ProMat 2017: International Visitors Center to greet, assist 3,800+ attendees

With the continual expansion of the global economy—and the supply chain reach required to support it—ProMat 2017 expects more than 3,800 attendees from 111 countries. It’s a bigger turnout than ever before, said Tom Carbott, senior VP of exhibitions at show sponsor MHI.

“As the supply chain and material handling industry’s global footprint continues to expand, so does international interest and attendance at ProMat,” he explained. “Further, ProMat 2017 has more than 200 international exhibitors, most notably with an increase in exhibits from China and throughout Europe. With the increase in exhibitors from outside North America comes an increase in attendees from all over the world.”

The largest groups of registered attendees represent Canada, China, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Turkey, and the Netherlands, Carbott continued. “Attendees will definitely hear a variety of languages spoken on the show floor.”

Regardless of their nationality, all foreign visitors will find a variety of complimentary amenities in the MHI-sponsored International Visitors Center, located next to MHI’s ProMat offices and the Attendee Registration Area on Level 3 (near Starbucks Coffee).

The center offers translators to help answer questions in several languages—French, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish—plus private meeting rooms, Wi-Fi Internet access, cell phone charging stations, a lounge area and refreshments, noted Kay Clark, MHI director of meetings and events.

“Our language ambassadors act as hosts to all of our international visitors,” she said. “Visitors to the center at both Modex last year and ProMat 2015 were impressed with the amenities and returned daily.”

Additionally, added Clark, The International Visitors Center will bring back the ability for foreign attendees to connect with others from their country with a touchscreen monitor search. The service allows international attendees to identify others based on their home country, and send a private, one-way message to suggest a get-together.

“It’s been extremely popular, and our language ambassadors introduce the service to every attendee who stops in the center,” Clark added. “We debuted it at ProMat 2015 because we later heard from several international attendees who didn’t realize there were others from their country at the show until after they returned home. It’s another way to help people build their network and connect here at the show.”

For making business connections, MHI’s database-driven International Matchmaker Program also returns to help international attendees identify exhibitor companies with solutions they seek by matching product, country and type of business information with registration details.

ProMat 2017 is scheduled to be held from April 3-6 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. For Modern’s complete Show Daily coverage visit: [url=https://www.mmh.com/topic/tag/ProMat_2017]https://www.mmh.com/topic/tag/ProMat_2017[/url]