Informa Exhibitions’ 2015 International Roofing Expo had its largest showfloor since 2000 and attracted 9,337 roofing construction professionals Feb. 24-26 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

"The tradeshow floor was the largest since the 2000 show,” said Tracy Garcia, CEM, IRE show director. “Exhibitors enjoyed steady traffic as they introduced hundreds of new and innovative products to high-caliber decision-makers.”

Attendees came from all segments of the roofing industry, including commercial and residential contractors, builders, remodelers, building owners, facility managers, manufacturers, architects, engineers and other related industry professionals.

They also represented all 50 states, with the bulk of attendees from Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, Florida and Mississippi.

The largest number of international attendees came from Canada, Mexico and Seoul. First time registrants made up 42 percent of all attendees.

"We had an awesome first year at the IRE. There were a lot of great vendors, great products and great people,” said Cody Taylor of SupplyHog. “This is an exciting time to be in the industry, and we look forward to coming back next year!"

The tradeshow floor had 1,178 booths, a 13-percent increase, compared with the 2014 show.

Exhibitors were pleased with the number of leads and inquiries generated during the show, according to show management.

“IRE 2015 was a huge success,” said Nick Wood of JobNimbus. “It exceeded our expectations by at least three times in terms of meeting new and existing customers and making great partner connections.”

Of the 465 exhibiting companies, 87 companies were first-time exhibitors, including Houzz, Alliance Construxion Group, Ford Motor Company, Gaussan Technologies, Nissan Commercial Vehicle,  Roof Angel, Specialty Fastening Systems, Viewpoint Construction Software, and Viking Barriers, just to name a few.

In addition to the exhibits the show’s educational conference offered 44 educational sessions addressing a variety of industry issues.

Educational tracks included technical and workplace safety classes, as well as  business-related sessions including leadership/management, green building, legal/HR, money matters, sales/service and general business.

IRE made looking for new products and services fun by giving attendees the opportunity to play the Treasure Quest game.

There was one winner of $2,000 after their name was drawn from a pool of attendees who visited each of the 10 participating Treasure Quest sponsors.

**Correction from original article that stated Hanley Wood Exhibitions was the show's owner.