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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Adverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
December 2017 #10221 Page #16
BCMC 2017 Raising the Stakes Omaha, NE
By April Burt, Director, Simpson Strong-Tie
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he 36th annual BCMC show took place in late October at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The location of the venue in relation to the downtown and hotels could not have been better. It was an easy walk across the sky bridge to the event center and a short ride to the old market area downtown for one of the finest steaks in the country. The iconic show has really bounced back from the economic downturn, and this year’s event saw a record number of show-goers and exhibitors. Individual attendance was up 10% over last year and has steadily increased since 2013. In total, there were 245 companies represented and 758 attendees. If you add in the 597 exhibitor staff, the showroom floor was hopping. As usual, the BCMC show began Tuesday with many events to choose from. Some attendees decided to brave the gale-force winds and attempt a round of golf, while others tempted fate on the show’s first-ever offered bike ride. A less hazardous option was to enjoy the indoor setting of the SBCA Pre-Show Management Seminar with Kent Pagel. No matter how each show-goer decided to spend the day, the evening concluded with an industry roundtable, happy hour and casino game night hosted by the Emerging Leaders Committee. After a full first day, the exhibit hall opened on Wednesday, giving attendees the opportunity to browse all the exhibitors’ booths and see the latest offerings. This year, the Simpson Strong-Tie booth was adjacent to the bocce ball courts that we sponsored. It was a nice position for us because we were close to the show entrance and had a consistent flow of attendees in our booth. As in years’ past, we had a video running onscreen showcasing our software, as well as a touchscreen display demonstrating our latest software and the newly implemented, cloud-hosted task tracker/calendar functionality. In addition to getting a sneak peek of our new Component Solutions™ software, the booth featured a small demo area showcasing the features and benefits of our structural fasteners, including our Strong-Drive® SDW Truss-Ply and SDW EWP-Ply screws and our Strong-Drive SDWC Truss screw. Our new DG firewall hanger was also on display. The software demo suite was very busy as well, with a constant flow of prospective customers, component manufacturers wanting to see our software progress, and current customers excited to get a preview of the latest features in our upcoming release. PHONE: 800-289-5627
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