Coronavirus Can’t Stop America’s Largest Construction Conference
The once-every-three-years ConExpo couldn’t be easily rescheduled, so the backhoes, cement mixers, and bulldozers swarmed to Vegas despite the epidemic.
Leaders in global construction are gathering as usual for ConExpo in Las Vegas.
Photographer: Aaron Wojack for Bloomberg Businessweek
The longest line at ConExpo, the largest construction convention in North America, is the line to grab beer. As the bottles of Budweiser and Bud Light fly over the counter, the cashier at the beer station says she needs to run to the bathroom. “I’m getting a little terrified,” she says. “I didn’t see any hand sanitizer the whole time I was handing out beers.”
The beer seller, like the vast majority of attendees at the conference, which takes up 2.7 million square feet of space, was concerned about the transmission of coronavirus as about 130,000 attendees converged on Las Vegas on March 10 for this once-every-three-years event. But for her—and planners of many trade shows and events that are going forward despite the pandemic—the show must go on.