New Analytical Chemistry Exposition Claims West Coast Niche

Analytical chemists and lab managers based on the West Coast of the United States traditionally have had to travel long distances to attend major trade expositions in their field. The Pittsburgh Conference--commonly known as PittCon--the "grandaddy" of analytical shows, for example, usually is held in New York or New Orleans and has never made it farther west than Chicago. While smaller, regional conferences take place in many areas, they tend to emphasize scientific meetings and presentations rather than laboratory equipment. But California chemists with money to spend on equipment may find a local alternative this year to PittCon: ALEX '91, a new analytical trade show taking place tomorrow through Thursday at the San Jose Convention Center. And, while many of these scientists may be optimistically looking to ALEX--short for Analytical Laboratory Equipment Exposition and Conference--as a potential "PittCon of the West," will their expectations be fulfilled? Creators of the new trade show "are certainly pushing the hell out of it," says John Lipsky, president of New Haven, Conn.-based Quadrex Corp., manufacturers of gas chromatography capillary columns and accessories. ALEX--with about 160 exhibitors plus a conference program--is being produced by one of the largest trade show firms in the U.S.: the Interface Group, a Needham, Mass.-based company also responsible for COMDEX, a huge computer show held twice a year in Las Vegas and Chicago. Those in the industry who expect ALEX to emerge as a major event point to Interface's successful track record as a show backer as well as the new exposition's West Coast location as reasons for optimism. "I think it has the potential to grow," Lipsky says. "I've seen a lot more marketing for ALEX than I ever saw for PittCon." Both Lipsky and Gary Alianell, director of sales for Cahn Instruments Inc., a small Cerritos, Calif.-based company that specializes in microbalances and thermal analysis equipment, say they hope to reach the West Coast chemists and lab managers who don't travel east to PittCon. "There's quite a potential audience out here," says Alianell. "We don't think a lot of people are able to attend some of the major shows on the East Coast, so we want to go to them." Lance Jacobson, ALEX's show director, concurs: "California is the largest purchaser, nationally, of lab equipment." He says that while 10 percent to 15 percent of lab purchases in the U.S. are made in California, only 4 percent to 5 percent of PittCon's attendees come from there. "Most companies don't feel that they have easy access to the dollar opportunities of the West," he says. On the other hand, many equipment companies as well as the scientists who are potential attendees are taking a "wait and see" attitude about ALEX's value that could, in itself, slow its establishment as a major show. "We like to get feedback before we attend a major show," says Jeff Spence, supervisor of promotions and publications at Aldrich Chemical Co. in Milwaukee. Aldrich will not be exhibiting at ALEX this year. "It's difficult to assess how effective it's going to be. We like to get information on attendance for a show of that type, and whether or not we're reaching the right audience." For example, he says, if ALEX turns out to be a show heavily oriented toward instrument manufacturers, and the show's attendees are not interested in the chemicals and disposable lab equipment supplies that Aldrich specializes in, "the show wouldn't be for us." Furthermore, one of ALEX's main drawing points could be obviated if the Pittsburgh Conference does make its way to the West. Although PittCon has never been held on the West Coast, this is due not to any policy on the part of PittCon's organizers, but to the current lack of cities with facilities large enough to host the gargantuan conference. The Pittsburgh Conference outgrew Pittsburgh years ago. It is scheduled to rotate between Atlanta, Chicago, and New Orleans for the next seven years, but after that, says Jay Auses, president of PittCon '92, "we won't rule out any location." He says that there are several cities developing convention facilities that could hold PittCon, including some on the West Coast. If ALEX is to stand as a major event in the analytical industry, it must distinguish itself from PittCon. "I certainly don't think we need another PittCon," says Lipsky. "PittCon is the kind of show you can't miss. If you're an exhibitor, and you're not at PittCon, people will start to wonder." But this "must-go" aspect of PittCon is precisely what makes it so huge, and ALEX's smaller size (160 expected exhibitors compared to PittCon's nearly 1,000 last year) may work to its advantage. Even given the fact that a successful first year will mean a bigger ALEX in future years, Lipsky believes that the show will benefit by being limited in size. Alianell, too, expects ALEX to succeed and grow, but, he says, "it shouldn't attempt to grow too big too fast." In addition, Jacobson points to ALEX's conference program as setting it apart from other analytical trade shows. Instead of numerous technical and methodological papers, ALEX's program is geared toward "improving lab performance and productivity" (see accompanying story). Says Jacobson: "I see this as a secondary program to complement the Pittsburgh Conference--to teach people to be better lab managers, more efficiency oriented." Jacobson would like to see ALEX become a major forum for lab-management issues. In fact, according to analytical chemist Claude Lucchesi, director of Northwestern University's Analytical Services Laboratory and a member of both ALEX's advisory board and the board of the Analytical Laboratory Managers Association (ALMA) in Montchanin, Del., there is talk of coordinating ALMA's annual meeting with ALEX in the future. The middle of a national recession may not seem like the best time to launch a new trade show, but this, too, could work in ALEX's favor. "It is a long way to PittCon," says Bob Bussey, supervisor of environmental chemistry at ICI Americas Inc.'s Richmond Research Center, located about an hour's drive from San Jose. "Especially in recessionary times, travel budgets are rather restricted." Jack Clarkson, operations manager for analytical chemistry at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., agrees, noting that a whole different complement of employees is likely to attend the local show. "[Livermore Lab's analytical chemistry section will probably] send more of the technicians and chemists that haven't had a chance to go to PittCon," he says. "We can send somebody to this exhibit for a day with a minimum of expense, and sending somebody to PittCon for a day will cost a couple thousand dollars, at least." And having technicians attend the show is "definitely an attraction," says Alianell. "The technicians are the users of the instruments.... They really have a great deal of influence on the buying patterns." And putting scientists with buying power together with millions of dollars' worth of equipment is possibly the single greatest reason to sponsor a new analytical trade show.

New Analytical Chemistry Exposition Claims West Coast Niche

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