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GEAPS leaders reflect on successful Exchange 2015 Exchange 2015 was a huge success,” said Matt Kerrigan, Bunge North America, GEAPS International president. “It was our second largest conference with 3,215 attendees from 31 countries. We had 35 hours of educational programming presented by 55 speakers and
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the Expo saw 354 exhibitors fill nearly 200,000 square feet of space.
s impressive as the numbers are, the most important measure of success is the feedback we have received from participants. Both new attendees and Exchange veterans found a tremendous amount of value in the conversations they had networking with other attendees, in the number and diversity of the exhibitors in the Expo and the education sessions on emerging trends and technology. Exchange keeps growing every year, and it is because GEAPS places such an emphasis on providing quality in every aspect of the conference.”
Future for the industry/show
“Exchange 2016 will be in Austin, Texas,” said Jeff Roumph, WD Patterson Co. Inc., Associates Board president. “We look forward to offering more of everything that made this year’s 64 | Milling and Grain
conference so successful. Next year’s Expo will be the largest ever, with more space and more exhibitors. We already sold out the original contracted space, and are in the process of adding more exhibit space, up to 250,000 square feet of total space. We made some changes to accommodate more large-scale booths, which should give exhibitors more options for hands-on displays. As the show grows, so does the variety. We have a number of companies that have exhibited at Exchange for more than 40 years, and this year we saw 30 new companies exhibiting for the first time. There is always something new to see.” “GEAPS is also hard at work expanding the other facets of the show,” said Allan Tedrow, McCormick Construction Co., Exchange Educational Programming Committee chair. “The Exchange Educational Programming Committee is already gathering ideas for next year’s sessions, including new processing education sessions. As the show grows, we look forward to offering more operations solutions in the Expo, more education for more sectors of the grain industry and more networking opportunities for attendees in Kansas City in 2017 and Denver in 2018.”
What the general feeling was from the exhibitors and attendees
“The feedback we have received is very positive,” Kerrigan said. “Even though the show has grown tremendously in recent years, we had shorter lines at registration thanks to a new badge-on-demand system. Our educational programming was well attended and well received and covered a broad range of emerging trends and technologies. In the Expo, we heard from both new and returning exhibitors that the show provided a tremendous amount of value and traffic.”
Awards that were presented
Industry Leader Award – George Kornstad, retired GEAPS’ Industry Leader award honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of grain