World Trade Center Chicago Report on the Annual WTCA Member Seminar 2016

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MAIN ANNOUNCEMENTS

Martin Schiffman, Managing Member of World Trade Center Chicago, attended the World Trade Centers Association Annual Member Seminar. As in prior years, the meeting took place at the Downtown Marriott Financial Center next to World Trade Center New York. Sixty-Five World Trade Centers were present and 127 individuals related to World Trade Centers attended. An interesting fact noted in the conference was that 28% of the total 324 World Trade Centers are controlled by “agencies”. In its widest definition, these include economic development agencies, ports authorities, chambers of commerce, international trade associations, etc. International property developers control the remaining 72%. Most of the World Trade Centers contain local and governmental elements. These range from respective community’s forms of ownership along with governance frameworks.

Usually, unlike the annual meeting (“General Assembly”) every spring, the Member Seminar’s central theme was to instruct all WTC leaders and employees on how to best capitalize on the organization to further their goals. This year, however, there was a dominant attendee. The Las Vegas Convention Center Authority (LVCCA) took center stage, and for good reason. The LVCCA and the Consumer Technology Association have a contractual partnership. Amongst other things, this partnership produces shows aggregating around 176,000 B-to-B attendees. The reason for the LVCCA’s attendance at the Member Seminar was to formally announce that the partnership was admitted in 2015 to the World Trade Centers Association. The partnership will now be known as WTC Las Vegas. Their purpose for joining the other 324 WTCs worldwide was to capture convention, exhibition and conference business, especially from emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and India. These regions are producing more World Trade Centers than the rest of the membership combined. Asia/Pacific (including India) and Central/South America now have 136 World Trade Centers, around 41% of the total WTCs. It is a recognized fact that over the next ten years, 85% of world economic growth will come from non-U.S. sources. Currently, China and India have 40 and 13 legitimate World Trade Centers, respectively.

The plan for LVCCA to become a World Trade Center has many facets. It includes an expansion of the convention center to the now-demolished Riviera site across “The Strip”. The existing configuration of approximately 3.2 million square feet will grow to be approximately 5 million square feet. In their Tuesday, October 18 presentation, the LVCCA announced two momentous events in relation to this plan;

1. Serendipitously, during the week of the meeting, the Governor signed legislation to increase the hotel tax by $1.4 billion to fund the expansion, and

2. They announced that they will host the Annual Meeting/General Assembly during the first week of April 2017.

This is the fastest case of a new WTC licensee hosting the World Trade Centers Association General Assembly in the history of the Association. Needless to say, the attendees at the Member Seminar were pleased to hear the news. A new World Trade Center of the quality of the LVCCA brings incremental value to the organization as a whole.

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World Trade Center Chicago’s (WTCC) research of WTCs with significant convention, exhibition and conferencing spaces, identified WTC Istanbul as a WTC to watch for convention center expansion. As noted by the following, WTCC was right to have isolated it for future review. Istanbul maintains its historical role at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, which is incorporated heavily into their marketing. Currently, WTC Istanbul is the largest World Trade Center project in the Association with 26 million square feet in a six-building configuration.1 WTC Istanbul pleasantly surprised the attendees with a grand presentation announcing their convention center expansion, called the Istanbul Expo Center. WTC Istanbul, acting as its own developer, has Phase One under construction. It consists of approximately 4 million square feet of space, with the pivotal improvement being the Expo Center. They have commitments for approximately 100 exhibitions per year. Three office towers will be included in the development, and two high-rise hotels will round-out Phase One. The ultimate plan is for eight office buildings in total consisting of four phases of mixed commercial use. The total development, including all phases, will consist of over 7 million square feet.

Although WTC Bangalore (India) did not present at the seminar, it was mentioned that a project similar in scope to Istanbul’s is now underway.

Based on the World Trade Centers under development that WTCC is aware of, the projects are getting bigger, and have a greater emphasis on convention and expo centers.

WTC Denver also made a surprise announcement concerning their new partnership with Denver-based real estate developer Formativ. World Trade Center Denver is approximately 30 years old and, until recently, was in a branded building in downtown Denver. The building is owned by the international real estate development and investment firm, Brookfield Properties. Now WTC Denver will have a home of its own. World Trade Center Denver’s new global campus is being developed at the intersection of 38th & Blake Street. It is also on the new commuter rail line connecting downtown’s Union Station to Denver International Airport. The project will break ground in late 2017 and Phase One of three will be completed in late 2019. WTC Denver’s new home will include a global business and trade ecosystem, housing the best-in-breed national and international companies, representing industries and innovative businesses from around the globe. WTC Denver will include a dynamic office space, interactive co-working environments, collaboration with the area’s universities, a flagship business hotel, a state-of-the-art business conference center, and globally-themed restaurants & amenities.

1 WTC Harbin is currently under construction in Harbin, China, with a 30 million square foot “Town Center” type development including convention, exhibition and conferencing centers.

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BRAND ENFORCEMENT

The WTCA legal staff made a presentation on trademark enforcement. Historically, the WTCA has spent between 20% and 25% of its annual budget on brand enforcement. It has retainers and working agreements with approximately 100 law firms around the world for this purpose. There are currently 52 actions in 19 countries taking place. The biggest violators in recent history have been China, India and, most surprisingly, the United States. However, many of the actions occur because the violator did not realize that World Trade Center and its collateral intellectual property were registered trademarks. One recent experience directly attests to this. A NYSE listed hotel company which developed a hotel in Lower Manhattan near the new One World Trade Center, innocently branded the hotel using the term World Trade Center. It has since removed the term.

