When FreightWaves first announced “Demo Day” at its inaugural conference, Transparency 18, there was a question as to how many companies would want to present in the strict 7-minute time slot. Turns out, there were quite a few, with nearly 30 choosing to demo their latest product in front of the audience. More than 35 companies showed up at MarketWaves 18 in the fall of 2018, and that number continued to grow this spring at Transparency 19 with 40 companies – selling out the entire available demo blocks – presenting.
Since then, FreightWaves has renamed its events business, but that hasn’t changed the enthusiasm for companies interested in demoing at FreightWaves LIVE Chicago. In fact, it has only ramped it up. Initially, 40 slots were allocated for Chicago, but those sold out so quickly an additional 16 slots were made available. Those too, are almost gone, with more than two months to go before the event.
“We introduced the concept of demo day to give companies the opportunity to show their latest innovations to industry leaders and investors,” said Arlen Stark of FreightWaves. “Many startup companies looking to gain a foothold in the industry or to partner with a larger company that can help them test and commercialize their product have taken advantage of this unique opportunity. Established companies benefit as well by presenting their latest innovations in front of more than 1,500 of the leading minds and decision makers across all modes of the freight ecosystem.”
FreightWaves LIVE Chicago will take place Nov. 12-13, 2019, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Headline sponsor J.B. Hunt 360 is a previous Best of Show winner, earning honors at Transparency 19.
Daimler, ECHO, Emerge, LeanTech, Platform Science, SkyBitz, Transflo, TriumphPay, TTN Fleet Solutions and Uber Freight are universal sponsors of FreightWaves LIVE Chicago. Schneider is a national sponsor and Pilot Flying J and HERE are regional sponsors.
The unique demo format restricts companies to 7 minutes on stage. Most importantly, the product or service must be recently introduced or soon-to-be introduced and presenters are not allowed to use PowerPoint presentations – all the demos must be live.
Companies wishing to demo can sign up here: https://www.freightwaves.com/live-chi/demo.
More than 1,500 attendees are expected to attend FreightWaves LIVE Chicago. In addition to the demos, which will take place across the two-day conference, attendees will be able to visit the Global TradeTech Forum, learn about FreightWaves’ SONAR platform at the SONAR Summit or about Freight Futures at the Futures Forum.
To register to attend FreightWaves LIVE Chicago, visit the event home page: https://www.freightwaves.com/live-chi/register.
The companies scheduled to demo include a who’s who of industry leaders, including DAT, Emerge, Descartes, I.D. Systems, J.B. Hunt 360, K Ratio, KeepTruckin, Kleinschmidt, McLeod Software, Pilot Flying J, project 44, Redwood, Schneider, Spireon, Transflo, Trimble, Trucker Tools, Uber Freight and WorkHound. The complete list of companies scheduled can be found here: https://www.freightwaves.com/live-chi/demo-companies.
Platform Science will be presenting for the third time. The company has previously said that the format allows companies to help raise the bar for innovation.
