Among the hard-hitting sessions that will be offered for C-level executives at CEIR Predict, a key area of focus will be the performance and impact of the Government (GV) sector. This sector affects Education (ED), Medical and Health Care (MD), Sporting Goods, Travel and Amusement (ST) and Transportation (TX) sectors, and creates a level of uncertainty due to budget cuts that may directly impact the exhibitions that rely on government agencies as buyers.

Recently, the Medical and Health Care industry has dealt with transition in the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) code and the details of the U.S. Affordable Care Act of 2010. Additionally, exhibition performance in the ST Sector has been mixed with consumers’ hesitance to purchase as they are more selective in spending their discretionary income. Discussion moderator Dave Noonan, deputy executive vice president, American Academy of Ophthalmology and panelists Matthew Holt, co-chairman, Health 2.0, David Loechner, president, Nielsen Expositions and Neal Vitale, president & CEO, 1105 Media Inc. will discuss how exhibitions in these sectors will be impacted by legal decisions in health care spending and employer changes in health care benefits, and how the forecast for continued recovery and improving consumer confidence could lead industry growth in the GV, ST and TX sectors.

Moderator Noonan said, “This session could have a sub-title “the black and blue” session! There is a call for Government to reduce spending that has not yet impacted the exhibitions that serve that sector. The quality of education looms as a continual and major campaign issue, and now Health Care, the poster child for the exhibition business since we started tracking performance some 40 years ago, is coming under harsh scrutiny from regulators that are creating uncertainty among the public. That uncertainty, coupled with an anemic economy, inhibits discretionary leisure spending that impacts Sporting Goods, Travel and Amusements. Our session will focus on these business sectors we depend on for our standard of living, our quality of life and our ability to compete globally. Experts will focus on our future.”

This session’s speakers will support the points made during the keynote address, Outlook for the Global Economy and its Impact on the Exhibition Industry, presented earlier that day by Oxford Economics’ John Walker. He will provide an overview of the geo-political, geo-economic situation and outlook for the global economy through 2014. Walker says, “Some of the problems from last year, like the Tsunami in Japan, have gone away, and some problems like higher commodity prices have eased at least temporarily but many of the issues such as the Euro crisis are still of huge concern. In addition, potential fiscal tightening in the U.S. next year (the fiscal cliff) and a slowdown in emerging markets such as China, suggest that the dangers and uncertainty are at least as bad as 2011. Despite these issues, many sectors continue to do quite well. For many companies the key is to change the focus from problem areas to ones that will be resilient in difficult times.”

Walker is chairman and chief economist of Oxford Economics, which he founded in 1983. He is responsible for all of Oxford Economics’ global economic analysis, forecasting and consultancy activities and plays a key role in setting the strategic development of Oxford Economics. He holds an MA from Balliol College, Oxford and an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics. He has worked in the UK Treasury where he became an economic adviser in the short-term forecasting division. He also has worked for the consultancy arm of The Economist as a special adviser to the EU Commission in Brussels.

CEIR Predict, which will be held on Thursday, 13 September 2012 at 10 on the Park at the Time Warner Center in New York City, uses the CEIR Index as the foundation for the event and to provide an objective measure of the annual performance of the exhibition industry, measuring year-over-year changes and predictions through 2014. Attendees will interact with presenters and colleagues throughout the day to share best practices, ideas and future strategies including projected event growth, merger and acquisition strategies and planned launches. Attendance is limited to exhibition organizer executives, merger and acquisition firms, private equity firms, debt providers, investment firms and the financial press to allow for an intimate, high-level idea exchange about the future of the exhibition industry and implications for specific business sectors and their supporting exhibitions. To apply for Predict, visit www.ceir.org/predict. Join the conversation on CEIR Predict’s LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CEIR-Predict-3972209?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr and follow CEIR on Twitter at #CEIR.

For more information about CEIR Predict visit www.ceir.org/predict or contact Executive Director Cathy Breden, CAE, CMP at cbreden@ceir.org or +1 (972) 687-9201.

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CEIR sincerely appreciates the support it has received from sponsors of this year’s Predict.