Matex 2004 has been and gone, but Forkliftaction.com was there.
A veritable who's who of the Australian forklift and materials handling market attended, but some of the world's largest forklift manufacturers - Yale, Hyster and Crown - were not among the exhibitors.
The general feeling from most forklift exhibitors was that, while opening day, June 1, was mediocre at best, by day two, when Forkliftaction.com attended, pedestrian traffic was good, and some companies reported "off-the-stand" sales.
Nicholas Tossman, a member of the Matex organising committee, said the response from exhibitors and visitors had been "really positive".
While official visitor numbers have not yet been released, Mr Tossman said more than 70% of next year's exhibition space had already sold.
"We had a great show. Everyone's looking forward to next year already," he said.
Matex was one of several shows being run concurrently at Sydney's Convention & Exhibition Centre as part of National Manufacturing Week. While that meant materials handling exhibitors gained many visitors from other exhibitions, exhibitors agreed the industry wants its own show.
"There are too many options, both for companies exhibiting, and industry participants, in Australia right now," one exhibitor said.
Certainly the show missed much of the glitz of international events, but that is a standard trend outside the "big three" world shows - CeMAT, Manutention and IMHX.
Apart from scantily-clad promotional staff roaming the aisles, and Linde's "stop-go" girls, stands were functional rather than flashy.
Materials handling companies present included Red Australia, NTP Forklifts, Westrac, Toyota Industrial, BT Australia, Apex Associates, TVH Australasia, Kalmar Equipment Australia, Adapt-A-Lift, Nomad Lift Trucks, Linde, Flexi-Lift and Fork-Safe International.