Over 2100 attendees gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando, Florida for Geotechnical Frontiers 2017, the biggest geosynthetics show in the industry. 

Geotechnical Frontiers combined the annual Geo-Congress and the biennial Geosynthetics Conference into a super-event held once every six years.

“We had a great show and we’re delighted with both the turnout and the quality of presentations,” Geotechnical Frontiers General Secretary Barbara Connett said. “From every perspective, the show was a huge success.”

Geotechnical Frontiers 2017 was co-organized by the Geo-Institute and the Geosynthetic Materials Association, a division of The Advanced Textiles Association. The event was supported by IGS North America, under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society. 

Attendees took part in short courses, panel discussions and lectures, including the first-ever presentation in the Robert M. Koerner Award and Lecture Series. Dr. George Koerner was the first recipient of the award, which is named for his father. Geotechnical Frontiers 2017 also featured 362 technical presentations.

Other conference highlights included a presentation by former Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, plus the Mercer Lecture, the H. Bolton Seed Lecture, the Karl Terzaghi Lecture, the Ralph B. Peck Medal Lecture and the J. Michael Duncan Honorary Symposium.

A total of 193 exhibitors also took part in the event, which ran from March 12-15.