Medtrade Spring gets a new name and new location for 2021.
Redubbed Medtrade West, the annual event will be held April 12-14, 2021 at Phoenix Convention Center.
The move was chalked up to a few factors uncovered by a survey conducted by an outside survey firm, with one of the primary considerations being “Vegas fatigue.”
“Las Vegas has continued to be expensive for us as a show producer, as well as for attendees and exhibitors,” said Mark Lind, show director. “Phoenix showed up as one of the cities of interest in our survey, and it’s a great city to host a tradeshow.”
The data also showed that eliminating the spring show wasn’t a viable option given that providers in western states and on the west coast preferred the show over its Atlanta counterpart in fall.
“Folks from the west don’t want to travel to Atlanta, and vice versa,” Lind said. “If we only went to one show, we would be neglecting the west coast. … We still have to support the east coast and west coast — not just one.”
To that point, historically, there has been only a 10 percent overlap between the two events because most attendees prefer to attend the closest show.
Hence the name change to Medtrade West, which is intended to strengthen the geographic affiliation. Similarly, the fall show will change its name to Medtrade East in 2021.
“The difference between the two shows is geography, and we’re hoping that exhibitors and attendees understand that these shows are attended by different people—and the two different groups of people [from the east and west] want two different shows,” said Sarah Varner, senior director of marketing for the show
Besides the name change, the 2021 Medtrade West will feature format changes with more dedicated hours for educational sessions and the expo.
“The schedule we’re looking at would have 75 percent of the expo time with no overlap with the conference,” Varner noted. “We have other things in the works to announce later.”