There may be a recession going on, but the crowd at the Medical Design & Manufacturing West Exposition in February seemed oblivious. Foot traffic was brisk on the expo floor, and a head count showed attendance increased to 16,000 people, more than 4 percent higher than 2008’s event.

Next year looks good, too: West L.A. trade show company Canon Communications Inc., which organized the show, said 70 percent of the event’s 2,200 exhibitors already signed contracts for booths in 2010.

Canon’s shows aren’t the only ones booming. A few days after the MD & M; expo, the Los Angeles Times Travel & Adventure Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center boasted 550 exhibitors, a 37 percent increase from 2008; there was a 10 percent increase in attendance.

In addition, on March 10 in Universal City, the HD Expo, which shows off electronic gear for the entertainment business, saw a 37 percent increase in attendance compared with last year.

Those are examples of what people in the convention business refer to as “regional” shows: They draw crowds from a limited geographic market. That keeps participants’ travel costs to a minimum, and expense is a key consideration in today’s rough economy, said Charles McCurdy, Canon’s chief executive.

“There’s a polarization between large international shows, like those in Las Vegas, and smaller regional shows,” McCurdy said. “Canon is in the latter camp with strong regional shows.”

He points to the famous Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as the kind of mega-event that people skip when money is tight. In January, the 2009 International CES had 110,000 attendees, a 22 percent drop from its 2008 run.

Canon does not put on single, big events. The company produces several versions of the same show at various locations around the world. The medical design expo in Anaheim also has New York and European versions. This year, Canon has launched or will launch local productions of the show in France, Japan and southern Germany.

The company also bundles shows, putting several different events side by side. The Anaheim show for medical devices, for example, was done in coordination with a plastics show, a packaging show and an electronics manufacturing show. People attending one could make the rounds at the other shows, depending on their interests and needs.

“Canon does a really good job bundling shows,” said Chris Round, marketing manager at Cincinnati conveyor-belt maker QC Industries, which exhibits at four Canon shows. “For people to get clear understanding of this complex equipment, there’s no better place than a trade show.”

Underlying industries

Canon was launched in 1978 and now produces 60 trade shows a year, a 10 percent increase from 2006. The company has 270 employees.

About 55 percent of Canon’s revenue comes from trade shows. The remaining 45 percent comes from magazines and Web sites that cover the same industries serviced by the respective trade shows. Titles include Medical Device Technology, Injection Molding and Modern Plastics Worldwide.

The company, owned by private equity firm Apprise Media LLC in New York, does not disclose revenue in dollar figures. However, the company said its revenue increased 23 percent last year.

Like most show organizers, Canon does not charge admission to shows, so the company depends entirely on money from exhibitors. The publications make money from advertising.

Canon has benefited from a boom in the medical device industry, which has had consistent growth of 7 percent to 8 percent for the last decade. McCurdy expects 2009 to continue at that pace.

“It doesn’t really respond to general economic cycles,” he said. “The demand for innovative medical devices depends on spending for health care, which has increased this year.”

However, Canon produces shows for other industries, such as plastics, packaging, filtration and automated assembly. These sectors have contracted along with the general downtuen in manufacturing.

“Canon’s experience as a trade show operator is consistent with that our medical device sector will continue to grow and other general manufacturing shows will be down from last year,” McCurdy said.

Even in hard times, companies need to get the message out.

“Yes, trade shows are pricey,” said Round, the conveyor-belt salesman. “But from that show in Anaheim I got 200 qualified leads, meaning people who plan to buy conveyor belts in the next six months. So the value is extremely high I cherish every show.”