NUCA Exhibition 2009
By Bob Martin - General Manager - March 1, 2009
The now-annual NUCA exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona took place March 4-6, 2009. The weather was spectacular, hovering in the mid 70's for the three days of the show. The downtown area of Phoenix was beautiful, with great access to amazing dining and entertainment.
HDD Broker exhibited at the NUCA show for the first time, and unfortunately it seems that a combination of bad timing, a slow economy, and general uneasiness led to a rather depleted pool of attendees this year.
The NUCA show is geared towards showcasing heavy construction equipment, and examples were on hand from Cat, Volvo, Vermeer, Ditch Witch and many others. In general, the exhibitors were very much in line with HDD Broker's focus on used equipment, and other vendors of HDD-oriented equipment and supplies were there as well.
Both the show organizers and the exhibitors were taken off guard by the lack of attendees this year, however. We learned that NUCA recently changed its format from a once per three year schedule to putting on the show yearly. Apparently attendance has slacked as a result, and that combined with a very weak economy and a general sense of uneasiness with the industry led to most contractors staying home.
That having been said, we got the chance to network with other vendors and meet a handful of very good clients face to face. Even despite the lack of general attendance, HDD Broker made some great contacts and all in all, we feel the show was well worthwhile (for us).
Will we exhibit next year? Well, I guess we'll see.
Will we attend? Probably. The show will be held in Orlando, which is only a few hours drive from our US offices. We'll be there to check out the show and you'll probably read about it here.
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