Despite Economic Downturn, Canon Communications' Largest B-to-B Medical Manufacturing Trade Show Posts Record Attendance

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - February 19, 2009) - Record numbers of medical OEMs crowded the aisles of the world's largest event for medical device manufacturers, when the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West 2009 Conference and Exposition was held February 10-12 in the Anaheim Convention Center, according to trade show producer Canon Communications. Based upon preliminary end-of-show reports, Canon is projecting attendance will increase 4-5% and top 16,000 for MD&M West, which has been a fixture in California for 25 years.

Canon's major Medical Design & Manufacturing shows (held in California, in February, and New York, in June) are the premier events for the nation's $146 billion medical manufacturing industry. Spurred by ever-increasing demand from an aging population, the medical manufacturing industry has posted consistent 7-8% increases for over a decade. Currently, U.S. medical manufacturers produce 50% of all devices consumed worldwide.

"Our exhibitors came into the show not really knowing what to expect," said Canon Communications CEO Charles G. McCurdy. "Given the constant drumbeat of negativity in the media, I think many just assumed attendee traffic would be down. The success of this event for both exhibitors and attendees is a testimony to the vitality of the medical device industry as well as other advanced manufacturing segments. Looking ahead at the balance of 2009," he added, "we remain cautiously optimistic about overall business activity in the markets we cover, and we are launching several new trade shows in the coming months -- including SÜDTEC in Germany, MEDTEC France, MEDTEC Japan, and BIOMEDevice Boston."

Also of note is the performance of the company's synergistic shows that traditionally co-locate with MD&M West. Pacific Design & Manufacturing, Automation Technology Expo (ATX) West, WestPack, PLASTEC West, and Green Manufacturing Expo (GMX), all experienced robust attendance. Non-medical attendance was slightly more than 30,000 which is down 2% from 2008 but in line with 2007 which was the second highest level that the event has ever achieved.

Through years of quantitative analysis, which has subsequently been corroborated in numerous exhibitor panels, Canon has developed a proprietary model for correlating attendance and business activity. Based upon this, the company is projecting that this year's co-located event will result in the placement of $650 million in new orders during 2009.

Consistent with these strong performances, more than 70% of the overall event's 2,200 exhibitors have already contracted for space in its 2010 edition.

Commenting on the MD&M performance in particular, Dan Cutrone, Canon's Director of Marketing, said, "After the record attendance we experienced in 2008, and given the current economic environment, we felt that to even match last year's performance would be a real accomplishment. Exceeding it by 4-5% percent was truly remarkable."

About Canon Communications

Canon Communications LLC, a portfolio company of Apprise Media LLC, is the leading producer of trade events, publications, and electronic media for the $3 trillion advanced, technology-based manufacturing industry, including medical device, packaging, design engineering, process technology, automated assembly, electronics, quality control, and plastics processing.

Further information about Canon's business-to-business publications, trade shows, and digital media is available at www.cancom.com.

Contact Information: Editorial Contact: Dan Cutrone Canon Communications LLC (310) 445-4200