At a time when a global pandemic constrains the world, PACK EXPO Connects is bringing the industry together in record numbers this week with over 17,000 attendees as of Wednesday and more registering every day. Over 700 committed exhibitors are driving the event, taking advantage of every aspect of a completely new interactive platform.
“We are very happy with the participation in this new event. Our top priority is to connect the industry, especially in a year when professionals are unable to attend physical trade events,” says Jim Pittas, president and CEO, PMMI. “As can happen with new technology, PACK EXPO Connects faced some technical issues on Monday that delayed demos from happening as planned. But our exhibitors were resolute and remarkable, finding solutions and delivering demos despite the platform issues entirely outside of their control.”
Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery serves as a prime example of an exhibitor who pivoted on the fly to mine substantial success from PACK EXPO Connects.
“Spee-Dee was fortunate to have a successful demo on Monday via the PACK EXPO Connects platform, and then we jumped over to Facebook Live for our remaining demos,” says Dave Navin, president and CEO, Spee-Dee. “Our plan is to use the recorded content posted on the PACK EXPO Connects platform as a way to continue to build our brand and engage our customers. We have all found new ways to connect with our customers, and this provides one more tool for us.”
So far this week, PACK EXPO Connects has seen over 115,000 directory visits as of Nov. 11 with 108,000 visits to exhibitor showrooms. These interactions between solutions seekers and solution providers have led to 50,000 exhibitor leads this week alone and a total of over 110,000 leads since the web site launch driving industry innovation into 2021.
“I have found everything I have attended at PACK EXPO Connects, from exhibitor demos to speaker presentations, to be valuable experiences,” says Randy Quick, engineering manager, Kikkoman Foods, Inc. “Though not quite the same as an in-person event, the show has served as an effective virtual alternative. Educational sessions, in particular, were above average compared to other events I've seen in this format.”
In addition to demos, educational offerings – many debuting for the first time at PACK EXPO Connects – continue to produce engagement surpassing expectations. More than 800 attendees tuned in live to Dr. Kim Houchens, director, Customer Packaging Experience at Amazon’s Monday morning keynote “Engineering Your Packaging to Meet the Challenges of E-Commerce Fulfillment.” The Keynote, along with The Daily Jumpstart sessions with industry experts from earlier this week, are available on demand.
The first three days of live Jumpstarts each averaged nearly 500 viewers seeking insights into key trends and technologies. And every day, over a dozen Innovation Stages and afternoon Trend Chats and Daily Downloads with PMMI Media Group editors are attracting high participation among attendees looking for insight to bring back to their plant floors.
Thursday and Friday bring two more days of hundreds of planned demos, exhibitor interactions and education. On Thursday the Innovation Stage Sessions continue from 12 pm to 2:30 pm. The inaugural Solutions Room sessions present unique opportunities on Friday (10 am to 2 pm CT) to foster collaboration with industry thought leaders on today’s packaging challenges with experts from the OpX Leadership Network, OMAC - Organization for Machine Automation and Control, IoPP - Institute of Packaging Professionals and the Contract Packaging Association.
For more information on how to make the most of your PACK EXPO Connects experience, visit the Attendee Resource Center. For free registration, visit packexpoconnects.com. Exhibitors will be staffing showrooms for 1:1 chats 10 am to 3 pm Thursday and 10 am to 1 pm Friday. Login to take advantage of the live interaction before the show ends on Friday.
