Northeast Propane Show

By Shane Sweet

In August the Northeast Propane Show (NPA) will again come to its home at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough, Mass.   The dates are August 10 and 11.

I have been saying for years that if you throw a rock in any direction during the spring and summer months you will hit a least one trade show.  If you are provider of services to the retail energy sector and you take booths at these events, spring and summer can seem like an endless parade standing on a hard, concrete trade show floors for days on end. As one that generally participates as a visitor at shows like this, I find attendance at these events to be a productive venture.

NPS is unique in many respects. The event is energetic yet relaxed, the location features ample free parking on-site, is a stone’s throw from the highway and provides easy access to and from I-495.   Overnight rooms are reasonably priced and “the tent” (see the pic on this page), itself an NPS trademark, is literally feet from the ballroom where the majority of the booths are located and provides for a cool venue for bobtails, transports, service trucks and live burn equipment demos.   Last but not least, the show is about propane, with few exceptions.

The 2016 two-day NPS event, created in 2010 as a joint venture between the Propane Gas Association of New England and the New England Fuel Institute, has become a bi-annual favorite for propane people in the Northeast and beyond.   PGANE is the sole producer of the show, now in its 4^th iteration.

The show began with about 100 exhibitors and in this year will boast 150 exhibitors.

On August 10^th, registration will open at 8:00 a.m. and the trade show floor will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

That morning, business and technical content will include:

• How to Use Multi-Meters Seminar
• Successfully Managing Inventory for Your Business
• Combustion Analysis
• Basic Operation of a Vaporizer
• Technician Tools of The Trade Seminar
• Things that Go Bump In The Night
• Venting of Category IV Gas Fired Appliances
• Bobtail Creep Test

Starting at 11:30 a.m. there will be a buffet lunch (Note this is a ticketed event)

• Afternoon sessions will include presentations on
• Relief Valve Sizing and Operation Seminar
• Customer Service Marketing
• Today’s Marketing
• Basic Operation of a Vaporizer
• Bobtail Creep Test

At 6:00 p.m. there will be a banquet (again, a ticketed event)

On August 11th Registration will begin at 8:00am with Show Hours starting at 9:00 a.m. and end at 1:00 p.m.

Morning sessions on the 11^th will include:

• Advancement in Technology in Direct Fired Wall Furnaces Seminar
• How Much Is Your Propane Business Worth?
• CSST Codes and State Regulations
• Basic Operation of a Vaporizer
• New Technology in The Market and Get Propane Involved Seminar
• Why Use Tank Monitors
• Carbon Monoxide—The Silent Killer
• Bobtail Creep Test

Following a ticked Buffett Lunch starting at 11:30 a.m., the business sessions will conclude with:

• Supply Update Seminar
• Best Practices in Collections
• New Technology for Gas Fittings

If you have not yet made the trip to this event, I recommend this show to anyone and everyone that has interest in propane.   Tell Joe Rose, exec and president of PGANE, that Shane sent you.