UBM Canon hosted their 2013 east coast expo for medical design, manufacturing, automation and packaging June 18-20 in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The three-day expo boasted 1,200 exhibitors and encompassed just shy of 200,000 net square feet.

UBM does not release attendee numbers but rather a number of companies represented. Those numbers will be made public in two to three weeks, according to show officials.

The event is a collocated one with six expos - Atlantic Design & Manufacturing, ATX East, EastPack, MD&M East, PLASTEC East, and Pharmapack North America.

Susan Duval, group marketing manager for the Events Division of UBM Canon said, with the wide variety of exhibitors showing at this collocated event, you end up with a bit of serendipity.

A buyer on the showfloor might come across an exhibitor with a product or service not necessarily targeted to that buyer’s business, but one that can be adapted or tweaked to fit the buyer’s needs.

UBM has expanded from simply a transactional show to include thought leadership and content. That is, content above and beyond what is available as part of the conference packages.

Free showfloor theater presentations included a session on Women in MedTech that addressed the challenges of being a woman in the industry. Jim Carroll, author and columnist, lead a session titled “What do world class innovators do that others don’t do?”

Another popular session was the daily “teardowns” conducted by iFixit/Dozuki.

Engineers at the show were drawn to these sessions where presenters actually took apart hot new tech such as the Galaxy S4 and the HD HERO wearable camera.

As they conducted the “teardown,” they looked at each piece of technology and evaluated it based on the quality of its parts and its ease of repair.

Duval explained that because they are not just an event producer but also a publisher, they have the resources behind them to build a community year round through content.

The face-to-face events just bring it all together. “We are one UBM. Everyone has the same community in mind,” Duval said.

Their editors are watching the chatter on social media throughout the year and paying attention to the discussions taking place.

They can quickly tell which topics generate a lot of interest, explore those topics further through their media team and then take it on-site at the event.

UBM also is using that knowledge to help their exhibitors. UBM shared audience insight and taught the exhibitors what they had learned about the industry over the course of the year is a special session before the show floor opened.

The mobile event app was expanded this year by adding a desktop portal. Now attendees could plan their trip and start reaching out to exhibitors from their desktop or laptop in the weeks leading up to the show.

“The mobile app is great when you’re on the move at the event, but the small screen makes it difficult to do very much,” Duval said. The portal automatically synched up to the attendee’s mobile device giving them access to their pre-show planning.

Cimquest Inc. has been exhibiting for 23 years, and Herb Forsythe, a senior sales support specialist at the company, said they saw a steady flow of traffic.

Even during slower times, all the booth staff was engaged with someone. He attributed that partly to their location, but also their “cool factor.” Cimquest was demonstrating their 3D printing capabilities, which definitely was a popular product.

When asked what advice she would pass on to other show producers, Duval quickly responded, “know your audience. Listen to your audience.”

The UBM team spends a lot of time during the event talking to customers and exhibitors. They get feedback directly from their attendees on potential marketing campaigns, asking what would speak directly to them.

They also talk to exhibitors to find out what marketing channels they are having success with and also sharing with exhibitors what’s been working for UBM. “Its a give and take of information,” Duval said.