An overwhelming majority of ConExpo exhibitors confirmed their participation at ConExpo which will take place 10-14th March in Las Vegas.
Despite some major withdrawals as a result of the coronavirus, and with estimated drop in participation of between 10-25%, the show is definitely going ahead.
“With all the news about Covid-19 and the speculation regarding ConExpo, I want to provide an update on planning, including commitments and cancellations,” said AEM president Dennis Slater in an online statement. “Here is where we stand.”
- Travel restrictions related to international travel and corporate policies have impacted some companies that planned to exhibit at the show.
- The ConExpo cancellations that we’ve received represent 44,950 square feet out of 2.7 million net sq. ft. of exhibit space, which represents about 1.7 percent of the total space. We’ve re-sold 15,000 square feet of this cancelled space.
- Volvo CE continues to have their display at the show with hired staff.
- No major exhibitors have cancelled from ConExpo and many companies are reconfirming their commitment to participate. We appreciate their leadership and commitment to our industry, equipment end-users and our members.
- We may see more cancellations, but the majority of cancellations have been limited to booths 400 sq. ft. and under.
- We have already resold 15,500 sq. ft. of this cancelled exhibit space.
- For attendance, we have added 18,000 new registrants since Feb. 21 when the travel restrictions and coronavirus started to have an impact. That total is far outpacing the last show and also our cancellations to date.
- Customer cancellations are focused on international registrants and some big U.S. corporate customers placing travel restrictions.
- Total registrations as of yesterday is over 120,000 and climbing. Even if the cancellations total 10,000, which they don’t to date, we have a huge audience of customers coming to the show.
- For IFPE, the event has been harder hit by cancellations due to the large international exhibitor presence and corporate travel policies.
- The IFPE cancellations that we’ve received represent 34,680 square feet, which represents about 20 percent of the show floor. We’ve re-sold 3,300 square feet of this cancelled space.
“We know customers are committed to attending the show in numbers and they are expecting to see and purchase equipment from the manufacturers of the best equipment in the world.”
A high profile cancellation came at the last minute from Danna Incorporated, which issued a statement on 6 March 2020, which read: “The safety of our employees, customers, suppliers, and the public is our highest priority, which is why after careful consideration, and out of an abundance of caution, we made the difficult decision to withdraw our participation from the ConExpo exhibition in Las Vegas. The situation surrounding the novel COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak continues to evolve and we believe it is important to, where possible, reduce the risk of exposure for our team. We have made this decision as a precautionary measure but remain committed to the ConExpo-Con/Agg tradeshow and look forward to the next edition in 2023.”
For more information about the precautions the organisers are taking visit https://www.conexpoconagg.com/visit/covid-19-update/
