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National Hardware Show® offers FREE educational seminars designed to build Industry knowledge and allow for professional development while at the Show. These seminars, produced by leading Industry sources and led by top experts, offer the latest research, trend analysis, best practices and more. Tuesday, May 6, 1:00 PM, Room S223, South Hall Merchandising Strategies for Successful Retailing Producer: Casual Living Presenter: Norman Hamilton, Publisher Casual is one of the hottest topics today. Retailers and manufacturers of casual furnishings and accessories will want to discover what trends are emerging from penetrating research by the #1 editorial resource for what’s shaking in North America’s backyard living rooms. Tuesday, May 6, 2:00 PM, 2PM, Room N240, North Hall Don’t Let Your Brand Get Washed Away By The Rising Tide Of Private Labels Producer: Hardlines Presenter: Beverly Allen How is your brand positioned? How are you making the choice about whether to develop private label or not? Canada’s unique view of private labels vs. brand names is developed from years of adaptation and adoption, beginning with the grocery industry. Hear how it’s worked - and how to choose - from Beverly Allen, publisher of Hardlines, the information network for Canada and North America. Tuesday, May 6, 3:00 PM, 3PM, Room N242, North Hall Future Trends in Home Improvement Producer: HIRI Presenter: Fred Miller Success in the home improvement business requires an understanding of the mega-forces that are reshaping the industry. How do you build your own business and capitalize on future trends? With insight into over 90 leading companies in the industry, the Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI) is in a unique position to provide these critical insights. HIRI’s Fred Miller brings it all into focus. Share the highlights of a major study that looks five years into the future. Tuesday, May 6, 4:00 PM, Room N240, North Hall 2008 Retail Top Guns Producer: Hardware Retailing Presenter: Dan Tratensek Top guns always draw top attention, and success breeds success. Join the lively panel discussion as the industry’s most impactful and influential independent retailers exchange views. This panel demonstrates what "differentiated" means to their business. You’ll learn how they got so good at what they do. What works. Manufacturers, you too don’t want to miss this session! Wednesday, May 7, 10:00 AM, Room S223, South Hall The New and Changing World of Sustainability Producer: Lawn & Garden Retailing Presenter: Stan Pohmer, Jr. "Sustainability" suggests a buzzword that is greener-than-green. Can retailers cash in on the trend? Stan Pohmer, Jr. reveals how Earth-friendly Boomers are making the cash registers ring as they "validate" their outdoor purchase decisions. Wednesday, May 7, 11:00 AM, Room N242, North Hall How America Is Meeting The Challenges Of Today’s Home Channel Market Producer: Home Channel News Presenter: Jeff Arlen The home channel’s tabloid news maven, Jeff Arlen, gives his take on "The State of the U. S. Home Improvement Marketplace." Eager home sellers are fixing up properties like never before in this depressed real estate market, and the news is good for retailers. Find out how to get your piece of the action! Wednesday, May 7, 1:00 PM, Room N240, North Hall India: The Emerging Quality Supplier Producer: Sourcing Hardware Presenter: Deepak Gupta Is India the new China? Hardware experts like Sourcing Hardware’s Deepak Gupta explain India’s rise to prominence in product quality and high levels of service. Global buyers get a snapshot of brass and steel hardware, hand tools, lighting and lighting accessories — all with a view toward cashing in on a whole sub-continent worth of growth. Wednesday, May 7, 3:00 PM, Room N242, North Hall Taking A Lesson From Europe Producer: BHB Presenter: John Herbert, Chairman Euroland—does it lead or follow North American trends? Retail expert John Herbert explores the brand-loyal buying habits of Europeans in his penetrating exploration of "The European Home Improvement Marketplace. " Wednesday, May 7, 4:00 PM, Room N242, North Hall The State of the Canadian Retail Home Enhancement Market Producer: Hardlines Presenter: Michael McLarney Michael McLarney, President, Hardlines Inc., and Managing Director, NRHA Canada, will be showing how Canada, as the gateway to the largest home improvement retailers in North America, can teach you how to enter this lucrative market, one step at a time. Thursday, May 8, 10:00 AM, Room N240, North Hall Essential Strategies for Effective Public Relations Producer: Money Pit Presenter: Tom Kraeutler This talk will look at the role of third-party certification, the importance of credible standards, and the risks associated with "greenwashing" and hidden environmental trade-offs. Known as an FSC certifier and by their Green Cross logo, Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) is a leading third-party certifier of environmental claims.