142 Business View Magazine - October 2016
The Baltimore Convention Center
A tourist’s dream and a meeting planner’s delight
According to Peggy Daidakis, Executive Director of
the Baltimore Convention Center, in 1979, when the
facility was first built, the convention center industry
was still fairly new. “Arenas often doubled as conven-
tion facilities and venues for trade shows and politi-
cal events, and hotels did more of the gatherings of
social, fraternal, and educational associations,” she
says. “But the trade show business was really starting
to find its niche in the commerce of face-to-face busi-
ness – the traveling salesman was now going to trade
shows to sell their services and wares.”
Thus, cities that wanted to capitalize on the economic
impact produced by this growing cohort of out-of-town
folks staying in their hotels, eating in their restaurants,
attending their events, and buying their souvenirs, re-
alized that they needed venues that were more accom-
modating to hold trade shows for meetings and other
