2003 Shows on Record Pace

Trade shows allied to the stone trade continue to grow, with the latest evidence coming from the recent Surfaces 2003 event in Las Vegas.
The Jan. 29-31 show, sponsored by the World Floor Covering Association, showed a final attendance of 40,389 and set a new record for the event. Close to 3,000 people attended Surfaces 2003 education seminars.
The show also set new records for itself in housing 938 exhibiting companies on more than 535,000 net ft² of floor space.
Surfaces 2004 will return to Las Vegas on Jan. 27-30, 2004, at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
The StonExpo Federation, meanwhile, continues to report positive news on StonExpo 2003, set for Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center on Dec. 4-6. Advance bookings for show space — still eight months away — already exceed the final size of the 2002 show in Baltimore, and 100,000 ft² of additional exhibition space is committed for the Atlanta venue.
“Increasing numbers of companies are joining StonExpo because they know they will meet more qualified buyers who are driving the growth in stone, fabricating and processing machinery — and ancillary products that are all part of the industry,” says Pennie Sabel, StonExpo Federation executive director.

©2003 Western Business Media Inc.