SHOWMAN: Michael Haberman, President of Gradall Co. is chairman of this year's CONEXPO.

 CONEXPO has seen an uptick in foreign attendance fueled by a weak dollar and robust global development activity, say show officials. There were 117,000 attendees registered through the first three days of CONEXPO, making it the largest industry trade show since 2008. Show attendance has gotten a boost from international visitors from 150 countries, which made-up 24% of this year's attendance. It marks 5% more foreign attendees from three years ago. CONEXPO has seen 42 delegations from 37 countries, including 10 international pavilions such as China, Germany, Italy, Korea and United Kingdom.

“In 2011, we are global in scope,” says Mike Haberman, president of Gradall Co. and chairman of 2011 CONEXPO. “There is real positive momentum at this show. People are here to buy, with much of the activity coming from Latin America.”

German crane maker Liebherr, for example, this year plans to build tower cranes to satisfy Brazil and India’s emerging markets. Zoomlion and other show exhibitors are seeing similar strong sales interest for work occurring outside of North America. The U.S. economy is still wobbly with little new construction activity forecasted in 2011.

“There needs to be some stability before they make a major capital expenditure,” says Bill Parks, president of Deltrol Fluid Products and vice chairman of the Associated Equipment Manufacturers’ show management committee. “They need to feel there will be a return on investment.”