40

THE KANSAS LIFELINE

July 2018

he staff from BG Consultants expected to distribute

1,500 tote bags to attendees in the first two days of the

conference.

“We’ve given out about 700 or 800 so far today, and we’ll

give out about the same number tomorrow,” said Brian

Kingsley, the company’s president. “We’ve been giving

these out for about five years or so. It has become an annual

tradition.”

The conference is an important time for the company to

network with current and future clients, as well as other

companies doing related work, Kingsley said. 

“Everyone in the industry who deals with water utilities is

here,” he said. “There’s no other networking opportunity

like this in the state of Kansas.”

Kingsley said his company appreciated the technical

support provided by the Kansas Rural Water Association for

providing unbiased second opinions for projects. 

“We’ve used KRWA for things like smoke testing, and

Rita Clary has been great to work with her knowledge about

loans and the administration side of things,” he said. “We

appreciate the relationship with KRWA.”

_______

At least two vendors used the power of popcorn to attract

visitors to their booths.

“We used to bring a smaller machine until it got so

popular that we had to get a bigger one,” said Doug Napier,

a technical application specialist with Hawkins, Inc. “We’ll

go through more than 500 boxes just during this show. The

smell brings everyone to the booth. It works!”

T

Vendors report success . . . 

KRWA Conference Consistently

One of the Top Trade Shows 

EXPO Hall

The chemical and equipment company has been attending

the convention for at least 20 years, Napier estimated. In

addition to being able to answer questions about their own

services, several of the vendors with whom the company

works are also on-hand to help customers.

The 2018 show brought as much or more traffic than

previous years, he said.

“I go to a half-dozen shows every year and this is the best

by far,” he said. 

_______

Steve Secrest, president of SCI Automation, a Utah-based

company specializing in automation technology for water,

wastewater and oil and gas systems, said he observed a shift in

how customers approached the exhibition hall in 2018.

“This year, people seem more driven to find help and

solutions for problems with their systems,” he said. “We’ve

had lots of conversations with people who are truly interested.

Some people have come with an agenda and showed me their

list. They haven’t told me that in the past.”

The sheer variety of services offered in EXPO Hall allows

those operators, even from small systems, the ability to take

care of all of their needs in one place, he said.

“You’ve got everything here from mowing grass to patching

water lines to unpluging a sewer system to running an entire

water system from a computer or a phone,” Secrest said.