Strong international flavourBPCA and the organising team from Dewberry are to be congratulated,...

1. PestEx 2015 breaks all records
Strong international flavour
BPCA and the organising team from Dewberry are to be congratulated, as this year's PestEx built
upon the 2013 one and is now certainly the largest and most international industry event this side of
the Atlantic.
Of the 92 exhibitors attending, 44 had come from overseas. Looking at the UK-based exhibitors, the
majority were either involved in product exporting or are the UK-based part of a multi-national
company. As BPCA chief executive, Simon Forrester, commented: "It is clear the majority of our
exhibitors now sell products across international boundaries, and PestEx provides them with a
perfect platform to reach pest management professionals from across the globe."
But it wasn't just the exhibitors that came from overseas - so did a large percentage of the exhibition
visitors.
The official figures released by BPCA record that over the two days a total of 2,242 people attended
(1,788 if you exclude exhibitor personnel). Of these totals, 23% came from outside of the UK.
As is usually the way with such events, the first day recorded the highest attendance figures - a 19%
increase over the 2013 event - and it was certainly extremely busy late morning and over the lunch-
time period.
Although quieter, the second day (Thursday) gave everyone the opportunity to spend more time with
each visitor - not to mention the opportunity for many of the exhibitors to find time to leave their
own stands and have a look-around. 261 delegates obviously felt one day was not enough as they
clocked-in on both days.
This year the organisers recorded attendance in a much more sophisticated manner, as the bar code
on each and every person's name badge was scanned as they arrived. Likewise, scanners were made
available to exhibitors who could scan visitors to their stands.

2. As BPCA's events officer, Lauren Carter explains: "Going forward this will greatly help us to
benchmark ourselves and ensure the show grows year on year, with accurate figures and an
interesting breakdown of numbers."
Silent seminars
But the delegate counter wasn't the only new piece of equipment in use by the organisers.
Historically, running alongside the exhibition is a comprehensive seminar and technical
demonstration area. Hearing what the presenters were saying whilst not deafening those on the
exhibition stands has always been somewhat of a challenge. This time-around it was 'silent
seminars'. Delegates wore headphones and the speakers were miked-up, so any unnecessary noise
was kept to a minimum.
"By using this headphone system we not only gave every person in the seminars the opportunity to
hear our speakers clearly, but it also allowed us to record the sessions, copies of which will be on the
BPCA website later in April," explained Lauren Carter.
With a total of 27 presentations, which ran concurrently, it was often hard to pick which one to
attend. This certainly proved a challenge for the Pest reporting team! Topics ranged from the more
obscure, such as tree bumble bees, to more main-stream subjects as wildlife licensing, wasp
behaviour and pest control from the client's perspective to, predictably, rodenticides and the future
of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGAR's).
Read our reports on several of these sessions on-line (click to read about SGARs, rodenticide
resistance or wait until forthcoming issues of Pest magazine.
For the future
Planning ahead, the dates for PestEx 2017 were
revealed (22 and 23 March 2017) also at ExCeL
again.
However, if you can't wait until then, you could
join BPCA at it's new roving sister show, PPC
Live, which will take place on 16 March 2016 at
the East of England Showground near
Peterborough.

3. The City of London nearby, ExCeL is the home for PestEx
BPCA president - Martin Harvey - cuts the ribbon

4. There is much to see on exhibitors' stands
Delegates came from near and far. Michel
Bayoud (left) of Boecker Public Health, Lebanon with Mazen Zou'bi from the Arab Pest Control
Center
BASF took the opportunity to launch two new
Storm formulations for the UK market

5. A key part of proceedings. Delegates networking
http://www.pestmagazine.co.uk/en/news/posts/2015/apr/pestex-2015-breaks-all-records