The American Rental Association last week announced that The Rental Show 2008 placed at No. 64 on the Tradeshow Week 200 annual list. This is the third consecutive year that The Rental Show has placed in the top 65.

The Rental Show 2008 was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas and attended by more than 10,600 rental industry professionals. That number included 5,565 rental personnel from the United States, Canada and 30 other countries, plus 5,118 exhibitor personnel. Total exhibit space was 354,300 net square feet, with 669 exhibiting companies.

The Tradeshow Week 200 rankings are the culmination of a year-long process of compiling and analyzing data on trade shows in the U.S. and Canada by Tradeshow Week magazine. The rankings are based on total net square footage of paid exhibit space, total number of contracted exhibitors and total professional attendance.

With slight decreases in both the number of exhibitors and total attendance from 2007, The Rental Show was on pace with the majority of 2008 trade shows. Fifty-six percent of shows had a decrease in the number of exhibiting companies last year, while 61 percent had a decrease in attendance, according to Tradeshow Week. With a slight increase in exhibit space size over 2007, The Rental Show was among the 46 percent of shows that increased net square footage.

The Rental Show has steadily increased its ranking on the Tradeshow Week 200 each year from 2003 to 2007:
• 2003, Anaheim, Calif. – No. 81
• 2004, Atlanta – No. 77
• 2005, Las Vegas – No. 75
• 2006, Orlando, Fla. – No. 63
• 2007, Atlanta – No. 61

Next year The Rental Show returns to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., for the first time since 2006. For more information visit www.TheRentalShow.com.

Headquartered in Moline, Ill., ARA is an international trade association for the owners of equipment rental businesses and the manufacturers and suppliers of construction/industrial, general tool and party/event rental equipment.