PDAC claims attendance rose 240 versus 2018

   PDAC 2019

The organisers are claiming 25,843 people attended this year’s event, up 240 on 2018.

One wonders how this number was calculated?  Sunday and Tuesday definitely looked less than last year, and Wednesday only had a light attendance. Were the many groups of children being led around counted I wonder?  I bet they were.

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PDAC 2019

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The organisers are claiming 25,843 people attended this year’s event, up 240 on 2018.

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One wonders how this number was calculated?  Sunday and Tuesday definitely looked less than last year, and Wednesday only had a light attendance. Were the groups of children being led around counted I wonder?

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I am astonished that they can claim more people were there when booth holders were constantly complaining abut the lack of investors visiting their stands.  Visually the first and third days did not look so busy, although I am concious of the fact they look to have made the aisles wider as there were less companies than in 2018.

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The attendance figure is important as this was the first year when there was as admission charge (CAD$ 23), and obviously they want to put on a brave face.  I personally know people that would normally attend every day that only attended once, and a well known European investor boycotted Saturday in protest over the admission fee.

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I personally think to charge $23 for Wednesday, which is only open for three hours is both greedy and ridiculous.  Perhaps Wednesday should be free to ensure a good attendance?

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Outgoing president Glenn Mullan said he’d attended the event for 44 straight years: “mood-wise, 2019 was among the best”.  Well I’m not sure what conference he attended, but it wasn’t the same one as me!  Gold fell just before the conference started and that put a dampener on things In my opinion.

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I have written to the PDAC to express my astonishment that they are charging for Wednesday, and suggested they sell a 3 day ticket with Wednesday given as a free bonus   I await their reply with interest.

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