WINDSOR, Conn. — Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, organized by TRC Companies, Inc. (TRC), is an annual event that brings together trucking fleet operators, technology providers, utility professionals and more industry participants to drive sustainability in commercial transportation.
The show was recently recognized in the Trade Show Executive (TSE) Fastest 50 Class of 2023 for its growth, ranking No. 15 by percentage of growth in net square feet of paid exhibit space and No. 41 by percentage of growth in total attendance, and named a Next 50 honoree by ranking No. 61 by percentage of growth in the number of exhibiting companies. It was also ranked No. 97 in the TSE Gold 100 Class of 2023, which recognizes the 100 largest U.S.-based trade shows.
TSE spoke with Tony Quist, Senior Vice President, Sales & Events, Clean Transportation Solutions Team at TRC, about the show’s beginnings, impressive progress and exciting future.
ANDREW: Could you share what inspired the launch of ACT Expo and how it has changed through the years?
TONY: In 2011, I was recruited to help the owners of our consulting company launch a trade show that represented and reflected the work that they do to help reduce emissions in the clean transportation and clean energy divisions … We were known as the natural gas show at the beginning, because that’s all it was: compressed natural gas … liquified natural gas, propane [and] biodiesel … but it wasn’t going to suit it. There isn’t one silver bullet, technology, [or] fuel, that’s going to meet every fleet’s requirements depending on what they do for a living.
So, we started evolving into all these other technologies as they came on board … Our show overnight went from a natural gas show to an EV [electric vehicle] show, and we’ve been growing ever since. It’s just been really remarkable. We’ve been very grateful, and we’ve grown the show responsibly, slowly and respectfully … now we have obviously natural gas … hydrogen, autonomous vehicles, [and] AI-connected vehicles.
There’s so much more going on out there that fleets can use to help reduce their emissions while maintaining an economic advantage in their businesses … This has been my baby for the last 14 years and we take it very seriously, because, you know, we are a for-profit company but we’re doing it for all the right reasons — we’re trying to clean up the air. Zero emissions, it’s so important. It’s too big to fail.
ANDREW: How does the ACT Expo team work to ensure responsible growth?
TONY: I’m a trade show guy … our business model is the more booth space you sell, [and] the more registrations you sell, the more money you’re going to make, right? But in our case, the way I grew it was “let’s sell this responsibly.” We will grow the show aisle-by-aisle because you have to put as many buyers on the show floor as you do sellers, and that’s always been our secret recipe.
We can’t just sell a big, gigantic expo hall for the booths, just because we can sell it, and not be able to fill it with qualified buyers. We’ve always made sure that our agenda content lined up with the sponsors, [and] exhibitors that we had on the show floor so we could attract the right attendee-buyers, and it would be in the critical mass.
ANDREW: What sort of growth did ACT Expo’s 2024 edition see?
TONY: From ‘23 to ‘24 we went from a 290, almost 300,000 net-square-foot hall of exhibit space to 550,000 net square feet. So, we were able to grow substantially by that and I was able to take a lot of companies off our wait list.
We had about 165 brand-new, first-time exhibitors in 2024 … [and] we had 75 international companies represented that we did not have in ‘23 … I think what we have developed and why we’ve been sustaining this year-over-year growth as far as the show is the content, the knowledge-sharing, [and] the programming. … Our agenda is very focused on policy, regulation, [and] all the topics that typically are keeping our ideal fleet-buyer up at night … “How do we stay in compliance? What funding opportunities are available? What do we need to know today? What’s happening in the future so we can make the proper investments?”
So, the programming itself refreshes year-over-year — it’s not the same content. It may be modified a little bit depending on what’s happened in the policy and regulations over the year, and each state has their own rules and regulations, so we try to incorporate that and sprinkle in regionally, nationally and then internationally. On our agenda, you’ll see a little flavor of all three of those so everyone can benefit from that attendance.
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ANDREW: Has your team employed any new marketing strategies?
TONY: We’re just adding different, unique applications to help create audience that we typically wouldn’t have. We have a program called the Shipper-Carrier Connect … the shippers are going to their carriers saying “listen, in order for us to give you our contract to ship our product to our retailers, you have to be running sustainable fleets.” … We’re trying to get the shippers and carriers in one room to talk about each of their concerns … that’s creating a whole different audience pool and growth opportunity for the type of attendance that would typically go to our show.
We need to dig deeper to find that non-traditional attendee that needs to get to the show, whether they’re purchasing, they’re acquiring … researching [or] engineering … it’s a whole lot more than just transportation.
ANDREW: Are there any sustainability enhancements that you want to highlight?
TONY: We are a sustainable organization top-down, and we do practice that. What we’ve required in the venues that we even consider putting our show [in is] they all have to be LEED-certified.
We no longer print 300-page, on-site show program guides … [and] we’re not selling bottled water at all.
ANDREW: What do you predict for the show’s 2025 edition?
TONY: In Anaheim, what’s different from when we were there in ‘23 is we got the full facility: all four expo halls, [and] all the outside campus … The booth space is getting much bigger … the show floor year-over-year is really spectacular.
It’s very pretty; it’s well organized — aisles galore. We make it real easy for attendees to navigate that expo hall … [and after the election] more and more people will be more comfortable and realize what the new policy is and what the new administration is going to be doing, so people will be glued to our agenda, programming and knowledge-sharing.
We really see an uptick opportunity in international attendance from our media and journalists, from our sponsors [and] exhibitors, everyone from top-down. It’s going to be bigger, better and more exciting.
