A look back at the IEC and what's to come for 2024

CLEVELAND—With about 3,400 attendees and 209 exhibitors, the International Elastomer Conference's return to Cleveland last October did not disappoint.

"Cleveland has always been a great turnout," ACS Rubber Division Executive Director and CEO Lakisha Barclay told Rubber News on the final day of the event. "Sixty percent of our stakeholders are within an eight-hour drive of Cleveland, so that affords people the opportunity to just drive in for the day, meet with their customers or their downstream and upstream suppliers, and then there's reduced cost for the company."

While the numbers were not quite up to par with a standard odd year—the Rubber Division hosted about 4,200 attendees in Cleveland in 2019—attendance is trending back upward, she said.

This year's event trended about 1,500 attendees over the 2022 show in Knoxville, Tenn., and 1,600 over 2021 in Pittsburgh, Barclay said.

Slowly but surely, companies are coming out of the COVID-19 mindset, but those companies still are evaluating who and how many people to send as some still recover.

"All of our companies and stakeholders see the value of the show, what we're seeing is just maybe less people from those companies are coming," Barclay said.

The rise in mergers and acquisitions also may contribute to lower turnout, she added, noting that as more companies fall under a single firm's purview, representation of those companies tends to consolidate.

"But the presence is there," she said.

What's going well as exhibits ramp back up is people are once again seeing the value in showing up in person.

"The word I keep hearing again is 'quality,' " Barclay said. "The people (attendees) were looking for are here."

By the last day of the conference, Barclay said she had spoken to several attendees who had walked the show floor not as exhibitors, but they had already committed to exhibiting for the 2024 show.

"They see the value of having that presence and being able to have an anchor to actually sit and talk to people versus just kind of floating up and down the aisles," she said. While companies save money by not exhibiting, they lose their presence and are harder for their customers to find.

"That's the whole purpose of the show," she said. "It's the place that you can have those customers come in and have those one-on-ones and finalize those deals that maybe you have been doing over virtual conversations. A handshake goes a long way."

Coming back to Cleveland also makes the show more accessible, especially for last-minute registrations.

"We registered almost 400 people Tuesday," she said of the first day of the conference. "Pre-registration looked great, but we were bracing ourselves because we knew from history, that Cleveland is the place because it is such a drivable city." Between 8 a.m. and noon of the IEC's first day, the division checked in over 1,500—registered and non-registered—attendees.

As for the Rubber Division's overall standing, Barclay said the group's finances since COVID are still "healthy," noting that the group has been careful to budget accordingly.

Having been a financial director for 13 years, Barclay said she has an intimate understanding of the division's finances that gave her "the wherewithal to know where things could be pivoted" when the pandemic first hit in 2020.

"I knew what could and what could not be (in place) to still run a successful event and service our members efficiently," she said, adding that she is thankful to the division's forefathers' reserves that "kept us completely floating like we needed to through I'll say effective and efficient financial policies."

She said her experience during the Great Recession in the late 2000s also helped her understand what to prioritize for the division's members.

"Above all, that's what we are: 'Member focused, mission driven,' " she said, quoting the division's 2024 theme. "In this position, as long as that's what you live by"—ensuring that members are getting the best education, networking opportunities and services—"then everything else you can figure out."

She said the division is "in a very positive place," and is even looking to add staff.

As of the time of the conference, the Rubber Division hired in a membership and training coordinator and was looking to add one more person.

And while the division's chair-elect at the time, Krista Toutant, had stepped down from her position in July, the division remains at full speed ahead.

"We've had other instances in the past where things have happened to succession," Barclay said. Because of this, the forefathers of the Rubber Division had bylaws in place to handle a shuffle such as this.

2023 Chair Anthony Mariniello continues as chairman of the Rubber Division for 2024.

There are several new things to come for the 2024 IEC, but Barclay couldn't give too much away just yet, likening the ideas to Oscar nominations.

"There are a few things we're going to add, but you're going to have to wait for those," she said.

And if you liked the format of last fall's Expo Theater, look forward to even more presentations, as the division is adding a second theater to the floor this year, Barclay said.

"We've always had the Expo Theater," she said, but it had never really taken the spotlight as it did in October. "The idea is to continuously have things that are relevant to the people on the floor that may not be technical level, but they're still relevant to the industry," Barclay said.

The division also plans to lean more into its WORD event and Young Professionals programming, hoping to continue providing a safe space for women of the division to network and opportunities for young professionals to grow in the industry.

For the young professionals, or YPs, specifically, Barclay said the Rubber Division is making a conscious effort to include them wherever they can with a Young Professionals Committee and volunteer opportunities.

They're going to be the next group that is going to be the leaders," she added. "Getting to know people and those same relationships carrying on for the next 20 years, we've got to give them the opportunity to do that now."

But the biggest change attendees are likely to notice at this upcoming IEC is another separate conference just across the aisle, as the Rubber Division's largest event of the year joins forces with the Silicone Expo USA.

Both events will take place simultaneously Sept. 9-12 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

"This collaboration is about synergizing our strengths, pooling our resources and increasing our impact on the industry segments we serve," Barclay said in a statement in February when the collaboration was first announced.

"By combining forces, both organizations will expand their reach and create even more valuable opportunities for the attendees and exhibitors," Mariniello had said in the February news release. "Together, we will not just host events, we will orchestrate progress and growth for our great industry."