SME spokesperson Liz Jones told ILN late last week that the Denver gathering held from February 27 to March 2 had an estimated attendance of nearly 5800, though the final total was still being computed.

The show floor was sold out with 683 vendor booths set up at the Colorado Convention Center.

While Jones noted that the attendance was not a record for SME’s annual meeting, the numbers were up by more than 700 from last year’s conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

The group is now kicking off work for the 2012 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibition, its 141st, which will be hosted at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle.

With a theme of Mine to Market: Now it’s Global, the event has been scheduled for February 19-22 and is already seeing interest from vendors and guests alike.

SME will open up the floor in June for abstract submissions from prospective and invited authors for the technical session portion of next February’s gathering. Those wishing to submit an abstract will have until August 1 to do so, and successful entrants will be advised of acceptance by September.

Keep reading ILN for more details on the 2012 SME Seattle event as it becomes available.