Philadelphia Rings Success for Pittcon 2013

Pittcon 2013, the 64th Conference and Exposition for Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy, ended on a high note following its first appearance in Philadelphia. Preliminary figures for this global event, which was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Centre, were declared as 18,197 attendees; 40% of which attended the Conference for the first time. New this year was a strategic partnership between Pittcon and the co-located Food Labs Conference hosted by Food Safety Tech*: the organisers of both events were pleased with their first-year success and are looking forward to expanding the relationship.
Pittcon 2013 President Ronald Bargiel commented, “The food industry is one of Pittcon’s top industries for growth. We are excited about this newly formed partnership with Food Safety Tech and look forward to working jointly to increase Pittcon’s presence in the food industry.”
Rick Biros, publisher of Food Safety Tech added, “Co-locating with Pittcon makes perfect sense for everyone. This partnership makes it possible for food industry lab managers to significantly benefit from the first conference [Food Labs] focused on their needs along with having access to thousands of laboratory technology suppliers at Pittcon—all under one roof.”

International Visitors
Pittcon has always had a strong global presence, and 2013 was no exception with 28% of attendees being from outside the United States; top countries by attendance were Canada, China, United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil. The dynamic exposition floor consisted of 1,011 exhibitors from 28 countries occupying 1,925 booths displaying the latest innovations in instrumentation and technology used in laboratory science. This year, we welcomed 167 first-time exhibitors. There were three specialised areas on the floor —Life Science, Laboratory Information Management (LIMS) and New Exhibitors.
Marian Nardozzi, Senior Marketing Communications Specialist for The Pittsburgh Conference was very upbeat about the success of this year’s event and its location in Philadelphia. She told International Labmate:
“This was the first time that Pittcon was in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is truly in the ‘centre of it all.’ In addition to Pennsylvania, it is a short train ride from Washington DC, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey – all of which are heavy in the bio and pharma industries. The airport is only 8 miles from Centre City and easy access for international travel. The Pennsylvania Convention Centre (PCCC) recently completed its renovations making it a viable venue for Pittcon.”
In terms of success for exhibitors, early indicators suggested an overall high level of satisfaction. Marian responded; “Preliminary reports and feedback was very positive. Exhibitors seemed to be happy with the traffic. Monday was a very heavy traffic day on the floor. Many reported that Monday and Tuesday were very high volume and very high energy. Initial reports came back that some companies surpassed leads for the entire week from last year by Tuesday.”
While attendance data of any cross-over of visitors between the Food Labs Conference and Pittcon was unavailable at the time of this report Marian was also very positive about the partnership:
“Food Labs Conference was a huge success and the organisers were very pleased with the arrangement. We have already started plans for co-locating again in Chicago for 2014. We do not have the processed attendance data; however, there were initial reports that exhibitors were visited by Food Lab conferees. Registration for FL included free admission to Pittcon”.
As with all Pittcon events the local region plays an important and integral role in Pittcon’s conference structure and educational events aimed at bringing science and knowledge into the communities. One of the region’s biggest economical projects centres around the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica Shale beds in the Appalachian Basin which has potential as a huge supply for the Eastern United States. This was a major topic of discussion at Pittcon as part of a focused environmental analysis theme which appeared to have a stronger element at this year’s show: “We have been including a stronger environmental focus at Pittcon as global, as well as, regional current events develop. Marcellus Shale was a focus this year given the location of the conference. We did offer a Conferee Networking session, “The Future of Marcellus Shale, which was very well attended. It was facilitated by the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, Michael Krancer,” Marian said.
“Life science sessions continue to be a significant portion of the technical program accounting for approximately 40% of the technical presentations. As for other disciplines, these are about the same as they have been in previous years. There was a bit more emphasis on food science and nanotechnology this year as well. Conferees seemed pleased with the expo and the conference in general,” she added.
When asked about whether any new developments impacted on the levels of visitors at the show Marian concluded: “This is really hard to measure. I strongly believe that it is not just one new development that impacts the attendance, but more a combination of a strong exposition with leading companies from around the world, diversity and quality in the technical program to cover topics to appeal to a wide variety of disciplines, and a variety of short courses. I think that to be a successful event, especially in a time when travel budgets are decreasing, you have to give people many different but compelling reasons to attend, and they will. We build in a great deal of value for a very low registration fee (compared to registration fees of similar shows).”
The Short Course program offered an opportunity for skill-building training and continuing education for laboratory professionals. Participants have stated that these courses are another factor in selecting Pittcon as the one conference they attend every year. This year, 100 short courses were offered covering a wide variety of topics with a special emphasis on nanotechnology specifically nanomaterials, health/safety, and nanotechnology in life science. Lab management courses are a significant part of the program and provide critical insight into the interpretation of the requirements of regulatory aspects, global guidelines, and laboratory standards. The diverse selections, ranging from beginning to advanced levels, were attended by more than 1,400 participants.
*Published by Innovative Publishing