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Green design, from rugs to furnishings to accessories, is the hottest home design trend for 2008. Addressing current, environmental concerns, the National Hardware Show® is launching a new, specially designated area on the show floor that highlights the latest in green, eco-friendly and sustainable products. Located directly adjacent to New Product World, Green Product World™, will focus on what The American Society of Interior Design recently reported is "one of the fastest growing segments of its industry." The new attraction and focus will offer a diverse selection of environmentally safe innovations and is sponsored by EarthTronics, manufacturer of high quality lighting products that are designed to save energy. "Since the National Hardware Show is a representation of everything relevant to home enhancement, the show will reflect the move towards more sustainable products at retail," said Dean Russo, senior vice president for the National Hardware Show. "The brand-new Green Product World will showcase the latest in green, eco-friendly and sustainable products that consumers will be buying to protect the environment reduce their carbon footprint and encourage responsibility for the future." This year, there will also be a new, Green Innovation Award for the best green product on display. In education seminars, experts will discuss how to turn green products into profitability at various "Hot Topics" classes, presented at the National Hardware Show. "The New and Changing World of Sustainability" will be led by Lawn & Garden Retailing and "Going Green – Is it Important and How Do You Make it Happen?" is being produced by Scientific Certification Systems.

-Shining some daylight on environmental issues -Chinese exhibitors sparking high presentation The world's biggest trade fair for the digital industry, CeBIT, turned down its curtain today in Hannover, Germany. The six-day show from 4-9 March has exceeded all the expectation and continued its unparalleled success in attracting 5,845 exhibitors from 77 countries and regions on a total display area of 241,000 square meters. Comprising 1,198 exhibitors (China Mainland: 501, China HongKong: 207, China Taiwan: 490) and occupying 27,488 square meters area, China pavilion once again ranks the No. 1 overseas exhibiting country. As the world's largest event showcasing the information and telecommunications industry, CeBIT consistently incorporates and reflects the trends of the ICT industry. Millions of professionals who attended this year's CeBIT have witnessed the coming-of-age of mobile communication and market success of the Internet. This year the trade fair focused its attention on a single topic of great importance. IT companies from every corner of the globe work on the issues of energy efficiency and climate protection. That is "Green IT". CeBIT's Green IT Village in Hall 9 showcased a range of the latest technologies, in its networked office, home devices, energy-saving PCs, alternative power sourcing and other environmentally friendly innovations. At the same time, an extensive program of conferences and presentations involving specialists from business and research aimed to stimulate debate and encourage the exchange of ideas. " We focus on the environment protection, energy-saving for all Aigo products and strictly abide to the criteria for green IT design when the goods exported overseas," said William Ma, Aigo's Marketing Department Media Director. "CeBIT is not only a good place to meet with new suppliers and agencies, but an ideal platform for showcasing Aigo's even the national image as well. Within the first two days, we have clinched quite a few business deals with the customs. They are very interested in our products, especially the Aigopen and Digital microscope which newly open to the market. We are delighted to be here and satisfied with the show. It is for sure that we will come again next year." Ms. Helen Hu, Sales Manager of Golden Field Industrial Co., Ltd. told journalist pleasantly, " CeBIT is a grand big show. The coming visitors and buyers are quite professional. The reasons for us to be here is to promote our products, establish business contacts and what's the most important is to stand the brand image. Though it is already our seventh time to take part in CeBIT, we are still aiming to expand the European market and learn more about the overseas technologies and innovations." "Green IT", this year's main buzzword at CeBIT, has brought a ware of products trying hard to be less harmful than their predecessors. As well, Chinese exhibitors are more considering and learning about foreign cutting-the-edge technologies and step closely to the European market or even the entire globe. The way CeBIT unfolded has given Chinese exhibitors a particularly positive outlook on future sales in Germany, and business prospects in Europe as a whole. CeBIT 2008 stands out with excellent attendance of high-quality visitors, as well as active communications among exhibitors from the related ICT sector. The success exhibitors experienced at this year's show confirm their choice of CeBIT as a key component of their marketing strategies. In this case, CeBIT is undoubtedly the optimum platform for China ICT manufacturers to tap into international market.

