October 21, 2013

Report from NeoCon East 2013

The 11th annual NeoCon East took place this year on October 16 and 17 at the Baltimore Convention Center, where over 250 exhibitors displayed their top offerings for the office, retail, healthcare, hospitality, education and government markets. While product was a big draw to the 7,500 design professionals who attended, also of note were some stunning booth installations.

The International Interior Design Association revealed winners of the 2013 NeoCon East Booth Design Award Competition. The judging panel comprised Alison Kennedy, IIDA (Booz Allen Hamilton), Nancy Wightman, IIDA (HDR Architects), and Alison Graham, IIDA (Gensler), who said of the winners’ design solutions overall, “It was refreshing to see original designs that utilized vertical space with creatively rustic elements breaking away from the mold of the generic booth design more often seen.” Large Booth honors for this year’s competition went to Bentley; Small Booth honors to METAL.

Meanwhile, Interior Design took advantage of the contract-minded crowd to host a Principals Roundtable debate, moderated by Interior Design president Mark Strauss and IIDA executive vice president and CEO Cheryl Durst, on topics of note to the midatlantic region, including the impact—good and bad—of the Millennials Generation on the work place.

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