Emerald Expositions has acquired HOW Design Live and the HOW Interactive Design Conference series (“HOW Design Events”) from F+W Media, Inc., a Content and e-Commerce company, for an undisclosed sum.

HOW Design Live is the largest graphic design conference and expo in the nation, combining five separate conferences into a single event focused on creativity, business and inspiration for designers.

F+W’s retained HOW Media Brands, including HOW Magazine, Print Magazine and HOW University, will continue to work closely with Emerald’s HOW Design Events.

By Elizabeth Johnson

Conventional marketing wisdom tells us “go where your audience is.” Recently, Facebook announced 1 billion users logged on in a single day, and earlier this year, global internet usage on mobile devices surpassed internet usage on desktops or laptops for the first time. These signs make it clear trade show planners and marketers need to invest more online.

Urban Expositions and the Retail Confectioners Association of Philadelphia (RCAP) have decided two is better than one and will collocate their shows next year. 

As part of the arrangement, the RCAP's Philadelphia National Candy, Gift & Gourmet Show (Jan. 9-11) formerly held in Atlantic City, will move to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Penn. to run alongside Urban Expositions' Philadelphia Gift Show (Jan. 8-11).

Donna Russo, who has muscular dystrophy, sits in a chair as dancers move around her in beautiful rhythm choreographed by Tam Warner, creating a profound and memorable experience.

This experience has been a part of showfloor during the Abilities Expos series of shows, which are geared toward people with disabilities and their families.

Lew Shomer and David Korse, owners and producers of the Abilities Expos series, were so moved by Russo and her group’s performance, they now have all teamed up to bring a documentary, “A Passion for Dance”, to the screen.

Last week was a good one for two different shows – ICUEE 2015, the International Construction and Utility Equipment Exposition, and Pack Expo Las Vegas – both of which broke not only attendance records, but also exhibit space and number of exhibitor records as well.

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ biennial ICUEE 2015 was the largest ever, with more than 18,000 registered attendees, 13-percent bigger than the previous show.

The 2015 event ran Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

Penton added to its robust lifestyle and food portfolio with the acquisition of World Tea Media, an event and digital information company for the global tea industry, from F+W, a Content + eCommerce company.

World Tea Media includes the flagship show for the tea industry – World Tea Expo.

Cleveland’s I-X Center has added a unique component to its venue - a state-of-the art live performance space, where acoustically treated sound walls, elevated telescopic seating and custom staging all scales to various flexible configurations.

“Previously, our barriers attracting major concert promoters and national touring acts, included a lack of elevated seating and the sound quality in this industrial complex,” said Jeremy Levine, I-X Center vice president of Business Development.

With Las Vegas being chosen as one of four cities to host a presidential debate during the 2016 election season, any question on whether it’s a city where serious business gets done should be off the table, according to Chris Meyer, vice president of Global Business Sales at the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

“It takes away all possible argument of shows coming to Vegas,” Meyer said, an issue the city has grappled with, particularly in the government sector.

He added, “We’ll have both presidential candidates here and leadership from both of the parties.”

The popularity of virtual reality is evident with the huge jump in growth of that section of the showfloor for CES 2016.

Owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association and on tap Jan. 6-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Gaming & Virtual Reality Marketplace footprint will jump 77 percent and feature 40 booths.

For its 30^th show, New Hope Natural Media’s Natural Products Expo East show not only attracted 25,000 attendees to the Baltimore (Md.) Convention Center, but also 1,363 exhibiting companies, representing the natural, organic and healthy living marketplace.

The show, held Sept. 16-19, was collocated with Biofach America - All Things Organic, NPA East, and the Harvest Festival.