SAN DIEGO — Registration is tracking high for the International Baking Industry Expo (IBIE), happening Sept. 17-21 in Las Vegas. That was the main takeaway from the IBIE update at BEMA’s annual convention last week.

During their presentation at the convention, Dennis Gunnell, IBIE 2022 chairman and president of Formost Fuji, and Kate Ammerman, account director of mdg and IBIE marketing director, reported that baker attendees are tracking at 6% higher than this time leading up to IBIE 2019, when the show was last held. Wholesale bakers were pacing ahead by 2%, and retail bakers were up 11%.

“Those attendee numbers will continue to grow as we get closer and closer to the show,” Mr. Gunnell said.

International attendees were up a significant 20%. When taking into account international exhibitors and allieds, registration is pacing ahead by 40%.

“Over the last year and a half, ensuring international attendance has been our largest concern,” Mr. Gunnell said. “We had confidence with the North American market, but it’s fantastic to see numbers like this in light of the potential obstacles.”

Ms. Ammerman also announced the addition of a new event at the show, The Rockin’ Pint presented by AB Mauri, a concert by Duff Goldman and his band of food industry professionals, Foie Grock. The event is Monday, Sept. 19, after the expo closes and will be a place attendees can enjoy music and pints of beer. The concert is free to all attendees and exhibitors. Mr. Goldman said the band would be performing covers of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, the Kinks, the Beatles, the Clash and more.

Exhibitors’ staff registrations were tracking down 6% compared to this time during the last show cycle. With attendee registrations tracking so positively, Mr. Gunnell encouraged exhibitors to bring a full staff and the range of experts attendees really find value in meeting with.

“Baker attendees want to meet with engineers to ask technical questions; they want to see sales people and manufacturing people, and if they can’t talk to the right people on your staff to meet their needs, they will look elsewhere,” Mr. Gunnell said.

IBIE exhibitors can look forward to a Final Show Preparation webinar on Aug. 3 to learn how to finalize their show plans. Prior webinars from this series are available on-demand on the Exhibitor Resources at BakingExpo.com.