Retirees trade in on down time

Conventions offer endless stream of work

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Sure, we all look forward to the day we retire. But some people find it hard to suddenly be inactive, no where to go, nothing to do.

"You can only sit around and watch TV for just so long," said Art Inzinga, 71, who retired about eight years ago and lives in Highland Hills in Summerlin.

He and his wife, Marge, who also retired early, exchanged twiddling their thumbs for part-time work as unofficial ambassadors for Las Vegas.

For the past eight years, they've worked various conventions in a support capacity and are referred to as team members.

Sometimes team members act as greeters or booth attendants. Sometimes they pass out badge holders or register convention attendees. Marge is often tapped to work in the business office as she possesses superior typing skills.

It's work that's available year round and team members pick and choose assignments according to their own schedules. No one is obligated to work a set number of hours or a certain number of shows.

Team members are paid per show, usually around $8 to $9 an hour. It all depends on the convention and what position they're assigned to cover.

Valerie Smith, 68, of Desert Shores, uses convention work to supplement her Social Security check. The income and the flexible hours allow her to fly off and see family whenever she wants without raiding her nest egg. She said she likes meeting a variety of people, and that every show is different.

"I didn't want a job where I'd be sitting behind a desk with a computer all day, so this was perfect," she said. "And this type of work, it isn't something you take home with you. When you're done, you're done."

Team members have met celebrities like the Joe Millionaire actor, Vanna White, Regis Philbin, astronauts and various "Baywatch" babes. Local political celebrities show up, as well. There's been Jon Ralston, Dina Titus and former state governor Bob Miller.

When the Nevada Development Authority brought Bill Clinton in as guest speaker for its annual meeting this past winter, the Inzingas worked the event. They were even invited to sit in, eat and hear the former president speak.

Art, who is often assigned to crowd control and transporting VIPs via golf carts, said he would have liked to escort Clinton through the building.

"But he had plenty of Secret Servicemen to do the job," he said.

Sometimes the attention isn't on a person, but a thing. Smith told of working the SEMA automotive show where cars were the spotlight.

"They were spectacular, those cars," she said. "Any guy would have given his eye teeth to get into that show."

Some team members like working the information booth, where questions run the gamut of where the rest rooms are to where they can go to send a fax. Other questions are specific to the show.

"At (one I worked) everybody wanted to know where they get the beer," Art said. "That was when the World of Concrete show was here."

Team members get to know the show coordinators and that rapport often translates to companies asking for them by name for the next convention. One group flew the Inzingas to San Francisco and put them up in a hotel just to work their event.

Closer to home, not all team member assignments are at the convention center on Paradise Road. Staffing companies like Convention Connections, Priority Staffing USA, Eastridge Group and Manpower send out clients to work conventions and similar events at the Sands Expo, Cashman Center, Mandalay Bay convention center and major hotels like The Venetian, Las Vegas Hilton, Caesars Palace, Wynn and Bally's.

Since January 2000, Lucien and Velia Lee, a Summerlin couple, have picked up part-time work from a couple of different staffing companies. They generally work two shows a month. Some shows might be two-day affairs, others stretch out nearly a week. Lucien said he likes working the badge booth best, as he gets to meet people from all over.

"What's really nice about the job is that it allows you to stay informed on the latest, state-of-the-art products and see things before they come out on the market," he said.

As to the downfalls of the job, most team workers cite the hours spent walking or standing. The Las Vegas Convention Center spans 3.3-million square feet of space and team members cover a lot of it each day. They quickly learn to wear proper footwear.

"They look like old-lady shoes," said Smith of her plain, lace-up shoes. "But they're comfortable."

This isn't work for someone who likes to sleep in. Some shows require team members show up at 6 a.m. Smith told of being called about a job that had an even earlier start time.

"They wanted me to be there until 9 or 10 at night, then be back at 3 a.m.," she said. "I turned them down. But that's the beauty of this kind of work. You can pick and choose."

She said there are pros and cons to both super-large conventions and the little ones. The large shows take more work but time passes quickly. The smaller ones have lulls so you can socialize, she added.

Whether a buzz of activity or a smooth-paced show, there are certain realities team members learn on day one. They bring a lunch for their 30-minute breaks and many keep a magnifying glass in their pocket as schematics of the show layout can be miniscule at best.

The first day of a show always will be the warmest in summer (or coldest in winter) as loading dock doors are left wide open to facilitate setting up the booths. Team members can plan on the second day of the show being just the opposite. That's because the building will have the air conditioning (or, in winter, the heat) cranked up high to compensate for the first day. They also can plan on being quizzed about the town and all it offers.

Some visitors want to know what shows to see. Others are looking for off-the-map eateries only locals know exist. And then there are the men who only approach male team members for information.

"I get asked where the adult entertainment places are located," Art said.

There are a handful of staffing companies in Las Vegas that contract for convention support workers. Manpower began supplying them about 10 years ago. It has 500 people on its roster of team members. It seems alike a large enough number, but Chuck Barrett, manager of Manpower's hospitality and convention services division, recalled how things got tight at one point.

"We had a large show in town and were asked to provide them with 300 members," he said. "But we also had two other conventions running simultaneously that needed workers. We ended up supplying 1,000 people on the same day. We pulled from all our resources, which says a lot about our ability to (handle high demand)."

As there are roughly 6,000 conventions in town each year, team members are constantly in demand. The larger ones, like the 150,000-strong Consumer Electronics Show, come in the winter. The smaller shows overlap throughout the year, with some coming here once a month. The valley has enough permanent residents that the snowbird population of retirees does not affect the ability to fill team member jobs.

Convention work is something that requires no special training.

"We have a saying," said Art. "The body shows up on time, but the mind shows up a couple hours later."