UNIVERSITY INVOLVEMENT

Universities continue to play an active and growing role in the WTCA. Three universities own World Trade Centers; University of Arkansas, University of Montana, and University of Monterrey, Mexico. Arkansas and Montana were represented at the conference by their Executive Directors. WTCC spoke extensively to both.

WTC Montana Executive Director, Brigitta Miranda-Freer– WTCC spent a considerable amount of time with Brigitta. WTCC was interested in the university’s use of the WTC involvement and Brigitta was interested in issues concerning development. WTC Montana is at the incipient stage of building a project. Currently, the WTC is housed in their Gallagher Business School. WTC Montana has, both, an economic development and academic mission. It is a direct program of the University of Montana. It works to strengthen Montana businesses through international trade, while providing immediately relevant, hands-on opportunities for students to participate in the process. The license to operate as a World Trade Center for the State of Montana was approved by the Board of Regents in 1995. Since its inception, MWTC has undertaken a dual role as consultant and economic developer. It assists its member businesses to establish and strengthen international commercial capabilities while striving to develop untapped international trade opportunities for the State of Montana and its neighboring regions.

WTC Montana also has an academic mission. This mission includes a heavy emphasis on providing experiential learning for students, and accommodates the transition of its graduating business students to businesses that promote international economic development.

World Trade Center Arkansas Executive Director, Boon Tan – World Trade Center Arkansas at the University of Arkansas performs the more classic WTC function of providing international economic development for the Arkansas commercial community. World Trade Center Arkansas’ diverse services are directly in line with the University of Arkansas’ mission, to serve "Arkansas and the world". World Trade Center Arkansas provides benefits and services to its international companies, agricultural producers and small businesses who desire to engage in international trade.

Many World Trade Centers have significant programs with universities around the world. World Trade Center Orlando gave a presentation regarding their affiliation with the Thayer School of

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Engineering at Dartmouth College. The joint program offers a variety of quality, lean six sigma (process improvement) and leadership workshops. Each participant receives a Thayer School of Engineering Dartmouth College Certification when the requirements of the workshop are complete. OTHER INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS

World Trade Center Trieste (Italy), which is owned by the Port of Trieste, has devised a novel and innovative “commission sharing” agreement. WTC Trieste decided to take advantage of the Association’s network of geographically diverse WTCs, its approximate 1 million members2 and 15,000 employees to create the agreement. The agreement creates a dual agency between WTC Trieste and other WTCs. The relationship facilitates sharing compensation acquired from arranging distribution and the sale of goods and services to and from Italy. The agreement’s five-year length presumes the creation of long-term relationships. Trieste reports that ten agreements have been signed with various World Trade Centers, and eight are pending.

OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE WTCC has a long-time relationship to Charlotte Gallogly, the Executive Director of World Trade Center Miami. Charlotte is also one of the longest running members of the WTCA’s Board of Directors. Charlotte was accompanied by staff and a corporate member of WTC Miami who publishes trade publications and has launched Cuba Trade Magazine. They were promoting the programs that they put in place to usher in the new era of trading with Cuba. Furthermore, a WTC Havana has now been established. WTC Miami is offering a series of half-day seminars for those in the U.S. who would like to open trade relationships with Cuba. WTC Miami is working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Chamber’s Cuba Business Council, a business promotion group called Engage Cuba, and others. While Cuba’s economy needs further development, its historic core industries are hospitality and tourism, which they would like to expand. The climate in South Florida is perfect for the acceptance of Cuban business thanks to a large population of Cubans across the area.3

WTCC was approached at the seminar by a Mr. Greg Zoeller. Mr. Zoeller was there on behalf of the State of Indiana. WTCC and Mr. Zoeller spoke continuously throughout the conference. It became clear that Mr. Zoeller was there on behalf of the city of Indianapolis, which does not have a World Trade Center. WTCC offered to send him a few of the same materials that it shares with others regarding the economic power of the WTCA and its associated real estate projects. After the conference, Mr. Zoeller informed WTCC that his group's membership application for Indianapolis had been accepted by the WTCA. Consequently, there will soon be a World Trade Center Indianapolis. During these discussions WTCC discovered that Greg Zoeller is the Attorney General for the State of Indiana.

2 This number includes businesses who are members, tenants, or both. 3 After the arrival of the Castro regime in 1959, there was a significant migration of Cubans to South Florida. Today, many of the migrants and their children want to revisit their native land and re-engage with their heritage.

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After an exhaustive executive search, the WTCA brought aboard a new Executive Director, Scott Ferguson. The various WTCs present at the conference applauded their selection. WTCC met Scott in 2002 when WTC Halifax hosted the 2002 General Assembly. Scott has helped organize and run this very successful World Trade Center. Scott gained importance within the Association by being the first to encourage the WTCA to professionally promote their brand worldwide. Likewise, one of Scott’s first acts as Executive Director of the WTCA was to hire a professional Communications Director, Mr. Alex Brown. WTCC leaders will soon be meeting with Scott and Alex in New York to exchange ideas.

Martin Schiffman Managing Member