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Lights Up At NeoCon

NeoCon
The Merchandise Mart Chicago
Chicago, US
June 15 – 17, 2009

Light!, the expo and conference introducing leading edge lighting products specifically developed for the hospitality, commercial and health care industries, will debut at NeoCon this year. Light! is owned and produced by Nielsen Business Media and presented by sister publication, Contract magazine,. The new expo and conference will feature 100 lighting exhibitors, 13 CEU-accredited educational sessions in the lighting track and a lighting keynote speaker.

“We are always looking for ways to deliver more value to NeoCon attendees,” said Mark Falanga, senior vice president of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc (MMPI), organiser of NeoCon. “NeoCon specifiers and end users purchase lighting for every commercial project and they have indicated to us that they would like to see it at the show.”

“Light! is the first event of its kind and we are excited to work with The Merchandise Mart to provide a new resource for design professionals who are interested in innovative lighting concepts,” said Joe Randall, Senior Vice President of Nielsen Business Media’s Building & Design Group, which includes Light! and Contract.

More than 50,000 trade professionals attend NeoCon World’s Trade Fair, including: architects, interior designers, facility managers, space planners, dealers/distributors, manufacturers/reps, corporate real estate executives, office managers, purchasing managers, project managers, operations managers, engineers, building owners/managers, press and students.

First In Japan

Office Furniture Japan
Tokyo Big Sight
Tokyo, Japan
July 8 – 10, 2009

Japan offered its first ever office furniture trade fair in the heart of Tokyo last year. Organised by Reed Exhibitions Japan Ltd, the OFFICE FURNITURE JAPAN is a dedicated trade platform for dealers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, as well as corporate users and building management companies to meet with manufacturers.

The event will again be held together with the International Office Machines & Equipment Expo Tokyo (OFMEX) and Office Security Expo Tokyo.

According to a press release, a representative from Seki Furniture Co Ltd commented, “Great numbers of office furniture/machine dealers and stationery wholesalers visited our booth. We had concrete business meetings with 35 new companies and expecting to receive JPY 6 million (US$54,000) orders. In response to the success this year, we will exhibit with expanded booth size next year at OFFICE FURNITURE JAPAN 2009”.

Office furniture/machine dealer, Duplosystem Inc said, “Office furniture is one of the most important categories as it holds 30 percent of our total sales. We visited the show to seek new companies and further business negotiations are progressing with some of them. We are expecting to see more design office furniture next year.”

Indian Pioneer

Office Expo
Pragati Maidan
New Delhi, India
August 1 – 3, 2009

Office Expo is organised by Media Exposition & Events. The pioneer show for workplace solutions, has carved a niche for itself by creating a business platform for office automation, office furniture, stationery, audio visual, security, as well as IT and service solutions.

Decision makers from various sectors such as it, educational institutes & schools, entertainment industry, healthcare, finance & advertising related companies, pharmaceutical, BPO sector, government departments, defence services, as well as auditorium authorities to name just a few. Many more in addition to these like architects, interior designers, directors, ceos, presidents/ vice presidents, it mangers, purchase managers & office managers visit and make most of their purchase decisions here for the year.

Around 27,000 professionals attended the Office Expo 2007, Delhi Chapter. Out of which 5,200 of them were top-level managers with buying influence.

Riding On Strategic Partnerships

Office Furniture China
Shanghai New International Expo Centre
Shanghai, China
September 9 – 12, 2009

Visitors can expect a larger range of products and designs as Furniture China becomes increasingly important for international brands to display their products. The same goes for concurrent event – Office Furniture China (OFC).

Annually, OFC hosts about 250 office furniture manufacturers, who display their latest products across 25,000 sq m of exhibition space. Besides office furniture, OFC also presents products related to public and commercial use, such as hotel furniture, public furniture and school furniture.

