SupplySide West 2008 Exhibit Hall Sees Double-Digit Growth

LAS VEGASIndustry executives from dietary supplement, food, cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical and animal nutrition companies gathered Oct. 22 to 24 for SupplySide West at the Sands Exposition Center and Venetian Resort Casino. The number of booths at SupplySide West, the world's largest exhibition for healthy and innovative ingredients, grew by 10 percent and the number of exhibiting companies grew by 8 percent.

With the global economic downturn, many events are seeing drops in attendance. Total participation at SupplySide West was essentially the same as 2007 with nearly 8,000 professionals, said Peggy Jackson, director of publishing for Virgo Publishings Health & Nutrition Division. We continue to see growth in the quality of attendees, as high-level decision makers from global manufacturing powerhouses walked the show floor looking for ingredients and services.

Professionals from Alticor, Amway, Aubrey Organics, Aveda, Bayer Healthcare, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper/Snapple, Dreyer's, Dunkin Brands, Enzymatic Therapy, Estée Lauder, Frito-Lay, General Mills, Guthy-Renker, Herbalife International, Kelloggs, Kraft, Murad, Nature's Way, NBTY, Nestlé, Nutrilite, philosophy, Procter & Gamble, Rainbow Light, Safeway, Sara Lee Corp., Shaklee Corp., Shisheido, Solgar, Tyson Foods, Unilever, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, and many more leading companies attended.

"The show is bigger than it's ever been. The people I've talked to said it's been busy and they are pleased with the value. We came here with a mission and I think we've done a very good job fulfilling it. There is a good group of people to choose from. And they are all here at one time, so it's easy to compare their offerings. Also, our current vendors and suppliers are here, so it's a good opportunity to talk to them. The education seminars were very good this year. I'm pleased with the upgrade in quality of the education sessions." -- David Morrison, vice president, scientific & regulatory affairs, The Vitamin Shoppe

"Coming from the beauty side of the business I found SupplySide West to be a rich source of new technology opportunities for our beauty products.  In fact, I picked up so much interesting material I had to pay over weight charges on my luggage!" -- Ron Sharpe, research associate, Health & Beauty New Technology R&D, Amway Corp.

The Golf Classic, sponsored by Pharmachem Laboratories, on Wednesday, Oct. 24 was the first SupplySide West event. More than 260 golfers participated in the tournament, held at the Revere Golf Club. A luncheon followed the Golf Classic, and trophies were awarded for individual achievement and top team scores. This years SupplySide West Golf outing was another tremendous success, said Dick Beitel, vice president of sales, Pharmachem. It kicks off the show and puts everyone in a great mood as they prepare for the long hours they will spend over the next few days. The two courses brought out lots of golfers and proved very challenging to all. It was nice to try a new location and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. It is always a great networking place and a great forum for learning how everyone feels about business in general. The luncheon was very well received, and the prizes this year really seemed to top off the event. SupplySide West is definitely our best industry event and favorite place to meet everyone. Another truly superb performance by Virgo Publishing.

Two pre-conference workshops were held on Wednesday, Oct. 24. More than 100 participants attended the Stevia Update: Regulatory Status, Market Potential and Product Development Workshop featuring American Botanical Councils Mark Blumenthal and Robert S. McQuate, Ph.D., from GRAS Associates LLC. The Natural Marketing Institute presented the trends workshop Nutritional Opportunities for Todays 24/7 Lifestyle: Addressing the Interconnected Consumer Needs of Stress Energy Sleep.

The exhibit hall opened at 10am on Thursday, Oct. 23 with 1,079 booths, making it the largest SupplySide exhibit hall to date. Thousands of executives walked the exhibit hall until 5:30pm on Thursday and again from 10am to 5:30pm on Friday.

The show was more interesting than usual this year. I saw several truly novel things that are immediately actionable. This show remains a glimpse into the future of what will appear on retail shelves in two years. Its a good combination of science and how to assemble the pieces. -- Michael Yatcilla, vice president, research and development, Natrol

Two networking events offered additional opportunities to connect with industry peers. The first-ever Manufacturers Welcome Reception, sponsored by Celadrin and INSIDER, was held Wednesday night. Thousands of event participants attended the Opening Reception Thursday evening; the event was sponsored by DSM, SourceOne Global Partners and Natural Health Science.

The three-day Education Program, sponsored by Cognis Nutrition & Health, expanded to five tracks to incorporate sessions focusing on animal nutrition and food service in addition to the dietary supplement, food and cosmeceutical tracks. Speakers from Estée Lauder, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, International Food Information Council, National Animal Supplement Council, National Institutes of Health, Packaged Facts, The Hartman Group, Tufts University, University of Arizona and many more prestigious organizations presented. Richard E. Collins, M.D., The Cooking Cardiologist® was the Featured Speaker on Thursday.

We are delighted to work with Virgo in bringing the top experts in their fields to SupplySide," said David Eckert, vice president for Cognis Nutrition & Health. The feedback from attendees at the book signing following the featured presentation by The Cooking Cardiologist amplified why Cognis continues to sponsor the SupplySide West education program. Industry colleagues in nearly all aspects of our business commented on how much they enjoyed the talk by Dr. Collins. They also shared insights on seminars they attended and it was clear that they appreciated the high caliber of speakers and valuable information that was presented."

A three-day VendorWorks program gave participants their choice of more than 40 presentations of ingredient science, manufacturing information, formulations and much more. Two concurrent presentations were held on Thursday and Friday during exhibit hall hours.

On Friday, Virgo Publishing presented the INSIDER Scientific Excellence Award to NIS Labs for their biological assay CAP-e (Cell-based Antioxidant Protection in Erythrocytes), the inside cosmeceuticals Scientific Excellence Award to Nutragenesis for Sensara, and the Food Product Design Scientific Excellence Award to DSM Food Ingredients for PreventASe.

On Saturday, Oct. 25, more than 220 professionals attended the Essential Fatty Acids: Trends and Opportunities workshop, developed with GOED, and Probiotics: Market Trends, Consumer Attitudes & Capitalizing on the Category workshop, developed with the International Probiotics Association. Additional educational opportunities included: the workshop An Education Course on the Final FDA GMP Rule for Dietary Supplements, presented on Tuesday and Wednesday by Virgo Publishing and the Natural Products Association; and Science at SupplySide Poster Presentations, sponsored by nutrilearn.com.

For more information on SupplySide East 2009, scheduled for April 28 to 30 in Secaucus, N.J., or SupplySide West 2009, which will take place Nov. 11 to 13 in Las Vegas, visit http://www.supplysideshow.com/ or call (800) 454-5760.