EXHIBITION · AWWA ACE 2026
It started with one expo and became three regions
Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington D.C., USA · Jun 21–24, 2026
Ahead of the Washington water expo, we mapped 135 North American utilities and instrumentation companies and contacted 130 of them first.
Twenty-five replied, and 18 progressed to actual meetings.
Using the company and contact criteria developed in the US, we expanded the search to 18 companies in India and 12 in Germany.
Story
Two weeks before the expo, we started deciding whom to meet
Preparation began ahead of the June water expo in Washington D.C., and the contact list kept growing after the event ended.
Water treatment involves many public agencies, so evaluation takes time
The main customers are city- and county-level public utilities, so purchases often follow lab tests or pilots rather than happening immediately. Many contacts also work in R&D or technical evaluation.
That made sustained follow-up after the event more important than the number of people met on site.
Two weeks before the expo, we mapped exhibitors and local utilities one by one
We added 42 companies in June, 56 in July, and 37 in August. The list kept growing even after the expo.
We contacted 130 of the 135 organizations mapped. Replies came mainly from environmental compliance contacts, water-quality R&D managers, and county water agencies. With one organization, we reviewed the product's potential as a screening tool before lab testing.
We applied the US criteria in India and Germany
In India, we contacted 18 instrumentation distribution and engineering companies, including some where a director or founder replied directly.
In Germany, we contacted 12 companies, and the same method used in the US—finding the right contact and sending a tailored message—worked there too.
In the US, we mapped 88 organizations and contacted 83
Sixteen replied, and 11 progressed to actual meetings.
We continued following up for months after the expo and created the next meetings.
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