. Otherwise, how else can one navigate among the 2,500 exhibitors and dozens of different events?
Another debut was launched for JCK Mobile, an application turned out to be a veritable GPS and event guide to the exhibition, which could be used on all web-enabled devices, be it an IPhone, Blueberry or handheld PC, and which could present maps, key locations, educational content, services and special events literally at your finger tips.
5) Elite Enclave and Luxury Section debut
According to the organizers’ concept, Luxury and Elite Enclave were designed to satisfy the most discerning retailers and to create an appropriate atmosphere of elitism and simultaneously to time the show with the 20th anniversary of the organizers, JCK Events. These pavilions boasted of exclusive brands and art pieces made by top designers including Autore, Beaudry International, Danhov, Fendi Timepieces / Taramax USA, JudeFrances Jewelry, MIIORI of Michael Beaudry, Monseo Jewels, Rahaminov Diamonds, Stenzhorn, Temple St. Clair, Rio Tinto and others.
The extensive program of activities at JCK Las Vegas is very difficult to fit into a few paragraphs of the review. It is worth noting that there were really a lot of educational events, presentations, briefings, discussions and just entertainments and it was indeed a chance to break one’s head over the logistics to get to all the fun. Here are some excerpts from my schedule at the show: June 3d - official presentation of a new jewelry brand, Love, by Gitanjali and exclusive presentation of a jewelry collection by Ivanka Trump; early morning of June 4th - a fascinating press conference on new jewelry trends with Paola de Luca, co-founder and creative director of TJF, as the main speaker; the next day - breakfast with Rapaport and press conference by Martin Rapaport, who was rather emotional while being convincing in explaining why everything goes to hell and what esteemed jewelers and retailers are to do about it. More about this you may read in the analysis on JCK Las Vegas to be posted in Analytics on our web-site.
In late June, companies start to summarize and publish official results of their participation in JCK Las Vegas 2011. Recently, Bergio International (USA) announced that they were satisfied with the outcome of the exhibition. Berge Abajian, CEO of Bergio International, Inc., states, "I'm very excited about this year's turnout at the JCK show. The launching of our new collection for 2011 was well received by our retailers. Our sales from the show, gives us a positive indicator of a strong growth in 2011."
According to a survey conducted by Rough & Polished correspondent at JCK Las Vegas, it is possible to say that overall mood of its participants was positive and upbeat. Many exhibitors noted an increase in attendance and growing interest of retailers to their new collections, including LJ International, Rahaminov Diamonds, SimplexDiam, and Aston Luxury Group (Gitanjali, USA).
Olga Patseva, Editor in Chief of the Rough&Polished American Bureau
