KINGSPORT, Tenn. – The 10th edition of the eChem Expo attracted 1,340 registrants and more than 200 exhibitors to the Meadowview Conference Resort and Convention Center in Kingsport TN on April 5, 2018, continuing an 18-year tradition for the biennial conference and exhibition.
Executives and employees from Eastman Chemical Co. – a global specialty chemical company with corporate headquarters and one of the world’s largest chemical plants here – were well-represented among the hundreds of engineers who earned Professional Development Hours (PDHs) at the event’s 60 accredited seminars and four featured panels.
Throngs of attendees visited the show’s exhibit-floor booths to gain firsthand knowledge of products and services offered by participating venders, many of whom already have working relationships with Eastman and with other process-industry plants in the area.
eChem Expo continued to attract new attendees with some 35% first time registrants. Multidisciplinary participation also continued to expand with the information technology sector being the newest addition.
“There’s really no other gathering quite like eChem Expo,” says Peter Knox, a California-based chemical engineer who founded eChem Expo in year 2000 and works with a planning committee, mostly from Eastman Chemical Company, to develop the event. “It’s a completely market research-based expo and conference.”
In other words, eChem Expo surveys engineers and plant operators to determine what exhibitors to invite to the show and what topics to cover in the event’s seminars and panel discussions. Starting about a year before the 2018 event, Expo officials conducted more than 100 stakeholder interviews with Eastman employees to learn about their workplace hopes, concerns and expectations.
