With more than 15,000 registered attendees and final day crowds that rocked the Anaheim Convention Center

, key exhibitors and the show’s producers, the California Trucking Assn. (CTA), declared the 2004 International Trucking Show (ITS) a success.
The ITS, returning to Anaheim, Calif., after six years in Las Vegas, accomplished major goals, said Joel D. Anderson, CTA executive vice president And CEO.
“Based on our initial post-show exhibitor feedback, we successfully repositioned to the ITS to place more emphasis on business-to-business. Our exhibitors loved the bash we threw for them at the ESPN Zone. And, we received near-unanimous exhibitor and industry praise for returning the show to Anaheim, right where it should be, in the heart of Western trucking,” Anderson said.
The CTA and the International Trucking Show’s long-time producers parted ways less than a year before the 2004 ITS. The CTA produced the show for the first time ever, bringing it back to the trucking industry hotbed of Southern California. Meanwhile, the former ITS producers launched a new trucking show in Las Vegas.
“We knew this would be a transition year for the ITS,” Anderson said. “We faced significant challenges in 2004, and I’m pleased to say that with the solid showing last week, those challenges are behind us. Now, we can build on the experience, knowledge and exhibitor feedback that we gained this year and make next year’s show even better.”
The first two days of the show, Thursday, Sept. 23 and Friday, Sept. 24, were clearly more business to business – quality of attendees over quantity, exhibitors noted.
“There weren’t a whole lot of people at our booth on Thursday and Friday, but the people who were there were the right people at our booth,” said Conan Barker, president of Los Angeles Freightliner. Other exhibitors noted that the Thursday and Friday attendees stayed on the exhibition hall floor for long periods of time.
On Saturday, however, the 2004 ITS exploded with attendees. Long lines snaked through the hallways to registration windows and event staff had to shoo the crowds off the floor at closing time.
“I haven’t seen traffic like that on the last day of a show, ever, in the seven years I’ve been doing shows,” said James Kelly, an account manager with information services company Expoexchange.
Anderson said that exhibitor feedback is already being gathered as part of a rigorous analysis of the 2004 show.
“We will build on the many positives of this year’s show, and make the changes that need to be made to make the 2005 show a major leap forward,” he said.