Anticipating increased domestic demands; organiser of the shows, Shanghai CMP Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co Ltd will join hands with the Shanghai Redstar Macalline Global Furnishing Trade Centre to run the China National Furniture Expo and The Autumn Domestic Sourcing Fair. This is expected to ease the space constraints that have been plaguing organisers. According to a press release, this partnership will also attract the retailers of Redstar Macalline all over China to the annual furniture expo every September in Shanghai

As one of the famous consumer brands in China’s furniture retail market, Redstar Macalline now has 50 malls in 30 cities in China since its establishment in 1986. With an annual sales turnover of RMB 26.5 billion (US$3.88 billion), it is coined Wal-Mart of China’s

Adds Efforts To Build Green

IIDEX/NeoCon Canada
Direct Energy Centre
Toronto, Canada
September 24 – 25, 2009

The Green Building Festival (GBF) will this year be a co-located show with IIDEX/NeoCon Canada Exposition and Conference. The two have forged a strategic partnership to advance the educational opportunities on sustainable design and architecture, offer an expanded range of exhibitors focused on sustainability, and develop site tours to create one of the largest green building and design events in Canada. The GBF will present their conference on September 23 and 24, and hold a co-located exposition with IIDEX on the 24 and 25.

“In this the fifth year of the Green Building Festival, we are excited to be partnering with ARIDO through the co-location of the GBF at IIDEX/NeoCon Canada this September,” says Michael Singleton, Executive Director of Sustainable Buildings Canada. “This partnership enhances the Festival experience by providing a much greater access to sustainable technologies, products and service suppliers, while still maintaining the high quality conference programming and content that our delegates have come to expect. Through the huge exposure that the IIDEX/NeoCon Canada show brings, we also trust that our sponsors and exhibitors will share in that positive experience.”

“ARIDO is very excited to be collaborating with the GBF, and what better way to celebrate their 5th anniversary, the 25th anniversary of IIDEX/NeoCon Canada, and the 75th anniversary of ARIDO, than by forging a strategic partnership to advance sustainable building and design awareness,“ says Deborah Rutherford, President of ARIDO. “IIDEX/NeoCon Canada was one of the very first shows in North America to provide educational opportunities and product awareness focused on sustainability. So, the co-location of the Green Building Festival is a logical evolution of the show. We are confident it will broaden the awareness of sustainable building and design issues to a larger and more diverse audience, develop new relationships for both organisations, and provide a unique platform for learning.”

Multi-focused Offerings

NeoCon East
Baltimore Convention Center
Maryland, US
October 28 – 29, 2009

NeoCon East, the premier exposition in the Mid-Atlantic region for the design and management of the built environment, returns to feature two exciting days of new products, special events, educational offerings and keynote speakers.

There will be more than 250 exhibitors and four main show components, including Government Interiors, The Buildings Show; GREENlife: Products for Sustainable Environments; and Architectural Stone and Ceramic Tile Exposition.

Government Interiors is supported by the General Service Administration’s (GSA) Integrated Workplace Acquisition Center (formerly known as National Furniture Center). The show features accredited seminars, various special events throughout NeoCon East and an array of innovative products and services available on the GSA schedule. Government Interiors provides attendees with the most cost-effective way to explore industry trends and procurement changes that impact federal acquisitions.

Buildings Show’s attendees will learn the latest strategies and offerings in facilities management, construction and technology with Buildings Show, sponsored by Buildings and Archi-Tech magazines. The show highlights building solutions that assist in finding answers for new construction and renovation projects.

In the GREENlife: Products for Sustainable Environments segment, an environmental educational track of seminars are designed to assist architects and interior designers in identifying products, processes and certification measures that will provide eco-friendly solutions for their interiors projects to help maintain a healthy planet.

In addition to the show, NeoCon East features more than 30 CEU-accredited seminars and association forums and keynote speaker. The programming is designed to enhance the show experience for attendees, providing them with unique educational opportunities to expand industry knowledge and keep current with the latest trends in interior design and architecture. More than 8,500 industry professionals representing architects, interior designers, facility managers, government specifiers and procurement officers, space planners, dealers/distributors, manufacturers and real estate industries attend this event.

Dubai A Lucrative Office Market

The Office Exhibition
Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre
Dubai, UAE
March 2 – 4, 2010

International and local office suppliers and manufacturers generated strong sales and new business leads at The Office Exhibition. Despite the global economic downturn, office developments worth US$15.693 billion are now underway across the GCC, organisers reported. Over 365 exhibitors participated in the Office Exhibition 2008.

According to a leading Dubai-based market research company Proleads, there are currently 156 office developments underway across the region, with 74 due for completion in 2009 and 82 due for completion in 2010. The UAE is home to 103 new office developments, the largest number in the region, worth US$10.620 billion in total. Fifty of these developments are due for completion in 2009 and 53 in 2010.