The relaunch of CeBIT was a success: The new CeBIT format has succeeded across the board, drawing an enthusiastic response from visitors and exhibitors alike. The 5,845 exhibitors from 77 countries reported they were leaving Hannover with bulging order books. Despite the shorter run of the new show (six days versus the previous seven), attendance was up three percent over the previous year, totaling 495,000. Visitors from abroad accounted for one out of five attendees - a total of over 100,000, with the Americas accounting for a particularly big increase. VIPs from research and industry as well as government figures used CeBIT 2008 to debate and promote issues of core importance to the information society. Top marks for new-format CeBIT Exhibitors and visitors alike gave the new-format CeBIT top marks across all four of its key categories: business solutions, public sector solutions, home & mobile solutions and technology and infrastructure. CeBIT visitors connected with an average of 29 companies per capita. Visitor traffic at the stands was reported to have topped last year’s figures for each exhibition segment. Attracting new talent to the ICT industry CeBIT 2008 was also highly successful in attracting new talent to the ICT industry, where there are currently over 43,000 unfilled vacancies in Germany alone. This year’s CeBIT joined forces with the "IT Fitness" initiative to generate enthusiasm for IT careers among students and career novices. Women@CeBIT campaign The Women@CeBI campaign, coinciding with International Women’s Day, brought a significant increase in the number of women interested in finding out about the latest technology and applications, with over 10,000 of them registering online for the special Saturday program. And, on Saturday, one out of every four visitors was female. CeBIT Global Conferences A brand new feature at this year's event, the CeBIT Global Conferences, provided significantly greater coverage of ICT themes of relevance to the industry and its target clientele. CeBIT again provided a showcase for new trends and topics. With the success of CeBIT 2008, Deutsche Messe has triggered increased growth and dynamism in the international ICT industry. Renewed momentum for our Franco-German partnership The French ICT industry was also happy with is year's CeBIT, speaking of "renewed momentum for our Franco-German partnership". The French companies at CeBIT identified many new growth areas, forging new leads from around the world. France’s status as this year's Partner Country laid the foundations for even closer cooperation between companies in Germany and France in this key sector. The decision on CeBIT’s partner country for 2009 has not yet been made. Planet Reseller The success of the "Planet Reseller" showcase impressively underscored CeBIT's leading role as a pan-European retail forum. Higher attendance by SMEs again demonstrated CeBIT’s importance to small and medium-sized businesses looking for new technology to facilitate their growth.

