It has been a crazy couple of months. The majority of the country has spent its time sheltering in place and flattening the curve and for the most part that has worked. However, at this writing there have been 100,000 deaths from COVID-19, and that solemn fact needs to be noted.
As long as relaxed social restrictions do not result in a new wave of cases of the virus, I think we can safely plan for the future. Having said that, I am pleased to announce that Rock Products’ parent company SEMCO Publishing has partnered with World of Concrete to move our International Cement Seminar event to Las Vegas, Jan. 18-22, 2021, as the Cement Production Pavilion.
Now in its 46th year, World of Concrete features more than 1,500 exhibiting companies and 60,000 registered industry professionals in more than 700,000 net sq. ft. of exhibit space.
World of Concrete has been attracting a growing number of cement producers and quarry operations people to the show over the last several years, so it was a natural expansion of their efforts to include our conference sessions and exhibition in their event.
The Cement Production Pavilion will be a 50-plus booth special feature area located in the high-trafficked North Hall where the show entrance and registration are located. Initial response from exhibitors has been good, which is a promising sign for a successful venture. We will also organize a cement technology seminar series at the event.
As was the case with the International Cement Seminar, held last year in Atlanta, this show-within-a-show will be sponsored by Rock Products, Cement Americas and our sister publication Concrete Products.
We are pleased to work with World of Concrete on this project. Speaking for myself, I am excited to get back to normal with our usual yearly slate of trade shows and seminars.
Stay safe out there. I am looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming industry event, starting with this one.