Agenda and Liberty Trade Shows Make a Big Move

Call Liberty Fairs and Agenda nomad trade shows.

After more than five years of exhibiting in the Sands Expo and Convention Center on the Las Vegas Strip, the sibling shows decamped to a pair of 156,000-square-foot tents by the World Market Center compound by downtown Las Vegas.

Liberty and Agenda made the move because the Informa Exhibitions shows started earlier in the month, Feb. 5., rather than its typical show run dates around Valentine’s Day. Liberty and Agenda always run on the same week as the Informa Exhibitions shows. The Sands Hall that houses Agenda was not available during the week of the 5th, Sharifa Murdock, a Liberty partner, said.

Agenda, owned by Reed Exhibitions, and Liberty, an independent show, chose to keep their Vegas partnership going. So, they stayed together and moved down the 15 freeway, and away from the well known environment of the Las Vegas Strip.

About 80 Liberty and Agenda brands moved to Informa Exhibitions' Project show to avoid making the move. However, Murdock said that Liberty had the same number of brands, more than 250, that exhibited in the February 2018 show. One leading denim brand, AG Jeans, went against trends. It left Project and made a debut at Liberty.

Murdock estimated that there was a 5 percent drop in buyer attendance. But the move gave Liberty and Agenda a chance to experiment with their formats.

Agenda and Liberty will be searching for a new venue to produce their August 2019 shows. Murdock said that the World Market Center tents are scheduled to be torn down. While a new venue has yet to be determined, Murdock guaranteed that the shows will go on.