ome may call it the City of Sin, but to the organizers of the 2004 International Pool & Spa Expo, Las Vegas was a slice of heaven.
“In terms of attendance and booth space, this was the biggest [Pool & Spa Expo] in history, period, no matter who owned it,” said Rick McConnell, the Expo’s senior show director.
Held Dec. 1-3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Expo saw attendance increase 28 percent over 2003, for a total of 15,678. There were 675 exhibiting companies in 2,570 booths — 18 percent more than last year. In addition, 210 companies made their first appearance at the Expo.
“The feedback [about the show] from the exhibitors has been unbelievable,” McConnell said. “We’ve never had a winner like this before.”
McConnell added that while the Las Vegas location was a strong draw, he believed it was not the only reason for the show’s record-breaking success. He noted that pool and spa manufacturers have gotten behind the Expo in unprecedented fashion. In addition, the ongoing growth of backyard products continues to be a major factor. The 2004 event featured 365 booths marketing backyard living, up 21 percent from the year before.
Exhibitors said there seemed to be a larger number of international attendees this year, which they welcomed with open arms.
“There were a lot of international customers — more than I’ve ever seen — from Africa, Israel, Argentina,” said Lyndon Throness, senior manager of marketing at Beachcomber Hot Tubs based in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. “It feels good to be breaking down barriers and opening new markets. And that’s what this show gives us a chance to do.”
Other exhibitors liked the Expo because it provided an opportunity to bring various segments of the industry together.
“This is probably one of our best years ever,” Terry L. Jirovsky, president of Pebble Technology Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz., said of the event. “It’s actually been a great show for bringing the manufacturers, builders, plasterers and distributors together. It was more about the networking.”
The heart of the Expo, however, was the educational track, which featured 73 seminars, live workshops and 80 speakers. For many attendees, it was all about the classes.
“The classes were beyond our expectations,” said Mike Madden, salesperson and purchaser for The Pool Specialist in St. Louis. “Regional classes are usually just sales pitches, but this [conference] is more informational. We’ll be attending every year from now on.”
As for the live workshops, which were sponsored by the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals’ Service and Building Councils, McConnell said all available slots were sold out. He noted that the shotcrete demonstration was particularly well-attended.
However, it was the debut of the Advanced Pool Builders Program that was the shining star of the instructional programs. The two-day program was devised to give an in-depth look at the many facets of building pools, from sales and business to engineering.
“I think [the APBP classes] added a lot of value to what we do,” said Ray Phillips of Southern Pools & Spas in Huntersville, N.C. “We’re glad to see more specialty design classes. We used to learn by the school of hard knocks, but that was expensive. It’s so much easier to come to a class like this.”
This year also saw the return of APSP’s Retailer of Excellence Concept Store, which had more than 1,000 attendees pass through.
In fact, McConnell cited APSP’s contribution to the Expo’s planning as a key to its success. Expo owner Hanley Wood’s partnership with APSP “is just getting stronger,” he said. “They had a lot of input into the conference programs.” (Hanley Wood, LLC, Inc. of Washington, D.C., also is the parent company of this magazine.)
Next year’s event will feature a companion show: the Backyard Living Expo, which will focus on casual furniture,
decking, barbecues and lighting. It should introduce about 250 more booths to the event, McConnell said.
The 2005 Expo will be held Nov. 1-3 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.
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