ConExpo issues closing statement

Show organisers have said ConExpo 2020 was a success, despite the impact of the Coronavirus outbreak that shortened the show by a day and impacted visitor numbers.

The organizers have not issued actual attendee numbers, but said registrations were up 1.5% from 2017 at more than 130,000. It added that a record-breaking 75,622 tickets for education sessions were purchased, a 46% increase on 2017.

The event saw a flow of exhibitor cancellations in the weeks before the show - related to health concerns - but that did not turn into a deluge, and outside areas and halls saw good traffic for much of the week.

The Chairperson for the show, Mary Erholtz, who is Vice President of Marketing at Superior Industries, said; ”Giant machines, incredible exhibits, fantastic education and huge expectations. Organizers of CONEXPO-CON/AGG have a legacy of building and innovating on previous shows, and the 2020 gathering extends that record of success.”

Ingo Schiller, president and CEO of Tadano America Corporation, said the company was pleased with the success of the overall show and attendance at its booth; ”The management team at CONEXPO-CON/AGG has been monitoring the situation and they made a very difficult decision to close the show a day early. We appreciate their leadership and we look forward to CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023.”

The IFPE show was most impacted by exhibitor pull-outs, but show Chairperson David Price, Global Marketing Manager of HydraForce Inc., said the crowd was much better than expected under the circumstances and that the right buyers were on the show floor; ”We were very pleased with the strong showing from the 300-plus exhibitors at IFPE 2020, and we are looking forward to the 2023 show.”

Mike Ballweber, President, Doosan Bobcat echoed those sentiments, “Tuesday for us was record breaking in terms of leads and attendance at our booth, which is how we measure how successful the show is for us.

“We had more people to our booth on the first day than all of the 2017 show. This is a one-every-three-years show, and our dealers and customers were really excited to be here.”