Universally praised
After three days at the National Exhibition Centre, the 2017 FIT Show’s organisers have revealed that 9,935 unique visitors attended this year’s show, a number that rises to 13,285 when their revisits were counted across the three days of the event (multiple daily entries are automatically de-duplicated).
This is an increase of almost 17% when compared to the previous FIT Show in 2016 (8502), offering a boost of 62% more visitors in just two events.
Daily numbers were: Tuesday, 4808; Wednesday, 5136; and Thursday, 3341.
This year saw a significant presence of aluminium for the first time at any fenestration industry B2B event for more than three decades and visitors flocked to some of the most exciting stands as the surge in interest in aluminium framing continues. The majority of PVCU systems producers were in attendance and they also enjoyed crowds as they rode the wave of interest in coloured and heritage framing.
The machinery suppliers were also busy throughout as new technology drove interest from fabricators at all levels though especially in seamless welding.
The next FIT Show was confirmed as taking place in two years’ time on May 21-23, 2019. Almost half of the available stand space for the next event was contracted or reserved before the doors closed, with this figure expected to grow significantly during the weeks following this year’s show.
A further 25% increase in space was announced for 2019, which represents a doubling of the FIT Show in just two events.
The FIT Show’s Matthew Glover said: “As our marketing campaigns emphasise the FIT Show is all about the people and companies that exhibit. Exhibitors have once again worked hard to promote the event and those efforts, combined with the biggest FIT Show campaign ever, succeeded in boosting visitor numbers once again.
“And when the show opened visitors were greeted with the most creative and beautiful stands; everyone involved with the building of this event commented how impressed they were with the efforts made by exhibitors.”