It wasn't quite the numbers Adam Barefoot, the president of Four Oaks, N.C.-based NC Glazing Fabrication, had in mind when he signed on as an exhibitor at this year's GlassBuild America show in Atlanta.
"We expected more traffic," Barefoot said matter-of-factly during Tuesday's opening day of the three-day trade show at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), "but we're optimistic. You have to be optimistic."
Barefoot and other company representatives had visited last year's GlassBuild show in Las Vegas, so his relative disappointment in his first time as an exhibitor at the show was fairly apparent.
Not everybody, however, shared in those feelings. The crowds were slow, but mostly consistent, said many of the exhibitors on hand. They've definitely seen bigger numbers in the past, but they all seemed to appreciate the steady volume of traffic stopping by their booths to check out their latest products.
"It's been pretty busy," said John Rarick, the marketing manager for Alpharetta, Ga.-based AGC Glass Co. North America. "I think folks are finding their wheelhouse and that's good. It's a great opportunity for us to display all the different products AGC has, including our new insulating glass units and other things."
Traffic was expected to increase as more visitors arrived later in the day and throughout Wednesday.
Rarick was perhaps happier than most on the first of the trade show's three days, given the strong week AGC North America has already enjoyed. The company announced the opening of a new Southeast fabrication facility in Atlanta on Monday, one equipped with what the company has called the most advanced fabrication and processing equipment in the industry.
GlassBuild America offered the perfect opportunity for AGC to showcase its expanded capabilities, not to mention a new and significantly larger booth that featured more company products than ever before, Rarick said.
"Who we're looking for are really the customers we haven't seen in a while or who don't know all that we can do," Rarick said. "We want to make sure we get the chance to show them all the capabilities AGC has."
There were some, however, at the GWCC without sales exclusively in mind. Jason Allen was in attendance in his capacity as a volunteer for the Department of Defense, faithfully reaching out to the many potential employers on hand on behalf of the many active U.S. servicemen and women who either just returned home from overseas or are about to do so.
