- 02 November 2006 -
Powder Coating '06: A Case Study in Perception vs. Reality
By Reginald Tucker, Editor

My momma once told me: "Son, there are two sides to every story, and somewhere in the middle lies the truth."

Such was the case with Powder Coating '06, where the range of observer comments—as well as some exhibitor ambivalence—made it hard to arrive at a consensus. Case in point: Scott Rempala, president of Mighty Hook, felt attendance has "diminished considerably over the last few years….and that the floor traffic volume was strikingly small." But Phil Bechtold, sales manager of powder coatings for Rohm & Haas, said his company was "quite pleased with the overall show…including the number of attendees..."

I broached this subject with Anne Goyer, Powder Coating's conference and show manager, who shared some preliminary numbers with me: 3,564 (overall registration count); 443 (conference registration)— a 10-plus-percent increase over the 2004 show, held in Charlotte. Exit surveys also showed: 84% rated the overall exhibition as "very good to excellent," with 79% rating the quality of the attendees as “very good to excellent.” Furthermore, 29% felt the purchasing authority of attendees was "somewhat to much better" than past shows, with 46% feeling the purchasing authority was "about the same."

Relative to the trade-show industry in general, some would argue that the metal finishing industry is holding its own—despite blips in traffic patterns across the board. Consider these statistics from Exhibit Surveys, a full-service research firm that provides market intelligence and measurement for the overall exposition and events marketing industry:

• Traffic density—the number of attendees occupying 100 square feet of exhibit space—was 2.3 in 2005, compared to 3 in 1990. (At the Powder Coating show, which encompassed 125,000 square feet, there were three vendor reps for every five attendees.)
• The percentage of visitors planning to buy one or more products or services seen at a show within the following 12 months was 53% last year, compared to 62% in 1990. (Powder Coatings bested that average with 68%.)
• The measurement of net buying influences remains steady at 84%, meaning about four out of every five people at trade shows have the final say, specify, or recommend the purchase of products or services being exhibited.