China overtakes Taiwan as the largest foreign exhibitor region. 5,845 exhibitors from 77 countries taking part in this year's show. Record participation by Partner Country France. Hannover. Top of the agenda for CeBIT when the world's most important trade fair for the digital industry opens its doors to the public on 4 March in Hannover is the keynote theme Green IT'. A long list of exhibitors will be presenting solutions, products and innovations addressing the issues of energy efficiency in the ICT industry and ICT user industries. Famous-name companies will be presenting displays in Hall 9 in the 'Green IT Village'. Speaking in Hannover on Tuesday was Ernst Raue, who sits on the Board of Deutsche Messe AG: 'This year CeBIT has decided to focus on Green IT, with a broad international line-up of contributors bringing together all the key activities of the ICT industry here in Hannover.' This year CeBIT has for the first time adopted a new display concept based on the four major categories 'Business Solutions', 'Public Sector Solutions', 'Home & Mobile Solutions' and 'Technology & Infrastructure'. Another key component of the new-look show is the reorganized supporting program, now known as CeBIT Global Conferences. According to figures quoted by Raue, 5,845 exhibitors from 77 countries will be presenting their products, solutions, and innovations for the ICT industry at this year's show. The individual exhibitor stands and special displays at CeBIT 2008 cover an area of 241,000 square metres. 'Since January the situation has developed much better than we had been expecting', said Raue. He went on to point out that CeBIT remains as internationally representative as ever in 2008. '3005 exhibitors are coming to Hannover from outside Germany.' This figure, he added, underlines the global reach of CeBIT and its function as the flagship international trade show for the digital industry. He also said that the overall decline in exhibitor numbers (down from 6,153 in 2007) is due to three principal factors. 'The weak dollar has dramatically pushed up costs for exhibitors from important ICT countries. On top of that, in 2008 exhibitors from a number of countries become liable for the first time to pay German VAT at the full new rate. And despite the increased appeal of CeBIT, we have not been able to absorb these price increases', said Raue. At the same time (he noted) there is strong predatory competition in the world's key ICT markets, coupled with a pattern of amalgamations and take-overs. This is reflected in the numbers, said Raue. 'China has now overtaken Taiwan for the first time in the history of CeBIT as the largest foreign exhibitor region, with 500 exhibiting companies. Many hardware manufacturers are shifting their production from Taiwan to China.' Last year China's presence at CeBIT amounted to 469 exhibitors. In 2008 Taiwan drops down to second place with 490 exhibitors (2007: 599). Raue was very pleased to note the record participation by France, this year's official Partner Country. '150 companies from the French ICT industry are coming to CeBIT 2008. The audience response to CeBIT in France has been fantastic', said Raue. One of the high points of this year's partnership with France will be the German-French IT Summit on 4 March, which is due to be opened by Federal Minister of Economic Affairs Michael Glos. The number of German exhibitors has risen slightly from 2,809 last year to 2,840. In keeping with past tradition, North Rhine-Westphalia heads the league table of German states with 562 exhibitors, followed by Bavaria with 475. Meanwhile the 'home state', Lower Saxony, is represented at CeBIT 2008 by 277 companies.

Vintage clock and homewares company Newgate said that it had a record Spring Fair this year, with an appearance by celebrity designer Oliver Heath and a slot on Midlands TV show Central News driving buyers to its stand. It said that its strong stand position next to the thoroughfare between Halls 4 and 8 also helped to attract visitors. On the first day of the fair, Newgate invited former Changing Rooms star Oliver Heath to talk to its customers at the stand about his love of vintage clocks. While Heath has not collaborated with Newgate on a range of products, he is a firm fan of the supplier's product lines. The next day, Newgate benefited from a prime-time slot on Midlands TV after ITN's Central News spent four hours following a local buyer from Shropshire, Jude Leach from McLaren's Furniture, who happens to be one of Newgate's customers. A spokesperson for Newgate said: "We have enjoyed a record-breaking fair. The stand, as always, looked fabulous and the atmosphere was fantastic. "The buzz on the stand was all helped along as the lovely Oliver Heath joined us and Central News filmed a very bubbly Jude Leach, one of our regular buyers. Jude loves the vintage feel of Newgate, created in our British design studio and quality finish of our clocks and mirrors."

