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Chicago Auto Show Upgrades Admittance Technology

2 November 2000

Chicago Auto Show Upgrades Admittance Technology

    CHICAGO, Nov. 2 The Chicago Auto Show today announced an
investment in state-of-the-art technology to help the show admit patrons, sell
tickets and measure attendance.
    "This is an important step for our show," said Dan Feeny, chairman of the
2000 Chicago Auto Show.  "This equipment will enable us to begin selling
tickets over the Internet, allowing our patrons to avoid box office lines.
Then, as we look into the future, the opportunities just multiply."
    "Our motivation is two-fold.  We want to provide auto manufacturers solid
information about consumers who attend the show," said Feeny, "and we want to
provide those attendees with a more pleasing experience."
    "The Chicago Auto Show is known throughout the industry as the pre-eminent
consumer show -- the place manufacturers come to test their product to see if
it will play in the market.  Our auto show, really any auto show, needs to
provide the auto industry with valid data," he remarked.
    "Plus, we rely on the show to encourage the American love affair with the
car and prime our market as we move into the spring selling season.  We must
continue to make this a show patrons are eager to attend again and again,"
said Feeny.
    The first initiative will be a pilot project to sell tickets over the
Internet from the Chicago Automobile Trade Association's (CATA) new Web site,
DriveChicago.com .  Consumers will be able to purchase tickets to the auto
show with a credit card in the comfort of their own home.
    Each credit card purchase will produce a unique bar code that patrons can
print out at home.  Once at the show, they will pass their bar code through a
scanner at a special "DriveChicago.com Entrance" and gain admittance.
    The new equipment also will help the show obtain a more accurate measure
of attendance.  "In the past, we've estimated total attendance based on ticket
sales," said Jerry Cizek, the show's general manager.  "This new technology
will give us an accurate count of people as they come through the door."
    Produced by Alvarado Manufacturing, Chino, Calif., the new equipment
employs optical counting lanes, which use multiple infrared sensors to
distinguish between objects that should be counted and those that should not.
Sensors detect "tailgating" and quickly or slowly moving patrons.  The lanes
are barrier-free, an improvement over the dated turnstiles they will replace.
Alvarado Manufacturing's other clients include Universal Studios; Six Flags
Theme Parks; and Jacobs Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians.
    "As we move toward more advanced ticketing systems," said Feeny, "we'll be
able to help the auto makers track their consumer marketing initiatives and
sharpen the demographic information we collect."