ND1017112

Title: NACS Show Posts Strong Registration, Exhibitor Numbers

Description: More than 22,300 attendees came to this year?s NACS Show from a record 58 countries and international attendance of 1,913 delegates.

Page Content: ALEXANDRIA, VA ? More than 22,300 attendees were at this year?s NACS Show, including a record number of international attendees, according to final attendance figures released today by NACS. Overall, 22,312 attendees were at the Show, a 1.5 percent increase over last year?s attendance. Attendees came from a record 58 countries and international attendance was a record 1,913 delegates.

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The NACS Show took place October 1 to 4 at McCormick Place in Chicago. It is ranked as one of the 50 largest annual trade shows in the United States.

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The NACS Show featured a 387,000-plus net-square-foot exposition floor with 1,333 exhibiting companies ? of which 324 companies were new to the NACS Show. Extending the value of the expo to both retailers and exhibitors, the Cool New Products Preview Room featured a record number of products.

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In addition, the NACS Show featured three days of standing-room-only general sessions, 53 educational workshops, four training sessions and a Category Management Seminar. The workshops alone drew a cumulative 6,750 attendees, averaging approximately 120 attendees per workshop. Reflecting the growing international scope of the NACS Show, select workshops were translated into Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese.

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?These numbers are truly something to celebrate,? said NACS Vice Chairman of Convention Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support for Kwik Trip Inc. ?They show that the value of NACS, the NACS Show and the convenience and fuel retailing industry has never been higher.?

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?The success of the NACS Show shows the respect that the convenience and fuel retailing channel has in the supplier community,? said NACS Supplier Board Chair Scott Hill, vice president of convenience sales for Jack Link?s Beef Jerky. ?We have very positive stories to tell about the quantity and quality of attendees.?

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At the conclusion of the NACS Show, a cumulative 72 tons of leftover product from exhibitors was donated to two charitable organizations: the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a local food bank, and Operation Interdependence, which provides goods to U.S. military troops and their families.

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NACS has held an annual meeting every year since its founding in 1961, but it wasn?t until 1976 that the meeting included a full-scale expo, which was part of the meeting every two or three years. The annual meeting became the annual NACS Show in 1993. The Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA) has held its Fall Meeting as part of the NACS Show since in 1995 and the Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI) has held its annual meeting as part of the NACS Show since in 2002. Today, the NACS Show is rotated between three cities: Chicago, Las Vegas and Atlanta.

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The NACS Show also is a business meeting. At the conclusion of the Show, Tom Robinson, president of Santa Clara, California-based Robinson Oil Corp., was named the association?s 2011-12 chairman of the board, succeeding Jeff Miller. In this role, Robinson also oversees the NACS Executive Committee. Also named to the NACS Executive Committee were the following NACS retail members:

• NACS Vice Chairman-Treasurer: Dave Carpenter, president and CEO of West Des Moines-based J.D. Carpenter Companies Inc.
• NACS Vice Chairman of Technology: Patrick Lewis, partner of Twin Falls, Idaho-based Oasis Stop ?N Go Convenience Stores
• NACS Vice Chairman of Government Relations: Brad Call, general counsel and executive vice president of adventure culture of North Salt Lake, Utah-based Maverik Inc.
• NACS Vice Chairman of Member Services: Jack Kofdarali, president of Corona, California-based J&T Management Inc.
• NACS Vice Chairman of Research: Fran Duskiewicz, senior executive vice president for Canastota, New York-based Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc.
• NACS Vice Chairman of Convention: Steve Loehr, vice president of operations support for LaCrosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip Inc.
• NACS Vice Chairman of NACSPAC, Peter Tedeschi, president & CEO of Rockland, Massachusetts-based Tedeschi Food Shops

NACS also named five new members to its Board of Directors:

• Graham Bennett, president of Quality Oil Company LLC (Quality Mart) (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
• Sam Hirbod, CEO of Pacific Convenience & Fuels LLC (San Ramon, California)
• Julie Jackowski, senior vice president, corporate general counsel and human resources of Casey?s General Stores Inc. (Ankeny, Iowa)
• Jared Scheeler, director of retail operations and partner of Bobby & Steve?s Auto World (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Kevin Smartt, CEO of Kwik Chek Food Stores Inc., and owner of McCraw Oil Co. & Affiliates (Austin, Texas)

On the supplier side, Scott Hill, vice president of convenience sales for Jack Link?s Beef Jerky, was named 2011-12 chairman of the NACS Supplier Board.� Lucia Romanello Crater, vice president of retail sales for Cardtronics Inc., was named chair-elect and will succeed Hill as 2012-13 chairman.

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There are 146,341 convenience stores in the United States ? one per every 2,100 people. Cumulatively, their $575 billion in sales are similar to competing channels that are often thought of to be much greater, including restaurants ($583 billion), supermarkets ($563 billion) and drug stores ($222 billion, not including prescriptions). Overall, convenience store sales in 2010 were one out of every 25 dollars of the overall $14.624 trillion U.S. gross domestic product.

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The industry?s value proposition of convenience continues to be embraced by consumers. The U.S. convenience store industry alone serves 160 million customers per day, and 58 billion customers every year.

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Highlights from the NACS Show and information on next year?s event, taking place October 7 to 10 in Las Vegas, are at nacsshow.com.

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Content Subject: NACS, NACS Show

Formatted Article Date: October 17, 2011

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