ConExpo Sets Records for Attendance, Exhibit Space

ConExpo 2008 covered more ground and had higher attendance than the show in 2005 (pictured).

March 17, 2008 • CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2008 and the co-located IFPE 2008 expositions have set records for attendance, exhibit space and number of exhibiting companies. ConExpo is officially the largest trade show in North America for 2008.

More than 144,600 industry professionals from around the world attended the show during its five-day run last week at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. The show covered more than 2.28 million net square feet of exhibits by 2,182 exhibitors. The show was 21-percent bigger than the last show, held in 2005.

IFPE 2008 was also the largest in its history with more than 129,000 net square feet of exhibit space used by 469 exhibitors • a 16-percent increase in space compared to 2005.

A record number of international industry professionals visited the shows • more than 28,000 • which is more than 19 percent of total attendance and represents more than 30-percent growth compared to the last edition of the shows. International attendance increased by more than 50 percent from the Latin America and Caribbean marketplace, and doubled from China, India and Turkey. There were also significant increases from Canada, Australia, Russia and the Middle East.

International visitors to the shows hailed from more than 130 non-U.S. countries. There were more than 60 official international customer delegations organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce as well as in-country trade associations and related groups.

The show floor included a record number of 14 international exhibit pavilions highlighting products and services developed outside the United States, including Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. IFPE 2008 had exhibitors from China, Italy, Spain and Taiwan.

The next edition of the triennial shows will be March 22-26, 2011.