Total attendance increases, vibe improves at Propane Expo

About 2,800 people attended this year’s Southeastern Convention & International Propane Expo, held April 13-15 in Atlanta, according to the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA).

The total attendance figure, which includes attendees, exhibitors, speakers, staff, spouses and others, was 2,790, up from the 2,559 total attendees NPGA reported last year. About 1,000 attendees this year were propane marketers.

“Unofficially, we had a nice increase in overall registrations and a nice increase in both numbers of booths, exhibitors and the square footage that we sold,” says Milt Swenson, chairman of NPGA’s Conventions Committee and division manager at Arrow Tank & Engineering Co. “Sponsorships and advertising were at, if not recent highs, all-time highs.”

The number of exhibiting companies (219) matched 2010’s total as the high over the last six Southeast shows, and the number of exhibitor personnel on hand increased 5 percent from last year. The exhibition space’s square footage (54,840 net square feet) was also up 4 percent over last year’s show. But more than anything NPGA can measure, Swenson says exhibitors were optimistic about the show’s outcome.

“I half expected we would do better than last year considering last year we came off one of the warmer winters we had,” he says. “I kind of did an informal survey with anybody I talked to while walking around the floor to get an idea of what was on the exhibitors’ minds. That’s really the key. In talking with everyone, they felt the floor traffic was up, the attitude was so much more positive.”