Greeby Cos. Michael Greeby

The International Council of Shopping Centers’ Spring Convention is overwhelming. Every year, tens of thousands of retail real estate professionals converge on the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the scene can seem like complete chaos. This year’s, on May 20 to 23, is the 50th that the organization has held, and promises to be the largest. At last count, registration for the event was 12% above last year’s, and more than 50,000 people are projected to attend. Additionally, the size of the convention floor will nearly double this year, to almost two-million sf. Luckily, ICSC has a few opening sessions on May 20 to orient attendees. Heading one of these is Michael Greeby, executive vice president of Lake Bluff, IL-based retail-services firm Greeby Cos. Greeby recently spoke with GSR about ways to prepare for the convention and what to expect.

GSR: With all of the changes taking place at the convention this year, how will attendees’ experiences be different?

Greeby: I think that the single greatest impact on the entire convention will be the expansion. I think, even for veterans, it’s going to change the way they have to approach the entire convention. Everybody had certain predisposed patterns. Whether you’ve been there 30 years or this is your first time, I think we’re all going to be going through an adjusted learning curve, not only in way finding but in time management. It’s such a massive event, you’ll really have to pace yourself in order to be efficient and effective throughout the whole day. There are those who have booths and those who don’t. Everybody who has a booth wants to get out of the booth, and everybody who doesn’t have a booth wants to get into a booth. So this year is going to redefine that a lot. Also, with the quantity of projected attendees, I think it’s going to be even bigger, more dense and more challenging to be able to find your way around. That also will add greater exposure to smaller companies that may not have presented in the past, and it creates an opportunity to gain perspective of the industry.