On With the Show

Editor’s Note

On With the Show

Industry trade shows offer important connections this year

By Michelle Garetson

April 2002

Aviation trade show season is well underway this year and things appear to be looking up. Six months after September 11, no group has felt it necessary to cancel events due to lack of interest or participation. The National Business Aviation Association's (NBAA) annual convention, originally slated for mid-September 2001, was miraculously pulled together this past December and was well attended and well received by a wounded aviation industry. This year's show, scheduled for September 10-12 in Orlando, will no doubt shine in the shadow of 9/11's first anniversary.

GSE Today's Associate Publisher Holly Reiff, and I recently attended the Worldwide Aerospace Ground Support Equipment Flight Chiefs Conference in Atlanta. Over 250 U.S. Air Force personnel were in attendance for seminars on new technologies in GSE, as well as new products on offer courtesy of a vendor's fair associated with the event. More importantly, the conference gave the military personnel an opportunity to gather and share ideas and concerns faced daily in their operations.

Our own GSE EXPO, already in its fifth year, will provide the aviation ground support community with seminars, exhibits, and camaraderie this October 1-3 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. We are greatly encouraged by the fact that the show's exhibit space is over 75-percent filled as we go to press. This commitment to the industry by exhibitors as well as the interest expressed from those planning to attend is just the tonic needed to cure the uncertainty still ailing the aviation industry. We look forward to seeing many of you there and we want to hear about how your year has progressed. If you have any questions regarding this year's show, please contact our Show Manager, Tony Quist, at 952-808-3349.

GSE Today plans on attending as many trade shows and conferences worldwide as possible this year. The importance of connecting and communicating with those who also seek to support and promote our industry is crucial to our future.
Please join us.     

Thanks for reading.

Michelle Garetson

Editor’s contact information: editor@gsetoday.com or call 920-563-1622