ALEXANDRIA, VA – This
week is “NACS Show Week” — with every day featuring news about prominent and
influential NACS Show General Session speakers, surprises we can’t wait to
share with you about the expo or networking events entirely new to the NACS
Show.
Here’s the first of more news to come this week: The NACS
Show is big for buyers!
The NACS Show has
been rated in the top 10 among U.S. trade shows in three of the four key
categories used by exhibitors to measure audience quality, according to a
national survey conducted by Exhibit Surveys Inc. The 2012 survey results were
tabulated from more than 30 of the top annual U.S. trade shows and released in
April.
Retailer
registration and housing is now open for this year’s NACS Show, the most
comprehensive event for convenience and fuel retailing professionals. The NACS
Show takes place October 12 to 15 at the Georgia World Congress Center in
Atlanta.
The 2012 NACS
Show ranked fourth in the country in terms of total buying plans — the
percentage of attendees who anticipate buying within 12 months of a show. The
NACS score of 63% was considerably higher than the all-show average of 49%.
The NACS Show
ranked sixth in the country for net buying influence, also known as “buying
power,” which calculates the percentage of attendees who have the power to make
or recommend final purchasing decisions. The NACS Show’s score of 92% was
considerably higher than the all-show average of 84%.
In addition, the
NACS Show ranked eighth for the amount of hours each attendee spends visiting
exhibitions. NACS Show attendees averaged 10.4 hours per person on the expo
floor, a 0.5-hour increase over 2011, and higher than the all-show average of
9.1 hours.
Exhibit Surveys
defines net buying influence as “the ability to recommend, specify or purchase
products or services; it defines total buying plans as “the percentage of
visitors planning to buy one or more products or services seen at a show within
the following 12 months,” calling it “a strong indicator of what people
purchase.
“The NACS Show’s
top-tier ranking over the past decade confirms what our industry has long
known: The NACS Show is where retailers and suppliers get together to do
business,” said NACS Vice Chairman of Convention Pat Lewis, a partner at Twin
Falls, Idaho-based Oasis Stop ’N Go. “Savvy retailers know that the new ideas
and products that they find at the NACS Show help them continually thrive and
stay ahead of the competition, and the 2013 NACS Show will be no exception.”
At the 2012 NACS
Show, a record number of buyers fueled a 7.2% surge in attendance, which hit
24,056 — the second-highest total ever. The number of buyers (retailers,
wholesalers and distributors) was up an astonishing 17.1% to reach 9,764. There
were a record 8,057 NACS buyer registrants at the 2012 NACS Show — nearly 3%
more than the previous record set in 2004. PEI buyer registration was 1,707,
the third-highest total ever. Attendees came from a record 65 countries and
international attendance was a record 2,482 delegates.
The excitement
from the 2012 NACS Show has carried over to 2013. Exhibition space for the NACS
Show is almost completely sold out, which is unprecedented so far in advance of
the event.
The 2013 NACS
Show will feature a 392,000-net-square-foot exposition with 1,050 exhibiting
companies — of which 150-plus companies are new to the NACS Show. In addition,
the NACS Show will feature three days of general sessions and 53 educational
sessions. The educational sessions in 2012 drew a cumulative 9,889 attendees,
averaging nearly 190 attendees per session, the most ever recorded. Reflecting
the growing international scope of the NACS Show, the general sessions will be
once again translated into Portuguese, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, and select
educational sessions will be translated into Portuguese and Spanish.
NACS has a
variety of marketing products and programs for exhibitors that are designed to
help exhibitors target the buying power of top retailers, intensify market
penetration, launch a new product, strengthen and differentiate their brands
and generate traffic to their booths.
Full
registration, which includes admission to the general sessions, educational
sessions, expo and the welcome reception, is $295 for NACS retailer members and
$495 for other retailer attendees. One-day registration also is available ($195
per day for NACS retailer members and $295 per day for other retailers). These
super-saver rates are available until July 31. Other rates apply for
non-exhibiting manufacturers, service providers, brokers and consultants. Exhibitor
registration is also now open. NACS Show attendees can register for the event
and secure housing at nacsshow.com.
NACS has
negotiated competitive room rates for approximately 30 hotels in proximity to
the Georgia World Congress Center; attendees can request hotel preferences online
beginning April 1. Early submission of housing requests will increase the
likelihood that attendees will be able to stay at the hotel of their choice
within the NACS Show housing block. Equally important, most of these hotels
have access to the shuttles for transport to and from the Georgia World
Congress Center.
NACS has held an
annual meeting every year since its founding in 1961, but it wasn’t until 1976
that the meeting included a full-scale expo, which was part of the meeting
every two or three years. The annual meeting became the annual NACS Show in
1993. The Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) has held its Fall
Meeting as part of the NACS Show since in 1995 and the Petroleum Equipment
Institute (PEI) has held its annual meeting as part of the NACS Show since in
2002. Today, the NACS Show rotates between three cities: Chicago, Las Vegas and
Atlanta.
In addition to
online registration, nacsshow.com features the latest information about
exhibitors, speakers, educational sessions and networking events.