I was pretty hard on my review of Pittcon 2014 this year, and rightfully so....poor job all around by the folks at Pittcon!
Last week, I attended the National Science Teachers Association show in Boston. What a departure from what Pittcon was! It was nice to see full aisles of teachers walking the floor of the show. We found many great innovative products being demonstrated and it seems that vendors have once again started spending money on this show.
All of the large Sci Ed dealers had a significant presence both with personnel and booth space. As a manufacturer's rep, its always great to have a collection of key decision makers in our industry all together under one roof.
All of the workshops seemed to be very well attended and the buzz surrounding many of them was greater than usual. I was able to reconnect with a lot of old friends at the show.
Finally, I think a tip of the cap to the city of Boston is necessary. Hospitality was fantastic. My only gripe is that bus service was not running all day between the hotels and the convention center. The hotels chosen gave attendees a wide variety of choices and I was very pleased with my hotel near Chinatown (Doubletree).
As a bonus, having the show in Boston allows me to visit some local dealers as well. I had a great week in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Sadly for us, the show is in Chicago next year.....early mornings and late nights for me it appears!
Have a great day!
John
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Pittcon 2014 Review
2014 is the year I celebrated attending my 10th Pittcon. Pittcon this year was held in Chicago. Last year the show was in Philly. If the goal of Pittcon organizers is to kill the show, they are doing a fine job! Attendance and number of booths was way down again. I have not seen the official numbers from this year, but the eye test made this an easy conclusion.
Pittcon was in Chicago a few years back and in case anyone forgot what happened then....snow and winter weather caused fits for our international travelers and in our case specifically, we had to hodge podge a booth together with whatever samples we had on hand as our overseas manufacturer could not get a flight out to Chicago as most were cancelled due to weather.
I know it may come to a shock to some, but it snows in Chicago. This year in particular, it snows a lot. Even the local commuters, such as myself, had to endure 2-3 hour drives into the show each morning as weather essentially shut down traffic.
I implore those in charge of choosing locations to keep the show in warmer weather locations. I understand that the next two are finally back where they belong (New Orleans and Atlanta), but then its back to Chicago, Philly, and Chicago again the following 3/4 years.
As far as the show goes, traffic at the booths were extremely low and exactly what I expected due to the winter weather that everyone seen coming. Science Week had to go on without one of its top presenters due to a cancelled flight.
Let's hope the show goes better next year in New Orleans!
Pittcon was in Chicago a few years back and in case anyone forgot what happened then....snow and winter weather caused fits for our international travelers and in our case specifically, we had to hodge podge a booth together with whatever samples we had on hand as our overseas manufacturer could not get a flight out to Chicago as most were cancelled due to weather.
I know it may come to a shock to some, but it snows in Chicago. This year in particular, it snows a lot. Even the local commuters, such as myself, had to endure 2-3 hour drives into the show each morning as weather essentially shut down traffic.
I implore those in charge of choosing locations to keep the show in warmer weather locations. I understand that the next two are finally back where they belong (New Orleans and Atlanta), but then its back to Chicago, Philly, and Chicago again the following 3/4 years.
As far as the show goes, traffic at the booths were extremely low and exactly what I expected due to the winter weather that everyone seen coming. Science Week had to go on without one of its top presenters due to a cancelled flight.
Let's hope the show goes better next year in New Orleans!
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