Some of the major office developments in the UAE include the 45-floor Highfield Commercial Towers in Ajman, the 29-storey Michael Schumacher Business Avenue, located at Dubai’s Business Bay and The Gate District, part of the Dubai International Financial Centre, comprising of ten commercial towers.

In Saudi Arabia, there are 21 office developments worth US$2.62 billion, due for completion by 2010. In Qatar, 11 office developments, valued at US$1.26 billion are due for completion by 2010.

In line with a growing demand for office space in the UAE and many large office developments due to reach completion within the next two years, many international companies are looking to the Middle East to generate business.

Al Aqili Furnishings (AAF) has announced two contract furnishing deals worth a total of AED 3.2million. The deals were won by its Officeland division and are for the General Civil Aviation Authority in Abu Dhabi, valued at AED 1.8 million and for Oman Insurance’s new 5,000 square metre offices in Dubai, valued at AED 1.4 million.

UAE-based office furniture dealer, Delma Interiors, in association with Access International, signed a deal worth over AED 1 million to supply Nightingale chairs to a UK architectural design firm. They also signed a contract to distribute Mi Youl interactive and high technology screens within the UAE, perfectly suited for hotels, corporate reception areas, hospitals and other public display areas.

In addition to several deals signed at the event, exhibitors also commented on the high calibre of visitors. Marcel Wiethoff, Business Development Manager at Estel said: “The quality of visitors at this year’s show has been exceptional and we have made some good business contacts. We have met several designers from outside of the UAE, looking to partner with leading furniture manufacturers in the Middle East.”

The Name Game

China International Furniture FaiFair (CIFF)
Pazhou China Import & Export Fair Complex
Guangzhou, China
March 27 – 30, 2010

China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) Phase II for office furniture will be formally renamed CIFF Office Show in March 2010. Organisers said that this move is to position itself as a more holistic platform for the office segment, to include more than just furniture.The show will provide all-in-one solutions in the fields of modern office space layout, environment design and supported facilities. Further details, including a brand new logo, will be unveiled by mid-2009.

No Signs Of Stopping

Orgatec
Koelnmesse
Cologne, Germany
October 26 – 30, 2010

Orgatec 2008 closed with after receiving 62,500 visitors from 113 countries, a 9.3 percent increase. Some 673 suppliers from 39 countries exhibited. Floor space grew by 13 percent. For the first time Orgatec occupied all the new Northern Halls 6, 7, 8 and 9 along with Southern Halls 10.1 and 10.2 and thus total gross exhibition space of around 130,000 m².

About 61 percent of the suppliers and around 50 percent of visitors came to Cologne from abroad. "The clear increase in visitors, the high visitor quality and high-level of internationality at the event impressively confirm the function of Orgatec as the leading international trade fair for office and object design", said Oliver P Kuhrt, Executive Vice-President Koelnmesse. "

In addition to the specialist retail and wholesale trade, architects and facility managers, many exhibitors also registered an increase in the number of user companies, who came to obtain information about the current new products and innovations. These companies included Airbus, BASF, Daimler Chrysler, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Telekom, E.ON, Ernst & Young, Lufthansa, Porsche, Postbank, Siemens and Volkswagen.

Buoyed By Significant Growth

Index Contract
MMRDA Exhibition Center, Bandra–Kurla Complex
Mumbai, India
September 18 – 22, 2009

Spread over an area of 40,000 square meters, with 200 exhibitors representing over 400 Indian and international brands, the five-day fair attracted 25,591 visitors last year. This signifies a 53 percent grew over 2007 figures. Among them, 4,351 came from outside of Mumbai. Most of these attendees were architects, interior designers and corporate buyers.

The fair incorporated Index Office. In addition to seminars and conferences, an Index Design Boulevard (IDB) offered fresh Indian talent the opportunity to display their design concepts alongside international design greats, and was a special attraction of the fair.

• Buyers can expect to find products from a range of:
• Office facility planning, construction, extension and services
• Seating and systems for desking, storage, filing, paneling and shelving
• Conference and seminar area furniture
• Furnishings for office and facilities
• Software and services
• School, library and laboratory furniture
• Hospitality suites for hotels
• Banquet and service area furniture
• Conference and seminar hall furniture