The numbers are in for the NPE2009 Drawing for Exhibit Space, and the numbers look very good. Representatives of 864 companies selected space amounting to 82% of the grand total taken by show-time at the previous edition of the triennial NPE show in 2006.

Participants (the photo shows some of them) contracted for 775,400 sq.ft (72,037 sq.m), which is 81.7% of the at-show total of 949,500 sq.ft. (88,210 sq.m.) taken by 1,850 companies for NPE 2006.

As always, the number of exhibitors signed on at the Drawing is much smaller than the total number at the show itself. So it looks like NPE2009 is off to a very good start.

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The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) has a special exhibit at the NPE2009 Space Draw, and SPE executive director Susan Oderwald was on hand to tell exhibitor representatives about the advantages that will accrue to exhibitors from having ANTEC 2009 co-located with NPE2009. I invited her to contribute some remarks to that effect, and here they are:

It’s great to see the reaction of people to the announcement that the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) will be holding its Annual Technical Conference - ANTEC - at NPE2009. Here at the NPE2009 Space Draw, the idea of taking the industry’s two greatest events in North America and putting them together at NPE in 2009 is creating a lot of buzz on the floor about how to maximize the opportunity that ANTEC offers exhibitors. Exhibiting companies need to think about what technologies and innovations they will be launching and promoting at NPE It’s great to see the reaction of people to the announcement that the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) will be holding its Annual Technical Conference - ANTEC - at NPE in 2009. The idea of taking the industry’s two greatest events in North America, and putting them together at NPE in 2009 is creating a lot of buzz on the floor about how to maximize the opportunity that ANTEC offers exhibitors. Exhibiting companies need to think about what technologies and innovations they will be launching and promoting at NPE in 2009, and be sure to utilize the ANTEC technical conference as part of their promotional activities. ANTEC papers are submitted and peer-reviewed for technical accuracy and content. Papers are scheduled into sessions around various technology or industry segments – e.g., injection molding or automotive, etc. Companies will need to submit abstracts and papers in the fall 2008 to get on the schedule for ANTEC at NPE in 2009. Papers are a great way to highlight the finer technical attributes of a new product, material, equipment advancement, etc. The audience at these sessions will be engineers, technical personnel and other folks who are directly involved in the technical specifications for purchasing decisions in their companies. It’s a great audience that companies often do not get ready access to, and bringing this group to NPE will be a great marriage of technical and commercial interests. In addition to using ANTEC to promote technical advances, it is likewise a great opportunity to learn about advances and cutting-edge research in your field. There is no question that holding ANTEC at NPE will create depth of educational programming at NPE that is unparalleled, and really will set this show apart in terms of new technologies and innovations. SPE’s Booth and ANTEC will all be located in the new West Hall. In conjunction with SPI’s plans to put new technology pavilions and other special activities in the new West Hall, the expectation is that this gorgeous space will become the nerve center for technology and innovation at NPE.

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It’s live and in color. You can monitor the proceedings of the NPE2009 Space Draw by visiting http://www.npe.org/exhibit/ and clicking on “Buy Space,” then on “Floor Plans.” There you’ll find a link to the online floor plans, which change as each new exhibit space selection is made. You can search by exhibitor name and by booth number, and by clicking on the exhibitor name you can call up that company’s booth in the floor plan. Needless to say, you can zoom in and out just as in MapQuest or Google Maps.

Here’s a report from your roving reporter and PR guy at the NPE2009 Space Draw. SPI trade shows vice president Gene Sanders tells me that 850 exhibit space applications were made prior to this event, which is taking place here in the huge ballroom of Chicago’s brand-new McCormick Place West building. The first four space draws have just been made by four companies that have exhibited at NPE continuously since the very first show in 1946. First to select space was LyondellBasell Industries (in 1946, the Hercules Powder Company), represented by Tamara Greathouse, the company’s NPE project manager, who happens also to be vice chairman of the NPE2009 Sales and Marketing Committee. Next came William (Bill) Thornton, vice president and CFO of Demag Plastics Group (descendant of Van Dorn Iron Works). The number three selection was by Patrick Lundy, group publisher of Canon Communications, one of whose publications, Modern Plastics, exhibited in 1946. And fourth was Farrel Corp.’s Guy Tiso, manager of repair and rebuild sales. While NPE tradition continues, there’s much that is new, and a lot of it is in evidence at the various booths and displays set up around the perimeter of this ballroom space—from new marketing and promotional opportunities for exhibitors to RFID technology for tracking visitor demographics.

For starters, don’t forget the NPE2009 Drawing for Exhibit Space on February 19-20, in the huge new Ballroom (see the picture at left) of the brand-new McCormick West building in Chicago. Along with several hundred exhibitor-company representatives, you’ll meet the entire NPE2009 team, including SPI staff and key exhibitor-service vendors.

I’ll be there as well, in a Press Room we plan to set up right on the Ballroom floor. If you have questions about how SPI will support your company’s PR program for NPE2009, by all means stop by and say hello.

You can get a sneak preview of what the new West Building is like from an online photo album I’ve posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/Martinocomms/NPE2009McCormickWest. (For the photos, thanks to Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, which operates McCormick Place.)

Now it can be told. That “massive technical conference” that we’ve been saying would take place in the West Building during NPE2009 is none other than the 2009 edition of SPE’s ANTEC™. This will not be a pseudo-ANTEC or a mini-ANTEC, but the absolutely complete annual ANTEC event as the industry knows it. The joint announcement by SPI and SPE is posted at SPE’s website: http://www.4spe.org/press/pdf/0802antecnpe.pdf.

I hope to see you in Chicago come February 19!

As a veteran of NPE drawings for exhibit space (I’ve been the official NPE press rep since the 2000 show; it’s hard to believe I’ve attended every NPE since 1973!), I am excited about the next one. For many shows past, SPI held the grand event in a grand place—the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Hilton & Towers. But on February 19-20 (it’s coming up fast—so hope you’re making travel plans!), the NPE2009 Drawing for Exhibit Space will take place in what has suddenly become the biggest ballroom in Chicago. It’s part of the new McCormick West facility, which boasts, among many other cool features, a rooftop garden for receptions. Cool is an understatement for Chicago in February, so at the Space Draw you’ll want to skip the garden.

If your company plans to take part in the Space Draw, it has until February 1 to send SPI the completed application and contract, which you can download from the NPE2009 website.

Be prepared for a unique event. More than half of the exhibit space at NPE2009 will be selected in just two days by people from hundreds of companies. No matter how big the ballroom, when you get that many people together in one place, all of them responsible for getting the best booth space and location for their companies, the atmosphere is intense. Yet there’s always plenty of socializing, plus enjoyable after-hours receptions.

It’s not just the ballroom that will be new. While every company must have someone physically present at the February event in order to draw space for NPE2009, the proceedings will be reported digitally on floor plans visible not just on a giant screen in the ballroom but via the Internet. So if you’re the one attending the Space Draw, you’ll be able to confer with the folks back home before making your final decision about space.

No matter what McCormick Place building you choose for your company’s booth, you’ll want to see McCormick West while you’re at the drawing. The facility opened only this past August, and it’s huge. Besides the ballroom and rooftop garden, the five-level building has nearly 500,000 square feet of exhibit space, 250,000 square feet of meeting space divided among 61 meeting rooms, a central concourse, its own parking garage and transportation center, and direct access to truck marshalling. If you visit the McCormick Place website you’ll find floorplans for the West and all the other buildings. - Bob Martino, Martino Communications