CHA to Manage Summer Show

Elmwood Park, NJ, USA; May 16, 2006 —This year the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) will assume responsibility for managing all aspects of the summer convention and trade show. The 2006 show will be held on Friday, July 21st through Sunday, July 23rd, 2006, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL and will feature exciting new programs, events and networking opportunities.

The 2006 CHA Summer Convention and Trade Show will be the largest summer trade show for crafts. With over 500 exhibitors in more than 1,200 booths, the CHA Summer Show will feature the newest and best products for the upcoming buying season. Attendance is expected to exceed last year, with hotel bookings already 85% of last year’s level and still over two months remaining before the show.

“The 2006 CHA Summer Convention and Trade Show is chock full of firsts,” stated Steve Berger, CHA CEO. “ Not only is this the first year that CHA will manage all aspects of the summer show, but we have also added other firsts to make it even more successful and accommodating to our members. We have improved education topics, new beading and needle art pavilions, an industry roundtable discussion forum, new buyer programs complete with free coffee and wine and cheese receptions, a key note speaker and much more. The list of new activities goes on and on. As such, I am pleased to report that we are well on our way to building the CHA Summer Show into a strong annual buying/selling venue that’s the perfect complement to the powerful CHA Winter Show.”

This is a recap of key show features planned:

• Scrapbook exhibits and innovations
• Beading and Needle Arts Pavilions and product showcases
• Wider range of learning programs including the new industry roundtable discussion forums, buyer and exhibitor training sessions and expert course on marketing to women
• Widely acclaimed keynote speaker, Jason Jennings, delivering leadership tactics of the world’s fastest, most productive and best performing companies
• “Chicago My Kind of Town” Entertainment Spectacular with the popular Second City Comedy group, the 10 pc. Ovation Orchestra playing popular music and five Chicago themed food stations for dinner

The major focus of the Summer CHA Show is to discover emerging trends, get ideas and allow buyers to stock up for 3rd and 4th Quarter delivery and annual resets.

For the past thirty years, the Association for Craft and Creative Industries (ACCI) and Offinger Management have organized the sales, marketing, and logistics for the summer trade show in Rosemont, Illinois.  ACCI and the Hobby Industry Association formed a combined association, named the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA), in June 2004.  CHA finalized an agreement with Offinger to assume management of the CHA Summer Show, formerly known as the ACCI Show.  While details of the agreement were not made available, it was announced in March 2005 that the agreement would become effective with the 2006 Summer Show.

For more information on all the CHA Summer Convention & Trade Show programs and events, log on to www.chashow.org.

SOURCE: CHA Media.