Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/85639
by Tina Grady Barbaccia, News and Digital Editor Agg For daily news updates and Web-exclusive news items, visit the "AggBeat Online" section of our Web site at www.aggman.com SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW AGG1: A hard-hit construction industry makes it tough to grow a show, but the 3-year-old AGG1 is creating a place for education and the latest innovations. Now in its third year, the AGG1 trade show may be in a holding pattern in terms of growth, but it's setting a record in exhibi- tor square footage. The show, scheduled for March 13-15 in Charlotte, N.C., at the Charlotte Convention Center and co- located with World of Asphalt (WOA), "is looking as good as it did in 2009," says Rick Feltes, AGG1 Aggregates Forum & Expo chairman and former co-owner of Feltes Sand and Gravel (now part of Lafarge)."We are going to break a record in square footage in terms of exhibitors," Feltes says. "We had a budget of 27,000 square feet, and we have exceeded that." At Aggregates Manager press time, the AGG1 2012 show is ahead of the 2010 show in registered attendees and ticket sales for education topics and even with the inaugural show. AGG1 was developed as a way to combine 13 events held separately by the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA). The inaugural AGG1 took place in Orlando in 2009 with a second show in Cincinnati in 2010. The annual show was not held in 2011 because of ConExpo-Con/Agg (CECA). NSSGA has a two-year agreement with the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) to co-locate the show with WOA. The agreement runs through next year with plans to hold the show in San Antonio. Feltes says after next year's show, NSSGA will firm up its ConExpo-Con/Agg 2014 plans and then decide whether to con- tinue the agreement and how to move forward with AGG1. "In all likelihood, we will probably co-locate with WOA for the next two years after CECA," he says. When asked whether there are ever plans to hold AGG1 dur- ing the same year as CECA, Feltes says, "I don't think we'll ever have it in the same years as CECA." The intent is not to compete with the show, he says. "Our intent is to offer the industry, as well as the association, an alternate place to come to a meeting where it's not as big of an environment and not as sexy of a place to go," Feltes says. "It's more of a business trip for companies that want to educate and invest in the employees in a second-tier city where there is not a lot of temptation for nightlife." He says the association is trying to hold the show in places where people don't have to fly as much to attend: places such as AGG1 2012 is likely to break a record in terms of square footage of exhibitors and is ahead of the 2010 trade show in terms of registered Cincinnati, Charlotte, and San Antonio. "Charlotte should be a great place for this event because of the number of quarries and sand and gravel operations in driving distance of the event." With regard to how AGG1 is progressing and growing as a standalone show, Feltes says, "We're happy to a point. When we started the process, no one knew how decimated the construc- tion industry would be." However, considering that the inaugural show was in 2009 and in 2010 the show was held during one of the worst snow storms in Cincinnati history, Feltes says AGG1 still "did fairly well given the weather conditions." Feltes says, although he is disappointed in the lack of enthu- siasm from NSSGA's member companies, he realizes that "ev- eryone is watching their budgets due to the economy. You can't fault anyone. We just have to weather the storm a little longer. Hopefully, when the economy comes back, we'll benefit from that in a big way." Feltes does give a nod to show management — the Association of Equipment Manufacturers — for its efforts in handling its responsibilities for selling floor space to exhibitors and trying to ramp up registration. "They do a great job with this," Feltes says. "It's a tribute to the industry, the association, AGGREGATES MANAGER March 2012 5