This year’s International
Coatings Expo (ICE) truly took on an international flavor in the beautiful city
of Toronto.
While the number of exhibitors and attendees
was noticeably down at this year’s event, and booths were generally smaller,
the phrase heard the most on the exhibit floor was “pleasantly surprised.”
Wednesday’s show hours were devoted entirely to the exhibits. For the first
time, there were no technical presentations or short courses taking place
during this time, which had a positive impact on exhibitors. Steward Rissley,
National Sales Manager for SPX Process Equipment, said of the first day of the
show, “We had a great day – the most leads at an ICE show that I can remember.”
He was happy with the number of international attendees. “There are people here
from South Africa, South America, Mexico and Canada. I would say that over 90%
of our leads are not from the United States.”