Las Vegas -- There clearly was a buzz in the atmosphere on the first day of the Medtrade West show held in Las Vegas in March, and everyone agreed that it was a good buzz.

"It's hard to describe the superlatives for this one, frankly," said DuWayne Kramer, president of Kansas City, Kan.-based Leisure-Lift. "I talked to a lot of people that thought it was just a phenomenal improvement over last year."

The numbers support such accolades. Show officials said their initial projection of 2,500 attendees was exceeded, compared with last year's attendance of 1,800. The number of exhibitors also grew, from 297 last year to 324 this year.

Officials added that in order to continue growing the show, they plan to make some changes, including expanding it from a two-day to a three-day format. Manufacturers expressed some dismay with this decision.

"I'm not sure if going to three days next year is going to fly too well with the exhibitors because it was pretty slow on the second day," said Ben Kim, marketing coordinator at Chatsworth, Calif.-based Chad Therapeutics. "It's obviously going to cost more to rent the space out to the exhibitors, and it's just going to be dead on the last day."

Some providers concurred.

"They would have to enlarge it," said Ron Weeks, vice president of Temple, Texas-based R&B Medical. "You've got to get more people out there, more vendors. With Medtrade, it takes a while to cover that [show]. But I don't know if you need three days [for Medtrade West]. I think two is plenty."

Show officials said they want to expand the show to three days so it draws more international participation.

"When the show's only a day and a half, it's kind of hard for international exhibitors to get everything together and come to the United States," said Jill Powell, marketing manager at Washington-based VNU Expositions, owners of the show. "And a lot of them don't want to pay the international airfares to come out for just two days. If they're going to come, they'd like to take their time and attend the different sessions and visit the expo hall."

Medtrade West will go through yet another change. Beginning next year, the show, which will be held April 22-25 at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, will be called Medtrade Spring.

In other show news this year, three manufacturers won best new product awards. They are: Avenue Innovations, Victoria, B.C., for the Handybar portable handle; W.C. Caddy, Phoenix, Ariz., for its wheelchair carrier; and Life-Tech International, Stafford, Texas, for its Belly Bag abdominal urine drainage bag.

For more information about Medtrade West, go to the show's Web site at www.medtradewest.com or call (703) 488-2700.