PORTLAND SHOW A SUCCESS
By Bill Tice
The mood at WoodTech 2010 in Portland, Ore. was upbeat and optimistic as over 1,200 registered attendees converged on the Oregon Convention Center for the early March event. Conference organizers were pleased with the turnout, saying they had hit their attendance targets despite the economic troubles the industry is currently facing.
“We felt that our forecasts were pretty well spot on,” says Brian Pagel, a vice president at Nielsen Expositions, the Alpharetta, Ga. company that organizes the show. “We were well aware that with the current state of the economy, and in particular the slowdown in the forest industry, that this year’s event could be a little quieter than past years.”
Pagel concedes they were “concerned” early on in the organizing process. “I was definitely concerned about the slow commitment from exhibitors and attendees, but the numbers did come up as we got closer to the show dates. However, this is a trend we are seeing for many shows right now, and not just in the forest industry. Quite frankly, we feel it is being driven by the economy and the fact that companies and employees of companies don’t want to commit until they are certain they have the budget needed to participate.”
As for the exhibitors, Pagel says they had 145 companies on board. That number is down about 25% from previous shows. “More than the number of exhibitors, we look at the footprint of the booths and that number was definitely down,” he acknowledges. “We had companies go from the island booth they have booked at past shows to smaller in-line booths this year. And again, we feel that is a reflection of the current economy. We had a number of exhibitors tell us they would be revisiting the booth size at the next show and many said they would likely go back to a bigger booth when things pick up.”
But despite the challenges the organizers faced, Pagel says he is confident the right people were at the show. “The people who can make decisions and those committed to the industry long term were there,” he says.
Mike Cloutier of Cut Technologies USA Inc. in Bellingham, Wash. and an exhibitor at the show agrees. “We were very impressed with the high caliber of attendees that were here and everyone seemed interested in innovation and new ideas to improve their sawmills as the market recovers,” says Cloutier, who is president of the Bellingham, Wash.-based manufacturer of saws and a distributor of equipment for the wood and metal industries.
Wes Henderson, director of business development for Hermary Opto Electronics Inc. near Vancouver, B.C., says they went to WoodTech to showcase their DPS-824 Colour Vision Scanner and to promote the benefits of moving grade decisions from the planer mill to the sawmill.
“We were very pleased with all of the interest and inquiries that our Color Vision Scanner received at the show,” notes Henderson. “The benefits of moving grade decisions upstream into the green mill by using colour scanners at the edger and/or trimmer was the number one topic at our booth. Everyone seemed to agree that identifying visual features such as knots, rot, and stain earlier in the breakdown process is the next major opportunity for increasing value recovery in the sawmill, and we certainly felt the show was the right venue to promote that message.”
Justin Williams, CEO of Williams and White Inc., a Burnaby, B.C. OEM specializing in saw and knife technology, maintenance machinery, saw guides and filing room technologies, says his company has participated in the show for several decades and is a long term exhibitor.
“It was a small show in comparison to past years, but I felt there was an upswing in the level of optimism compared to the past couple of WoodTech shows,” says Williams. “The industry people that attended were serious, they were interested in our products, and they were looking to purchase equipment that would allow them to upgrade their facilities. That was extremely encouraging for us.”
In addition to the trade show, the WoodTech organizers delivered a conference schedule that included multiple presentations on the first two mornings of the event. Brad Turner, vice president of Vancouver, B.C.-based Halco Software Systems Ltd., which specializes in simulation and optimization software, was one of the presenters. “Overall, the mood at the show was optimistic and the attendance figures and the participation at our seminar exceeded our expectations,” Turner says. “At our seminar, we had over 30 people and we had some good questions at the end, along with a lot of follow-up interest at our booth.”
The WoodTech show is held every two years, with the next one scheduled for March 13 to 15, 2012 at the Oregon Convention Centre. For more information go to www.woodwideweb.com.
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