Space going fast for NPE 2006

Audited figures from last week’s NPE 2006 drawing for exhibit space show the space contracted by exhibiting companies already amounts to 82.3% of the targeted at-show total of 1-million sq. ft., with 15 months remaining before the exposition. The space drawing, held in Chicago on February 22 and 23, attracted 787 exhibitor representatives, a record number for the event. Of the 857 exhibitors signed on at the drawing, 137 were companies with addresses outside the U.S.A. , while another six were multi-exhibitor "country" pavilions sponsored by organizations outside the U.S.A. The combined space taken by these two groups was 181,190 sq. ft., or 22% of the total square footage assigned at the drawing. This international square footage is already larger than the on-site total at the show itself in any previous NPE year.
"Amidst a strengthening economy and a world situation that is more stable and encouraging than any time since 2001, we fully expect to achieve our exhibit space target for NPE 2006 and our targeted number of exhibitors as well," said Tim Stojka, chairman of NPE 2006.