|
If you've been
to ConExpo-Con/Agg in prior years and have already made your
reservations for next year's event, then the rest of this
editorial will be old hat. But for those who haven't, allow
me to suggest that you mark your calendar for the week of
March 14, 2005, and make your reservations now rather than
later, when you may find yourself bedded down in Pahrump because
everything else in Las Vegas is booked solid by your contemporaries.
Why Is This
Such a Big Deal?
For starters, it
takes place only once every three years. It is so large—nearly
2 million square feet of exhibit area—that after the
exhibits fill the Las Vegas Convention Center to capacity,
they spill out into the parking lot and across the street
as well. In point of fact, ConExpo-Con/Agg 2005 will be the
world's largest international construction exposition with
2,300 exhibitors presenting their equipment, goods, materials,
and services to more than 100,000 attendees--a whole lot of
them people you will find yourself bidding against for the
next three years.
Why are they there?
Same reason you should be. It's where you have an unparalleled
opportunity to rub elbows with your peers and see what the
future holds in store.
For many of the
exhibitors this is the biggest event on their calendar, and
for some—among them the biggest names in the industry—the
clock for this show started ticking even before its predecessor
in 2002 packed up for a three-year nap. It is here you can
expect to see the wraps come off all the new machinery and
hear from the horses' mouths what factors are going to affect,
if not actually drive, your business over the next few years.
Want to know what air-quality requirements are going to do
to equipment costs and performance? What stormwater and erosion
control regulations have in store for your business? Here's
where you can get straight answers from the people whose livelihood
depends on coming up with superior solutions. Indeed, there
is no event in the nation that rivals ConExpo-Con/Agg for
chronicling change and setting the stage for what is to come
in the industry.
Those of you who
attended the 1999 and 2002 events will validate the enormous
differences between them, especially in the area of technology.
In 1999, laser and GPS systems and digital controls were "way
out there, baby," and I have this enduring vision of a contractor
who stopped by the booth and scoffed at the idea of "little
toy joysticks" replacing levers in his machines. While I know
and share some of his feelings for control mechanisms that
helped the pharaohs build the pyramids, I wish I could have
visited with him in 2002— and even more so in 2005, so
great and spectacular have the changes been.
You
Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, Baby
I'm sure many of
you were skeptical of some of the "gee Charlie whiz-bangs"
that surfaced at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2002—here I have in
mind site-measurement systems and software modules that seemed
too expensive and sophisticated for general acceptance—that
have since become everyday tools of the construction trade.
If
what we saw in 2002 got the adrenaline flowing, it's my belief
that it was only a curtain-raiser to what's in store. ConExpo-Con/Agg
2005 is not only proof that technology is an essential element
in all your productivity, safety, and cost-containment activities,
but a harbinger and, in some cases, a trial balloon of what
lies ahead. For instance, how much deeper into robotics are
we likely to go? What advances in displays will we see? What
kinds of productivity-enhancement tools and controls will
be on display? What innovations in communications, financing,
bidding, project management, and enterprise systems will come
to the fore? And, of course, what additions and refinements
are the equipment manufacturers going to trot out?
Can You Afford
Not to Be There?
No.
Send
John an Email
GEC
- September/October 2004
|
