PACK EXPO International 2008, the most comprehensive packaging tradeshow in the world's largest packaging market, delivered an impressive 44,115 buyer attendees. Although this figure was down somewhat -- roughly 3 percent -- from the 2006 show, the event was still a tremendous success.  During the show, exhibitors captured more than 250,000 attendee leads.

“PACK EXPO attendees came to this year’s event focused and intent on finding sustainability oriented solutions, packaging innovation and increased efficiency via automation,” noted Charles D. Yuska, president and CEO of PMMI. “In today’s economic conditions, having a slightly lower attendance than the 2006 show is the reality. The good news is that the leads data clearly indicates that attendees came with specific projects in mind and focused their time and attention on finding suppliers that can address their immediate packaging concerns.”

Statistics from the show as compared to 2006 follow*:

Visitor Attendance    
2008: 44,115
2006: 45,741
 
Exhibitor Personnel 
2008: 23,849
2006: 25,666
 
Total Attendance
 2008: 67,964
 2006: 71,407
 
International Attendance
2008: 5,645
2006: 6,057
 
Number of Exhibiting Companies
2008: 2,281
2006: 2,302
 
Net Square Footage
2008: 1,318,629
2006:1,254,624
 

*Figures include PACK EXPO, Process EXPO and CPP EXPO.

PROCESS EXPO and CPP EXPO Round Out Industry Event
PACK EXPO International featured 1,704 exhibiting companies and 1,085,579 net square feet.

For the first time, PROCESS Expo held its co-located event in the West Building of McCormick Place while CPP Expo was held in the Lakeside Center. Process Expo had 427 exhibitors and 201,180 net square feet, while CPP Expo added 150 exhibitors and 31,870 net square feet to the event.

Sustainability Trend Highlighted in Conference Keynotes
This year’s Conference at PACK EXPO focused on one of the leading trends in packaging: sustainability.

Four keynote sessions and 55 Conference sessions attracted 1,300 attendees listening to leading retailers, consumer goods companies and industry suppliers discuss their companies’ packaging approach. Keynoters included:

Amy Zettlemoyer-Lazar, packaging director, Sam’s Club and co-manager of Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Value Network, and Robert Parvis, packaging manager, Sam’s Club
Betsy Cohen, vice president of sustainability, Nestlé
Trevor Cusworth, director, Deloitte Consulting
Glenn Wright, commercial vice president, The Dow Chemical Company

“The Conference at PACK EXPO added value for attendees by delivering information on trends and packaging issues that companies are wrestling with right now,” added Yuska. “The 1,300 participants chose more than 3,300 individual sessions. These sessions explored all facets of the packaging supply chain including machinery, materials, operations, and, of course, sustainability.”

My PACK EXPO Helps Attendees Navigate
Using their personalized My PACK EXPO online business tool before and during the show, PACK EXPO buyer attendees established 222,965 unique searches and created 120,000 bookmarks within their personal portals. These bookmarks identify specific exhibitors and Conference at PACK EXPO sessions the attendee planned on learning more about or attending. In addition, 55,000 personalized maps were created to quickly identify the locations of exhibitors attendees wanted to visit on site.

“Technology has always played a role in helping attendees find solutions at PACK EXPO and this year was no exception; more people utilized their My PACK EXPO tool than ever before,” noted Yuska.

Packexpo TV Delivers News from the Show Floor
In a first for PACK EXPO International, Packexpo TV headlines were delivered directly from the show floor. Each day of the show featured a newscast before the show opened, plus multiple interviews conducted throughout the day with more than 70 attendees, speakers and exhibitors.

“Our goal for PACK EXPO was to create value for both attendees and exhibitors by focusing on interviews with leading companies and suppliers who are driving change and innovation within our industry,” indicated Yuska.

Packexpo TV highlights, as well as the MY PACK EXPO navigation tool will “stay live” for the next three months to continue to support attendees and industry leaders with finding packaging solutions via packexpo.com.

About PMMI
PMMI is a trade association with more than 550 member companies that manufacture packaging and packaging-related converting machinery, commercially-available packaging machinery components, containers and materials in the United States and Canada. PMMI’s vision is to be the leading global resource for packaging, and its mission is to improve and promote members’ abilities to succeed in a global marketplace. PMMI organizes the PACK EXPO trade shows: PACK EXPO International, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and EXPO PACK México. Learn more about PMMI at pmmi.org.

PACK EXPO Las Vegas will be held October 5-7, 2009, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show will be co-located with PROCESS EXPO and Converting & Package Printing EXPO. PMMI also produces EXPO PACK México, the premier packaging show in Mexico serving the Latin American region. This show will be held June 23-26, 2009, at Centro Banamex, Mexico City, Mexico. Visit www.packexpo.com for more information.

Source: PMMI