California Rental Association's 2017 Tradeshow Attendance Up by 50 Percent

The California Rental Association drew a crowd of approximately 450 rental professionals to its 2017 Rental Rally Tradeshow in Las Vegas this week, marking a 50-percent increase in attendance over last year's event.

The tradeshow, held at the South Point Casino Hotel & Convention Center Jan. 30-Feb. 1, was a sellout at 345 booths, making the show twice the size of the CRA's 2015 event held at the same location.

According to Dale Blackwell, executive director of the CRA, the event is growing because rental professionals, who came from more than a dozen states in the western half of the United States and as far as Australia and Mexico, appreciate the educational opportunities the event offers as well as the wide range of equipment on display.

Also, the regional atmosphere at the event afford attendees the unique opportunity to build relationships with vendors in a more intimate setting than larger shows offer, Blackwell said.

The CRA's three-day annual event offered a seminar program, coordinated by the Mid-Atlantic Tent Renters Association (MATRA), featuring Tim McCormick, who spoke on how to “Dominate Your Day." McCormick, a 10-year NBA performer, ESPN broadcaster and elite business coach, shared his motivational message of growth and improvement, based on four secrets shared by professional athletes: competitive effort, bounce-back ability, brand excellence and a CEO attitude.

The second seminar session featured speaker Gary Stansberry, who shared his insights on “Key Performance Measures for Your Rental Business." Gary identified four key performance measures for your rental business, discussed industry standards and revealed how to track each measure using a simple set of reports that can be generated on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Gary has over 20 years of mergers and acquisitions experience, totaling over $1 billion in value. 

Attendees also had the opportunity to take part in an aerial work platform operators training certification class cosponsored by the Scaffold and Access Industry Association (SAIA) and Snorkel Extreme of Las Vegas. The all-day class, in which attendees could be certified to operate high-reach equipment, took place at an Ahern Rentals facility in Las Vegas.