Get used to Las Vegas. ConExpo-Con/Agg will likely be there for the foreseeable future, because no other venue is large enough
to handle it. At last report, the 2008 event was breaking records for exhibitor space and attendance. As of press time, show
management from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) reported that registration was tracking 48 percent above
attendance figures from the previous show — 2005. Part of that increase might be attributed to a push for earlier registration.
But, more than likely, ConExpo-Con/Agg 2008 will see a strong increase in attendees over and above the throng of 125,000 that
attended last time. There are many people to accommodate.
The number of exhibitors and amount of exhibitor space is also increasing. Show management said an estimated 17 billion lbs.
of equipment will be on the show floor. The Las Vegas Convention Center, with its multiple indoor halls and outdoor lots,
is able to handle it.
The bottom line is that ConExpo-Con/Agg has grown so large, perhaps Las Vegas is the only place in North America with the
capacity to accommodate that many people and that much equipment — and still have entertainment nearby.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is an annual Las Vegas event, and the largest consumer-electronics trade show in America
— 140,000 attendees. After this year's show, CES officials said the price of doing business in Las Vegas has gone up every
year, and that they are considering moving the show to another city.
Jason Oxman, spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association, said his group has heard from attendees and exhibitors that
the rates of hotels during the International CES are increasing out of proportion from what they should be.
The situation sounds similar to ConExpo-Con/Agg, and we've heard many of the same complaints from exhibitors and attendees,
but there may not be an option for AEM to move the show.
And, for many of us in the aggregates business, we get to do it all over again — back in Las Vegas — at MINExpo this September.
Oh, and then there's World of Aggregates ...
Darren Constantino
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
dconstantino@questex.com
