World of Concrete Recap

The Sage Construction and Real Estate team returned to the Las Vegas Convention Center June 8-10, 2021, for World of Concrete, our first live event since the start of the pandemic.

World of Concrete is one of the largest conventions in our industry, and this year it was one of the first major conventions to return to Las Vegas. Normally, attendance runs as high as 60,000 industry members, with over 1,500 exhibiting companies. Each year, the Sage Construction and Real Estate team exhibits with the goals of making new connections and educating builders on the value of Sage software solutions.

Although this year’s show was scaled down, it was great to be back doing live events. Here are my main takeaways from the show:

• The demand for cloud solutions is stronger than ever. Almost everyone expressed interest in native-cloud or cloud-hosted options. With more and more workers going remote, cloud is the future and the industry is looking to catch up.
• Live shows are back; virtual shows couldn’t measure up. Though attendance was about a third the usual count for World of Concrete, visitors were highly engaged, and the conversations we had were great. As a vendor, having meaningful interactions with the folks in our industry is the whole reason for exhibiting, something virtual shows were never able to facilitate.
• We all needed this show. For some, this was the first slice of normality they had had in more than a year. Everyone seemed approachable and eager to talk about basically anything (except the pandemic).

All in all, my experience was great. It was refreshing to get back to in-person events, meet with other construction professionals, and explore the latest developments in the industry. I’m looking forward to future opportunities to meet more of the hardworking individuals that build the world around us.

Tell us, did you attend World of Concrete this year? If so, what were you excited to see?