After a two-year hiatus, The PPAI Expo 2022 was a welcomed chance for the industry to come together to do business and network last week in Las Vegas.

Numerous supplier exhibitors described attendance as “important,” not only for their companies, but for the industry as a whole. Particularly for companies launching new products at the beginning of the year, it’s crucial to be able to display and discuss apparel and hard goods offerings to create awareness with distributors.

“Doing a large-scale trade show is one of the best ways that we can see a lot of top-quality distributors in a two and half days,” said Paul Kory, VP of business development at apparel company Burnside/Sierra Pacific. “For us, it is not the number of scans, but the quality of people that count.”

Other exhibitor attendees, such as Eldy Miller of StoneyCreek, reported more impactful conversations with distributors at The PPAI Expo this year than at some past destination events for the industry designed specifically for facilitating one-one-one meetings.

Although the international spread of the Omicron variant prompted some suppliers and distributors to make difficult late decisions pull out of the event, those who made the trip to Las Vegas generally reported a positive experience.

The event followed local COVID protocols, including mandatory masking in public places, and some suppliers went further to mitigate any potential spread by creating virtual components to their presentations.

Teresa Fudenberg, CEO of Storm Creek, said her company was comfortable with the protocols in place. “We scaled on our staff and gave people an A or B menu,” she said. “For example, every half hour you could sign up to come into the booth in a small group for a quick sustainability school. Then we had half of the sales team stay back and offer virtual presentation appointments and then capture everybody Friday in a big group webinar. That worked out.”

Storm Creek offered its staff a choice of how to engage attendees—virtually or in person. She was impressed with the turnout.

“I cannot believe how many people I’ve seen,” Fudenberg said. “We have been having so many conversations at a nice pace. I really appreciate all the effort that goes into this show and without it being dire straits, we weren’t going to stay back. I feel like PPAI did a great job going forward with the show and yet giving people options and making them comfortable.”

When the pandemic forced companies to pivot to increased PPE offerings and other strategies, some of the traditional relationships between suppliers and distributors were put on hold. The PPAI Expo signaled an important step in the return to normalcy and a chance to re-engage past contacts.

“It’s refreshing to be in front of people again, to be able to sell face to face and continue to build the relationship that we were building a couple of years ago,” said Barrett Martens, national sales manager for NEXBELT.

The PPAI Expo 2023 will return to Mandalay Bay Convention Center Jan. 9-12.

A virtual extension of this year’s experience, PPAI Expo Direct-2-You, is slated for Feb. 22-24. Sign up now to be notified when registration opens.