Las Vegas, NV – CONEXPO-CON/AGG featured a record exhibit area of 2.35 million net square feet (nsf) and its second largest attendance in show history: 129,364 when held March 4-8 in Las Vegas. The show will go down in the record books as the largest U.S. trade show of the year.
Exhibit space broke the previous record of 2,281,843 nsf set in 2008. The 2011 show slipped to 2,200,705 nsf, which was still large enough to put CONEXPO-CON/AGG atop the Trade Show Executive Gold 100 rankings of largest U.S. exhibitions for that year.
The steady improvement of the worldwide construction industry was credited with the upswing, but the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) also increased its educational program to help drive attendance.
“The enthusiasm and traffic on the show floor was just incredible,” said show director Megan Tanel. “Exhibitors cited the high quality of attendees; they told us these were serious buyers and reported robust sales to existing as well as new customers that exceeded their expectations.”
A breakdown of the crowd at CONEXPO-CON/AGG found 75% of attendees came from the managerial ranks of the construction industry, with 36% of those executives being owners or holding C-level titles.
The co-located IFPE 2014 added another 161,000 nsf to the total exhibit area and also experienced brisk business in the aisles. “These show numbers are a testament to the value attendees, exhibitors, and other stakeholders derive from their participation,” said Melissa Magestro, IFPE show director.
The steady improvement of the worldwide construction industry was credited with the upswing, but the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) also increased its educational program to help drive attendance. A record 41,000 tickets to 120 different sessions were sold, and “college level” seminars in the fluid power field were developed for IFPE 2014 by the trade publication Hydraulics & Pneumatics.
Reach Megan Tanel at (414) 298-4117 or mtanel@aem.org; Melissa Magestro at (414) 298-4145 or mmagestro@aem.org
