The abundance of events in Chicago this June will prep you for the recovery—if you’re there.
By now virtually all the pundits and economists have admitted that the global downturn, recession, or whatever you want to call it, caught them by surprise. That appears not to have been the case with the visionaries at the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), who for more than three years have been planning NPE2009. When the show kicks off on June 22 at Chicago’s McCormick Place—with the traditional marching bagpipers—this edition of NPE will be able to legitimately claim that it is offering plastics professionals much more than any previous version of the show.
Though some veteran NPE-goers may be skeptical, it’s true. Just when we really can use a strong kick-start on our way to recovery, NPE2009 is there to give it to us. The big question is, will we see you there? Did you say why?
| NPE2009
McCormick Place, Chicago, IL |
For starters, it’s a lot more than one show this time, even if the main event is a mega-show like NPE—near to 2000 suppliers standing in about a million square feet of display space. That should be enough, but wait: There are eight separate plastics events sharing McCormick Place that week, nine counting NPE. Any one of them would be time well invested, but when you find them all in one place at one time (and for one admission price), that’s a plastics bonanza. What are they?
About 800 tech presentations
The Society of Plastics Engineers’ (SPE) Annual Technical Conference (Antec) will host roughly 800 technical presentations and peer-reviewed papers covering every plastics technology there is, with a lot of attention to injection molding.
And how’s this for the right thing at the right time: SPI’s Business of Plastics Conference is offering more than 100 meetings during the week on strategic and management aspects of the polymer sector, such as marketing, energy efficiency, global markets, sustainability, best practices, and much more.
Next month’s IMM will bring you highlights of the new technologies, products, and services that will be on display at the show, and there are plenty of them. Our industry website, www.plasticstoday.com, is also loaded with useful show info.
Another excellent place to start is the NPE2009 website. It’s easy to use and packed with the details you need to optimize your show visit. Besides telling you virtually everything show-related, you can use (at no charge) MyShow Planner (look under the “Attend” menu), a software tool that helps you find what you want to see at NPE2009, and more important, helps you organize it.
If those are not enough reasons to go, remember this: Pulling our industry out of this economic ditch is a DIY job for every one of us. But for support, tools, and ideas, NPE2009 is the best place you will find for a long time to come.
And one last word if you still need a reason to go: Chicago. You’ll work hard at NPE2009, but you’ll be doing it in one of America’s best cities for good times. See you there! —[email protected]
| Easing your journey
In mid-March, the SPI, recognizing the current economic slump, launched an NPE Stimulus Package for both exhibitors and attendees. Full details are available at www.npe.org, but on the attendee side, admission prices were rolled back to 2006 levels and discounts sweetened for companies sending multiple persons. It also took half off the original prices for the Business of Plastics program, bringing it to $75 for one day or $225 for the full program, again with volume discounts available. It was a bargain at the original price. Besides NPE, Antec, and Business of Plastics, events include: |
