The annual PMA Fresh Summit tradeshow and conference took place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta this past weekend. A total of 1,060 exhibitors from close to 30 countries were showcasing their products and new product launches. The event drew a record-breaking attendance of 19,332 attendees from 63 countries at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
For the second consecutive year, #FreshSummit was a top trend on Twitter – meaning it was one of the most popular social media conversations around the world, all on one day.
Traditionally, the first day of the show is the busiest and when the exposition opened at 10 am on Saturday morning, a huge crowd was going down the escalators in the conference building trying to get into the exposition hall. From the moment the trade show opened, exhibitors were busy talking to their (potential) buyers and traffic didn’t seem to slow down until late afternoon.
The second day however, there was not as much traffic and exhibitors seemed to be able to take more time for their conversations with customers. In general, the atmosphere during the show was very good and exhibitors were happy about the interest for their products. A number of exhibitors shared that the PMA Fresh Summit show couldn’t have come at a better time as their harvest seasons had just started up, giving them an opportunity to display new-season products in their booths.
The PMA announced a new strategic alliance with the Entertainment Resource & Marketing Association (ERMA), bringing together the produce industry and entertainment marketing professionals to make fresh produce center stage in television shows, movies and online entertainment. This partnership, along with eat brighter!™ and FNV, is one of several ongoing demand creation efforts by PMA to improve consumers’ health and combat childhood obesity.
On the expo floor, four exhibitors were chosen by a panel of industry experts for “best of show,” a contest designed to generate attendee excitement and encourage exhibitors to enhance the effectiveness of their exhibition experience – all were first time exhibitors:
• Best of Show, in-line booth:
Kitchen22, Booth 5359
• Best of Show, island booth:
Litehouse, Booth 4836
• Best New Product Launch:
Evolution Fresh, Booth 5465
• Best First-Time Exhibitor:
Meshdecor, Booth 4084
Next year’s Fresh Summit Convention and Expo will be held Oct. 14-16, 2016, in Orlando, Fla., USA. For more information, visit
www.freshsummit.com.