The 2013 GIE+EXPO brought more bustle to the Kentucky Exposition Center than years past—12 percent more, to be exact.
“We’re busting out of the rafters here,” said Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI), a host of the show.
In line with its 12 percent attendance growth this year, the GIE+EXPO saw increased turnout in dealers by 6 percent, exhibitors by 5 percent and lawn and landscape contractors by 16 percent, Kiser said.
While show officials declined to provide exact attendance numbers, this year’s percentage upturn in registrants puts show attendance at around 20,000, given it had about 17,500 registrants in 2012, according to the GIE+EXPO website.
Glenn Jacobsen, president of the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET), provided specifics on the Green Industry Conference (GIC) as well, which is held as a supplement to the GIE+EXPO.
Attendance for the conference grew by 1,200 people in 2013, boosting participation in most facets of the GIC, Jacobsen said. Workshops saw a 75 percent attendance growth, he added, and there were 10 percent increases in attendance at the annual Breakfast with Champions event and CEO Forum.
Hardscape North America (HNA), which co-locates with GIE+EXPO, also had a successful year, said Charlie McGrath, executive director of Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI), which hosts HNA.
McGrath said HNA has agreed to continue co-locating with the GIE+EXPO in Louisville, Ky., through 2016. A focus on utility vehicles, he added, will be brought to the show in 2014.
Future dates for the GIE+EXPO are scheduled as follows:
- Oct. 22-24, 2014;
- Oct. 21-23, 2015; and
- Oct. 19-20, 2016.
