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Riccardo Azzoni, president of Atlantic Machinery and chairman of IWF 2010.
Crowds were better than many expected during IWF 2010 in Atlanta. Riccardo Azzoni, president of Atlantic Machinery and chairman of IWF 2010, said on the first day, based on hotel reservations, show organizers were expecting strong crowds the rest of the week. See more from Azzoni.
After the exhibition was completed, IWF officials said that the estimated number of buyers was 11,000.
CabinetMaker+FDM spoke with a number of exhibitors during the four-day event Aug 25 to 28 and most companies reported being pleased with the way things turned out, even though attendance will be lower than the last IWF in Aug. 2008. Companies reported meeting new prospects -- one of the benefits of a large trade exhibition like IWF. Also, exhibitors said that a larger share of attendees were from smaller shops than in years past.
Talking to attendees was also interesting. Many had stories of how they have been flexible in recent months to stay in business, and how some of their competitors have not survived the recession.