August 9, 2016 - MINExpo® is being held September 26-28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the best source of mining expertise on earth with technology and solutions for today and tomorrow. CoalZoom.com spoke to Moya Phelleps of the National Mining Association (NMA) to get the latest information on exhibitors and registration.

Bill Reid: We are delighted to be talking with Moya Phelleps, Senior Vice President Member Services of the National Mining Association, who, in addition to her many duties, is in charge every four years of MINExpo INTERNATIONAL®. Moya, how are things coming along for MINExpo INTERNATIONAL®?

Moya Phelleps: They're very good. We've got a lot of things going on and lot of excitement is building! I think people are getting excited about it. When you look at where we've been on past shows, we are very close to being on the same track. So I'm very pleased with it. We've got 840,000 square feet approximately that has been sold and under contract. We do not have any indoor space left, so we have stopped taking people on a wait list. We do have some space outside in the Silver Lot. You really have to be a company that likes that kind of space, because you're outside. It's a different dynamic. We've got more than 1900  exhibitors compared to 1862 in 2012. So I think that's a very strong number. I think that's a great indication that companies still see mining in the long-term as a market segment that they want to be in. They are still very much committed to us, being there to service their customers and help with them with not only what they are doing today, but their future plans as well. 

Bill Reid: Good. Since we last spoke, I think a MINExpo® Chairperson has been appointed. Can you tell us about that please?

Moya Phelleps: Yes. Denise Johnson, who is the Group President of Resource Industries, Caterpillar Inc., is our Chairperson for the show. Her Group has 8,000 employees in 14 locations spanning four continents. We are very excited to have her to be Chair for the show. I know she is very excited to do that, and we are looking forward to having a really great show. 

Bill Reid: Tell me about registration. How is individual registration coming along?

Moya Phelleps: You know, we are tracking a little bit lower than we were in 2012, but higher than we were in 2008. So I think that's a good sign. We are very similar to a lot of trade shows with very late registration. So I look at our numbers now, but I don't necessarily put a lot of credence in them, because of what happened in 2008, and what was magnified in 2012 when we almost tripled our registration numbers from the end of July to September in 2012. I realize 2012 was a high mark for us with 52,000 attendees, but we had a similar kind of trend happen in 2008, and I'm expecting a similar kind of trend to happen this year as people start to really focus on it. It takes them awhile to figure out who's going to be available for them to send. Then it also takes a while for our international folks to figure out who's coming as well. So it's a process. There were well over 4,000 on-site attendees in 2012 so I'm expecting the last few weeks until the show to be a very  busy registration time for us.

Bill Reid: Good. So in spite of the challenges faced by the mining industry, you're quite optimistic?

Moya Phelleps: I am. It's a four-year show and that works to our benefit. It's not an annual show, so if you don't go to the show or you don't take the opportunity to maximize who you're sending and what you want out of the show, it's a full eight-year time frame for you. I think that in addition when people come to MINExpo®, they expect to see the new technologies and new equipment, and there will be plenty of that. I know there will be a lot of very exciting new things coming out. But I also think that people are looking at this as an opportunity to really solve some of the operational issues that they are having now, as well as to be able to look and start to plan what they want to do two years, three years, four years from now, and what their future development plans are. You've got a tremendous amount of expertise on that show floor. Exhibitors bring their engineers, their technical people to answer their clients’ questions and their new clients’ questions. We've been encouraging people to bring their issues and try to get them solved at the show. If you do it right, and you plan it right, you should be able to take advantage of a lot of expertise on that show floor. 

Bill Reid: Excellent, Moya. Well thanks very much indeed for taking the time to talk to us and bringing readers of CoalZoom.com up to date. We look forward to speaking with you again soon, and of course for more information, people should visit www.minexpo.com.