Qualified attendance was up for the 2019 edition of Medtrade Spring, which was recently held April 16-18 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
A key reason for the increase was that most of the people who registered did follow through and attend the event (which doesn’t always happen at business events), according to a statement from Emerald Expositions, which produces Medtrade.
“We had great energy on the show floor and lots of knowledge-hungry attendees at workshops and educational sessions,” said Mark Lind, associate show director. “Coming into the show we were slightly ahead of last year, and strong on-site registration pushed qualified attendance— meaning actual HME providers—to an 11 percent year-over-year increase for the combined Conference and Expo.”
“It’s been a while since we had a double-digit attendance increase at Medtrade Spring,” added Kevin Gaffney, vice president and group show director, Medtrade. “We hope it’s a long-awaited sign that this industry has turned a corner and is coming back from the very real scars of competitive bidding.”
Gaffney said his team has already focused its efforts on continuing that momentum at the upcoming Medtrade 2019 expo and conference, which runs Oct 21-23 in Atlanta.
“The only way to do that is to make sure the show offers real value and is a worthwhile investment for attendees,” he said. “We intend to do just that.”