Thank you attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors for a fantastic Expo!

The NGWA 2012 Groundwater Expo and Annual Meeting , December 4-7 in Las Vegas, Nevada, showed increases in every attendance category and once again topped 300 exhibiting firms!

“Excellent business opportunities and strong educational offerings really brought people out in all sectors of our membership,” said NGWA Chief Executive Officer Kevin B. McCray, CAE. “In case after case, exhibiting manufacturers said they had a very good Expo. Many of the workshops were packed, which is another good sign for the groundwater industry.”

In the 64-year history of the NGWA Groundwater Expo and Annual Meeting, this was 13th best attended event, with a total attendance of 4,357 from all sectors of the industry — water well drillers and contractors, manufacturers and suppliers, and scientists and engineers. All 50 United States were represented, along with Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands. In addition, 32 other nations attended including Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and South Korea.

Highlights included:

• 1,810 water well system contractors, nearly a 2% increase from 2011
• 434 scientists and engineers, a 4% increase
• 652 suppliers, a whopping 12% increase
• 1,300 manufacturers, a slightly more than 1% increase.

The 309 exhibiting companies tied for sixth highest ever at the Expo and included 31 first-timers, and 90 new products. Highlights include:

The NGWA Expo offered 70-plus hours of educational programming covering topics ranging from different types of drilling methods to water well rehabilitation and maintenance, and groundwater supply and groundwater quality to business management and geothermal operations.

“I spent more time going to a lot of the classes because so many things are changing so fast. It’s one of the few opportunities where you get to pick some people’s brains,” said Tonny Beck, owner of Beck’s Well & Irrigation Inc. in Ainsworth, Nebraska. “There have been a lot of challenges, so it’s just a good opportunity to try and get up to speed on things that you’re not as brushed up on as you’d like to be.”
Click here to view the online brochure.

View the program below.

To download a PDF version of the program, click here.

Check out the videos below to view some of the highlights from this year’s NGWA Expo.