The Roseville-based Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) will bring the IFAI Specialty Fabrics Expo 2013 to the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in Orlando, Fla, from October 23 to 25. The expo, said to be the largest specialty fabrics event in America and held in conjunction with IFAI's Advanced Textiles Conference & Trade Show, will feature more than 400 exhibits covering more than 100,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space at the OCCC, and will collocate with the 2013 SGIA Expo.Special events include the Industrial Fabrics Foundation (IFF) golf tournament and a sunset gator tour on and the IFAI annual meeting. Winners of the IFAI International Achievement Awards (IAA) competition will be presented during a special event held prior to the IFAI annual meeting. IFAI received 236 entries from 96 companies in 13 countries for the IAA competition, which recognizes design excellence within the specialty fabrics market.
The ShowStoppers awards competition will return after its debut at the 2012 Expo. The competition is open to all Specialty Fabrics Expo and Advanced Textiles Conference & Trade Show exhibitors and recognizes product innovation in six categories: fabrics, fibers and films; chemicals, coatings and compounds; hardware, findings and accessories; equipment and tools; services to manufacturers; and end products. Entries will be on view in a special ShowStoppers display booth on the show floor. The award winners will be selected by expo attendees and announced on October 24.
Other show floor highlights include a fabric sourcing centre offering samples of exhibitor materials organized into application types; aerospace display featuring specialty fabrics used in air and space applications; and a welding workshop.
The 2013 SGIA Expo, organized by the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA), Fairfax, Va. will present the full spectrum of specialty printing and imaging technologies and applications in more than 219,000 sq. ft. of floor space at the OCCC. Organizers report the SGIA Expo and IFAI Specialty Fabrics Expo will be complementary, especially for those involved with printing graphics on flexible materials.
"People will be talking about the IFAI Specialty Fabrics Expo and Advanced Textiles Conference & Trade Show in Orlando for years to come," said IFAI President Mary Hennessy. "On the heels of our Centennial show in Boston, we are set for another record-breaking year. Exhibit sales and attendee pre-registration numbers are soaring, as people are buzzing about the possibilities of the two dynamic shows together."
As a part of the Expo's education program, IFAI will present three business power programs with industry-specific roundtables‘Survive and Thrive Strategies,’‘Winning Sales and Services Strategies’ and ‘Work Smart Strategies’. Bonus programs will be offered each afternoon, including "Growing into Graphics — When to Make the Leap to Buy Equipment"; "Advanced Asset Protection, Business Succession & Exit Planning Strategies"; and "Finding, Training and Retaining a Skilled Workforce to Insure Competitiveness."
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