The Louisiana Technology Council is responding to allegations that it has not supported the new trade show of one its member agencies, Transformyx. Mark Lewis, president of LTC, rebuffed charges that group has inappropriately declined to support TechX 2011. Lewis counters that the agency “did everything in its power to avoid this problem.” Transformyx is hosting TechX 2011 at the Baton Rouge River Center on Oct. 5-7. Transformyx CEO Claude Bethea says that LTC declined a request to list TechX in its calendar and passed on the opportunity for free sponsorship and naming rights to the show.
Lewis says the decision was strictly logistical, based on the fact that the TechX show had been scheduled so that it coincides with Business Report’s BizTech Expo. The expo will be held online from Oct. 4-8, though it includes a technology and innovation breakfast sponsored by the LTC and the Top 100 Private Companies luncheon, both of which take place Oct. 5 at Crowne Plaza. “We were unable to persuade Transformyx to schedule their event on a date that would allow the LTC to lend its support,” Lewis says.
Bethea claims that the scheduling conflict was unavoidable, because Oct. 5, 6 and 7 were the only available dates at the River Center for the next three years. Still, he says, “We offered to delay the opening of TechX in order to accommodate BizTech, but again the offer was declined. It would have been a great opportunity to promote these two events together.” Lewis says LTC cannot devote resources to simultaneous events, and “attempting to do so would be inconsistent with our longstanding commitment to the BizTech show.” —Ian McGibboney
