UPDATE (2017): Midland Energy Expo is now Permian Basin Oil and Gas Conference and Expo.
MIDLAND, TEXAS—What a difference a year makes. The Horse Shoe Arena, venue for the Midland Energy Expo, held April 14-15, was filled to capacity with exhibitors for this year’s show, and with more than 140 booths welcoming visitors, the show was more than twice the size of last year’s event.
Whether that upsurge was due to the ever-expanding energy boom, the heightened promotions for this year’s MEE, or some other reason, is hard to say. But the fact is that the show was more than doubled, and so was the attendance.
PBOG Magazine was there as well, and we gathered some feedback from some of the exhibitors on hand.
Dwayne Green, owner of Oil Patch Power, said he met some great people and knows he’ll be getting orders from some of those he met. Oil Patch Power is a manufacturer’s representative. “Every product we represent is number one,” Green said. He cited some of his offerings: Hi Power Solutions (generators), Sage Oil Vac, Croft Production Equipment, Permian Tank, GTI Bifuel Systems, and ACAF Systems (fire suppression equipment).
“We’re glad we came,” Green said. “They’ve done an excellent job of putting this show on.”
Quentin Anderson, owner/manager of the Seagull Company, a producer of high quality scientific animation that explains oil- and gas-related concepts and technologies, was likewise pleased with his results during the run of the show. His exhibit included some large-screen displays of his work, playing on loop tapes. The high production values were evident and impressed many passers-by.
“Business has been good,” Anderson said during the show. “We’re booked up until June right now. After this show I have eight solid leads [to follow up with] who are saying, ‘Hey, we need animation, let’s meet next week or sometime soon.’ These are people who are truly interested in animation, who have a purpose for it, and they’re wanting to sit down and seriously talk about it. Eight leads—that’s a lot, based on how many I generally get per month.”
Anderson also does animation for industries other than oil and gas, and he says he has clients not just in Midland or Odessa but in Chicago, California, Oklahoma, Boston, and “all across the United States.”
Industry trade shows attract all kinds of exhibitors, and one notable non-energy-related booth was the space occupied by the Bill Carey Striper Express Guide Service, a fishing guide service (striped bass) located on Lake Texoma.
“We’ve been in business for 30 years, and the oil patch has always been kind to us,” said Bill Carey, who was on hand for the show. “So when Rich Rayburn [sales manager for the event] told me about this show, I said, ‘Let’s go down there.’ You know, all our plates are spinning, and we don’t have to do shows, but this [the oil patch] is a target market for us, and we have had a tremendous response.” Carey held out a bowl full of business cards as demonstration of his assertion. “I even told Rich a little while ago that we are going to be at the San Angelo show. [Zachry Publications is organizing a similar event for San Angelo this fall.] I tell you what—things are happening, This is a great group of people, and I can’t say enough. We’ll be back.”
Carey said that Striper Express operates six boats on the lake. “We’re an hour north of Dallas, two hours from Fort Worth, and we pull people from Nebraska, Oklahoma City, all the way to Kansas. We are big on West Texas people. They are cut from a different fabric. They’re not scared of work, and they still live by the Code.”
Western LLC, whose employee Cindy Gettig is the cover subject of this issue, was another exhibitor with favorable things to say.
“The show was great—we made a lot of contacts, and had great networking,” said Gettig. “We had a lot of fun. This was the most fun show that I’ve been to. We’ve made some good deals here too.”
Ken Goldsmith, owner of Mudsmith, was one of the outdoor exhibitors. Mudsmith exhibited its new “pit replacement system,” an array of vertical mixing tanks that can be used in pad drilling, among other applications.
“The show has gone much better this year,” Goldsmith said. “I think maybe the branding with the new name had something to do with it. The oil boom has certainly had something to do with it. I think the folks at Zachry Publications have done a great job of pre-planning for this thing, and marketing for it, and in getting not only twice the vendors out this year, but also significantly more buyers coming to the show. We’re really glad that they did, and that we got to be a part if it.”
For information on next year’s event, log onto midlandenergyexpo.com.