Trucking Industry Sees Tradeshow Activity

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 2/13/2006

The first two months of 2006 have been busy for trucking tradeshows. A Canadian business-to-business media company made a big acquisition, while a West Coast association show changed its venue and timing, and an Alabama publishing company launched a road show.

In late January, Toronto-based Newcom Business Media bought two tradeshows for the Canadian trucking industry, Expo Cam and Cam-Expo, from San Francisco-based dmg world media for an undisclosed sum.

Dmg acquired Cam-Expo in 2003 when it bought Quebec City-based Pro Expo 2000. The biennial show with about 300 vendors joined dmg's biennial Expo Cam, a Tradeshow Week Canadian 50 event sponsored by the Quebec Trucking Assn.

Newcom produces several magazines for the trucking industry, as well as Canada's largest tradeshow for the sector, Truck World, which is ranked No. 8 on the most recent Canadian 50.

Peter Faloon, vice president of dmg's international media group, said the sale was a strategic move. "Everywhere that we're enjoying success, we look at ourselves as a fully integrated, engaged member of the community we serve," he said.

In the trucking business, the company dominated in Quebec, but market research indicated it would not capture the entire Canadian market. "It became apparent to us that if the Newcom guys had our properties in their portfolio, they would achieve the perfect scenario we achieve in other places," Faloon said.

The divestiture amounts to dmg's exit from the Canadian trucking business. "That doesn't mean you won't see us in the trucking transportation business in other markets," Faloon said. "It wouldn't surprise me if you saw dmg and Newcom doing something together."

At the same time, the acquisition made Newcom "the largest truck media player in Quebec, as well as in all of Canada," according to a statement by company president Jim Glionna.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas-based show management firm ConvExx has been busy retooling the Intl. Trucking Show on behalf of its owner, the California Trucking Assn. The show has moved to late September from its former dates, which were too close to Labor Day, said Susan Schwartz, president of ConvExx.

It also has moved to the Los Angeles Convention Center from Anaheim — after moving there from Las Vegas two years ago.

With a three-year hold on space at the LACC, ConvExx negotiated free truck parking for truck owner-operators, the key audience for Intl. Trucking. And "there are so many freeways that cross Los Angeles, it's very easy for truckers to get there on their way in and out of town with loads," Schwartz said.

The new dates also come with a schedule shift to Friday through Sunday. This is meant to allow mini-fleet owners and private carriers, who work all week, more time to attend the tradeshow on the weekend.

The new dates and location are part of a larger switch to a focus on helping truckers become better businessmen, Schwartz said.

"Our show is the true B-to-B event for the industry," she explained. "The original equipment manufacturers support us, and we're the association, so we support the industry and the legislative and lobbying efforts that it makes."

Schwartz is working with the CTA and the American Trucking Assn. to develop a professional conference. They hope the revamp, which includes a new logo, will boost attendance and exhibit space by 30 percent over last year, when the show had 65,000 net square feet and about 3,000 total attendees.

Randall Publishing, based in Tuscaloosa, Ala., has a different approach to reaching more truck drivers and fleet owners: It's taking the trade-show to them.

The company in April will kick off a 20-city, 20-week tour of road shows that will end the week before Great American Trucking Show, both a TSW 200 and TSW Fastest 50 winner, scheduled Aug. 24–26 in Dallas.

Randall, which is controlled by Wachovia Capital Partners, has partnered with Petro Stopping Centers to host the events. Petro estimates that an average 1,300 trucking professionals pass through each of its locations daily.

"They have business reasons to congregate there. They take showers, check messages, have their trucks serviced," said Randy Schwartzenburg, who left his position as general manager of the Great American Trucking Show to become executive director of the road show.

In addition to promoting the event through Petro, Randall will use its database to target owner-operators within a 150-mile radius of each location.

"This is for people who are too busy to fly out of town and miss three or four days of work to go to an exhibition, but can drive one or two hours" to see products and services that help them do their job better, Schwartzenburg said.

Events will feature trucks brought out by local dealers on behalf of OEMs for display and test drives. In addition, there will be trucks that travel around the country with built-in new products, such as suspension systems. Schwartzenburg said there would also be a recruiting element to the shows, responding to the driver shortage many fleet owners are experiencing.

"We're doing something nobody else is doing," he noted. "We're taking a tradeshow to an attendee base that tends to be regionalized."