CP Productions is celebrating its 50th Spring Fair this year. The company, which sells framed pictures and mirrors, has been exhibiting at the show since the event was run out of a multi-story car park in Blackpool half a century ago. However, this will be the last show for one of the CP Productions team. Sales director Ronnie Taylor will retire this year, making this his last ever Spring Fair. Officially, that is. Although Taylor is set to retire in Easter, he said that he will more likely than not be making a few last trade show appearances. Taylor started at the company more than 50 years ago as a message boy when he was just 14. He has stayed with the company throughout his professional life and said that his initials ART, which stand for Albert Ronnie Taylor, mean that he was born for the job. Taylor said that while he is looking forward to a more leisured pace of life, he will miss all the people involved in the business. "I enjoy selling and I enjoy people," he said. "I'll miss meeting people. They’re not just customers, they’re friends." As testament to the impact that Taylor has made throughout his working life, one of his customers travelled all the way from Cardiff to Spring Fair to wish him happy retirement. "They weren't coming for any other reason, just to see me," he said. CP Productions is based in Northern Ireland and has a range of more than 800 products.

Quirky UK greetings card company Alright Treacle launched at Spring Fair in a rebellion against average greetings cards. The company said that it believes its range of 265 card designs will bring something fresh to the market. Alright Treacle's Spring Fair debut was the first time that it has shown its products to a wide range of retail buyers and said that it got a great response from buyers who commented on the uniqueness of the ranges. Alright Treacle director Ward Hellewell said: "When we set up Alright Treacle, we wanted to produce greeting cards that were unusual and contemporary." "The Spring Fair was the perfect way for us to get ourselves noticed and boost our profile among buyers. We felt it really helped launch Alright Treacle in an exciting way, we made lots of contacts and we’ll be working hard to make the most of such a brilliant start to our company." Alright Treacle has a ranges of cards with strong, bright images including retro kaleidoscopic patterns and a range of cards featuring characters created by UK textile artist Donna Wilson. This is first time that Wilson has collaborated on a greetings card range. With backgrounds in editorial and design jobs on newspapers and magazine in the Europe and Australia, the team behind London-based Alright Treacle have used their contacts to create a network of illustrators, designers and writers to create unusual design-led greetings.

Iconic UK designer Sebastian Conran entertained visitors at the Future Trends stage today as he quipped his way through why he believes good product design is essential. Talking to a packed audience, he said that constant innovation is essential to keep customers coming back. "There is nothing manmade that can't be made better," he said. He also explained that as well as looking for innovative products in terms of performance, aesthetics is also important. "Form does follow fashion, however unfunctional it that may be, and sales follow fashion," he said. Conran also explained the importance of perceived value and conveyed to the audience his equation for a successful product. The designer said that by adding the brand, design and quality together and then dividing this by the cost, you can work out the true value of a product. Although retailers may be facing a tough time over the next year, Conran believes that quality design-led products will become more important in a cash-strapped consumer climate rather than less important. "There is a perfect French saying to explain this," Conran told Springfair.com Marketplace after his presentation. "It translates as the better the quality, the less expensive. Bad design is expensive." He said that if a consumer is faced with an uncertain economic climate, a good sales technique can be to encourage them to spend a little bit more for a product that will last for a lifetime, compared with a product that will need to be replaced every few years. Conran also made frequent reference to his favourite brand of the moment, Apple. As well as creating functional, good-looking products, he said that what set the retailer apart from competitors was its attention to detail in areas such as packaging. He said that this is essential to providing an overall quality customer experience.

Spring Fair 2008: Colony launches Royal Horticultural Society candles Colony Gift Corporation has teamed up with the Royal Horticultural Society to launch a range of new candles. A portion of the price of the candles will be donated to the gardening charity. The Royal Horticultural Society collection is inspired by the rich variety of UK plant life and features fragrances such as fresh herbs, pine, mulberry and frosted magnolia. The range is available as a small wax-filled jar, which retails for £2.99, a large wax jar that has a retail price tag of £7.99 or a large wax-filled tin that carries a price of £4.99. The Royal Horticultural Society is a UK gardening charity dedicated to promoting the very best in gardening and helping all gardeners. The organisation was set up in 1804. Colony Gift Corporation is exhibiting in Hall 7.