Montréal event planner pioneers new concept in consumer exhibitions Sets his sights on baby boomers

MONTRÉAL, Québec – This is the dawning of the age of – no, not Aquarius. That era is gone. But its children have remained. They’re called baby boomers and they’re now boldly staking their claim. In light of this, pioneering event planner Sheldon Kagan has decided to give them what they want: an annual consumer exhibition they can call their own.

Salon des Baby Boomers Plus, inaugurated in May 2007, is being billed as the most innovative way to accommodate the extensive consumer needs of the largest generation in Canadian history.

“Baby boomers account for a full one-third of the country’s population, and they’re unlike any previous generation, including their parents’,” says Kagan. “They travel more, they eat out more, and they work out. They’re more inclined to indulge their desires, and they have the disposable income to do this.”

A boomer himself, Kagan saw that a new approach was needed to satisfy the appetites of this colossal consumer group.

“I realized that people of my age group needed an exhibition specifically tailored to them, a place to find travel ideas, fitness activities, financial planning services and everything else to accommodate their unique status as the first generation that can have it all,” he says.

And so Salon des Baby Boomers Plus was born. But it’s not the first innovative exhibition concept that Kagan has come up with. The founder of Sheldon Kagan International, a Dorval-based entertainment services provider, Kagan has made a career of pinpointing consumer trends and converting them to grand exhibitions: In 1980, he developed Le Salon de la Mariée, a tradeshow offering engaged couples everything for their weddings, honeymoons and future homes. The initial show drew just 30 exhibitors and 100 brides. Today, it’s the biggest and longest running bridal show in Québec, attracting over 15,000 visitors and 225 exhibitors in its 27th season.

Kagan’s 40-year career also includes several landmark accomplishments as a concert producer. In 1971, he became the youngest impresario ever to produce a show at Place des Arts when at the age of 19 he booked musical luminaries Dizzy Gillespie and Gene Krupa. He later went on to stage 40 more concerts including George Benson, Buddy Rich, Ravi Shankar, Loggins & Messina, Kreskin, Billy Preston, Artie Shaw and many more.

Kagan is confident that Salon des Baby Boomers Plus will become just as much a Montréal staple as Le Salon de la Mariée. “It’s an idea whose time has come,” he says.

Contact:
Sheldon Kagan, President
Sheldon Kagan International
(514) 631-2160
info@salondesbabyboomersplus.com
www.sheldonkagan.com