Pacific Marine Expo concluded Friday afternoon and I am happy to report that it was a great success. This year’s show welcomed almost 6,000 customers and 350 exhibiting companies displaying products in 60,000+ square feet.
At the show attendees were treated to a catalog of re-vamped special events such as the Coastal Challenge that saw fisherman competing in skills competitions throughout the show. Additionally, this year the Expo team switched up the format of the Annual Highliner Awards to celebrate the winners during the show rather than at an offsite reception and the change was very well received with a standing room only crowd who were treated to amazing stories and impassioned speeches from the Highliners about their experiences in commercial fishing. This year at PME we also welcomed over 150 students from local high schools who were given small group tours of the show floor, in person meetings with exhibitors and a welcome from PME staff. Through efforts like this as well as our support of projects like this one that PME collaborated with Grunden’s on to support the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers we aim to re-enforce our commitment to the West Coast commercial marine and fishing industries.
Content-wise we delivered more news out of PME than ever before. Prior to the event, the editors visited shipyards in Port Angeles, providing content to our social media channels and further building relationships with our customers. In addition, and for the first time, we delivered 4 new dedicated show newsletters as well as our regularly scheduled newsletters for a total of 6 sends across 4 days and an unprecedented amount of coverage.
Please visit www.nationalfisherman.com to read more.
This year’s success sets PME up for continued growth in 2024 and we have many new ideas already in the work. Now, onto the WorkBoat Show in New Orleans which is tracking to be one of the most successful on rec, we hope to see you there in just two weeks.
Bob Callahan
Pacific Marine Expo
