Penton’s Comfortech, a contractor-focused conference and exposition, brought together 1,700 mechanical and electrical contracting professionals and nearly 150 exhibiting companies.

The show also grew its attendance by 21 percent, when it was held Sept. 15-17 2015 in St. Louis, MO.

Comfortech was collocated with association events including Service Roundtable/Service Nation Alliance, Quality Service Contractors, National Comfort Institute, and Women in HVACR and mechanical contractors.

“Comfortech covered the vital issues and challenges mechanical and electrical contracting professionals face each and every day,” said Florence Torres, show director, Comfortech.

She added, “We received positive feedback from attendees as well as exhibitors around the caliber of the event. Not only was our attendance higher than previous years, but exhibitor resign was also three times higher than last year. We look forward to working with the industry to bring an even more robust event next year.”

Tony Gunderson, Hurlburt Heating and Plumbing in Durand, Wis., said, “This was our first time attending Comfortech. We have attended many events like this in the past.  However, this was by far the best event. The speakers and the breakout sessions were second to none and the vendors were a perfect match to attendees. I cannot believe that anyone left the event without at least one piece of valuable information to better their business.”

Education sessions included Jim "The Rookie" Morris and Kelly McDonald,  a marketing and consumer trends expert from McDonald Marketing, both keynoted the event.

In addition, Brigham Dickinson of Power Selling Pros taught a three-part workshop that focused on increasing sales and gaining new customers.

Bob Mader, content director, Comfortech, said, “The event covered recruiting and customer acquisition and also showcased new industry trends such as variable refrigerant flow equipment, mergers and acquisition and landmines being laid by the Department of Labor and OSHA.  We look forward to examine these topics as well as many others at next year’s conference.”

In addition, the Comfortech exhibit hall featured leading companies such as Honeywell Generators, Mitsubishi Electric US and Owens Corning, which also saw a 67 percent increase in attendance, compared with the previous year.

Comfortech also introduced a mobile app that highlighted the key activities of the event. Mobile downloads increased by 68 percent, compared with last year’s event.

The mobile app offered an activity stream, a schedule, a list of exhibitors, a map of the event, a list of all the speakers and a Twitter feed.

This year’s event added the C3: Comfortech Contractor Competition in partnership with the National Comfort Institute, Inc. (NCI) and Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC). 

Contractors showcased their HVAC and Hydronic skill assessment and Plumbing acumen. Participants were judged on accuracy, skill and timing in the fast-paced competitions