Canada goes to The Rental Show

Neil DeJong of ITE Rentals and Pat Parkerson of Eastcan Marketing.
Mark Weirda of Dri-Eaz. Weirda will be one of the seminar presenters at the Canadian Rental Mart in March. His topic is “Profiting from The Renovation Industry.”
The Texada Software team, from left: Jamie Searth, Alex Kress, Rod Theorei, and Brian Spilak.

Thousands of rental professionals recently converged on Orlando, Fla., with a singular purpose in mind. They were in town to attend The Rental Show, running Feb. 7-10 at the Orange County Convention Center.

There was plenty to see. With over 600 exhibiting companies, it was almost impossible for one person to see everything. Although the official attendance numbers have not been released yet, there were more people in Orlando than attended the 2009 show in Atlanta.

The first day of the The Rental Show had plenty to offer for those in the event rental side of the industry, as well as general interest business sessions, such as “Extreme Leadership at Work and Beyond.” The Events and Tents portion of the show got underway with an opening session entitled “Behind the Magic: Disney’s Approach to Inspiring Creativity.” It was a fascinating inside look at how things are done at one of the largest and most successful entertainment companies in the world.

Monday, Feb. 8 started off with the Canadian Rental Association Annual General Meeting, followed by Regional Breakfasts. These presented a great opportunity for networking.

The keynote session also took place on Feb. 8. The keynote speaker was Pat Williams, who spoke on “Creating Quality: 10 Keys to Creating a Quality Organization.”

There was a strong Canadian contingent at The Rental Show this year, and nowhere was this more evident than at the Canadian Hospitality Night, held at the DoubleTree Hotel. Roughly 300 people attended. The CRA would like to thank the many generous sponsors who helped make the night a success.

Penny O’Sullivan of ABCO Equipment and Supplies, Rhonda Pedersen, and Dean Nasato of Wacker Neuson.	Jeff Campbell of St. Thomas Rentall, and Paul Tomc of Vulcan Demolition Tools.
Many rental pros took the opportunity to enjoy some family time while at the show, including Blair and Jill Holtsman of Hub City Display, and their son.	Louise and Carlos Serpa of Bel-Ayre Rentals.
Jim Freeman and Paul Everitt of Rentquip Canada.	Wayne and Tammy Beckett of Wayne’s Rental Centre.
	Rick Tenetiuk of the Handy Group of Companies, and Darryl Wood of Handy Rental Centre.