The Summit presented a whirlwind schedule of educational sessions, panel discussions, committee meetings, receptions and ceremonies that all painted a vivid picture of the vibrant and rapidly changing environment of the construction equipment industry.
Registration for the Summit was 1,870, with 660 dealer professionals representing 240 equipment dealerships, and more than half of all AED dealer members were in attendance.
The sessions covered almost every conceivable topic of interest to industry leaders, including employment law, cybersecurity, technology, leadership and best practices for hiring and retaining military veterans.
Keynote speaker was John Boehner, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as a former small businessman.
The trade show featured 150 booths, a 10 percent increase over last year.
This year's Summit was held at the Orlando World Center Marriott, but due to the large turnout, rooms at the Marriott filled up quickly, and guests were referred to lodgings at a number of nearby hotels.
The event opened Feb. 4 with The AED Fundraising Gala and ended Feb. 7 with an outing in the Florida sunshine at Hawk's Landing Golf Club.
This year, 594 tickets were sold for the gala, up from 462 in 2018. Together, proceeds from ticket sales and the gala auction proceeds totaled more than $100,000 for The AED Foundation.
(L-R): Brian P. McGuire, president and CEO of Associated Equipment Distributors; Michael Brennan, president and COO of Bramco and incoming AED 2019 chairman; and Diane Benck, owner and vice president of general operations of West Side Tractor Sales and RCE Equipment Solutions and outgoing 2019 AED chairwoman, cut the ribbon to open the 2019 CONDEX trade fair.
(L-R): Eugene Lant, vice president of Holland Pump, on hand to answer dealers’ questions, was joined by Sharlene Hedrick, rental asset manager, and Brian Kieley, pump consultant. Holland manufactures, sells, rents, repairs, and services pumps for the construction industry.
Nathan Uphus (L), sales manager, and Jason Worley, regional sales manager of the Southeast, staffed the Felling Trailers booth. Felling saw good activity at the AED event as it promoted its line ranging from utility trailers to heavy haul trailers.
(L-R): Ron Johnson, president of RJB Hydraulic Hammers of Largo, Fla., is joined by Sheri Johnson, the company’s marketing manager, and Rodney Johnson, vice president of operations. The company is a supplier of a variety of excavator attachments, in addition to hammers.
The five-piece band performed for the opening of CONDEX.
The CONDEX show was well-attended with plenty of booth activity.
The Okada America booth was staffed by Michael LeVan (L), southeast sales manager, and Salvatore LaCorte, product manager.
Standing in front of a Mecalac 7MWR machine, representing Mecalac North America, are Nicole Gavin (L), sales and marketing administrator, and Geoffrey Andrews, regional sales representative.
First-time CONDEX exhibitors Jeff Erbig (L) and Jerry Bruner of Advance Tire Inc., Millstone, N.J.
At the MultiOne booth, Bill Grundy (L), national sales manager, and Doug Campbell, operations manager, stand beside the MultiOne 8.4S.
Sales Manager Southeast Lindsay Stead (L) and Director of Sales Jeff Kritch staff the Woods Construction booth.
(L-R): Kurt Benjamin, Currency, Los Angeles, Calif.; Jeff Schatz and Josh Weinstein of Witzco Challenger; and Tim Hill, also of Currency, discuss the Witzco Challenger lineup of trailers manufactured in nearby Sarasota, Fla.
(L-R): Vice President of Sales Tom Viskniskki, Northeast Director of Sales Scott Carlson, Chairman and CEO Bruce McFee, and Marketing Coordinator Dave Raffin greet CONDEX guests at the Sullivan Palatek booth.
Vern Gunderson (L) of Nixon-Egli Equipment Co., Tracy, Calif., visits with Frank Chulick, president of Stewart-Amos Sweeper Co., Harrisburg, Pa.
(L-R): Ron Johnson, Fred Caddell, John Creswell and Brian Brown represented Tag Manufacturing Inc., Chattanooga, Tenn., at the trade show.
Sales representative Jeff Jones (L) and Chris Plant, vice president and general manager, represented WTC Machinery, Ixonia, Wis.
Kyle Hobbs represented Bandit Industries Inc. of Remus, Mich.
Damon Haber (L) of Record360, Seattle, Wash., chats with Doug Juergensen, COO of Luby Equipment Services, Fenton, Mo., at the Record360 booth.
Representing Towmaster Trailers of Litchfield, Minn., are Midwest Sales Territory Manager Bob Pace (L) and Sales Manager Chris Pokornowski.
(L-R): Mengtao Xie, John Fair, Alex Baksay and Gary Busch, the “A Team” of SANY America, Peachtree City, Ga., promoted SANY’s line of machines and anticipated adding dealers when this year’s AED concluded.
Jim Meyer (third from R) and Michael Wojtal of BLS Enterprises, Bensenville, Ill., go over dozer track-pad applications on the DH13J on display with some of the staff from Shantui, based in Miami, Fla., at their CONDEX exhibit.
(L-R): Eric Hinshaw, Heavy Machines Inc., Memphis, Tenn.; Barry Ferrell and Tom Hartman of Hydrema, Cumming, Ga.; and Steve Northcross, also of Heavy Machines Inc., get together at the Hydrema exhibit area
(L-R): Showing off one of FAE’s relatively new products, the RC45 rock grinder, one of eight size-class rock grinders available from FAE, are Fabrizio Bastone, Giorgio Carrera and Chris Koch of FAE USA, Flowery Branch, Ga.
The marching band inaugurates CONDEX with a march through the hotel lobby.
Max Ravazzolo displayed the MB Crusher line of attachments to AED attendees in Orlando. MB’s crushers come in a variety of sizes and will attach to most excavators or skid steers.
Sullair and its line of portable air compressors were represented at CONDEX by Mark Benzel (L), business development manager, and David Burnham, field service specialist.
