PLASA Announces the Suspension of Focus Events in North America for 2016

Following the completion of the 2015 cycle of PLASA Focus events in Orlando and Kansas City, a full review was undertaken to ascertain the progress and success of the PLASA events produced in the North American market over the last four years. While some progress had been achieved over this period, it was decided that significant change was necessary to create an event that better satisfied the business needs of the exhibitors, creating a profitable event for all those involved.

To fully explore and understand the changes necessary the decision of the PLASA governing body and the PLASA executive management has been to take a hiatus from producing new events in 2016.

Christopher Toulmin, PLASA's director of the events division comments: "Despite considerable financial investment from PLASA and a great deal of hard work from the various members of the events team in the UK and NA over the last four years, commercial success have remained elusive. We have struggled to achieve the critical mass we need from exhibitors despite some amazing support throughout from some key brands. Bringing a large enough audience consistently to our regional shows was also proving to be a challenge, too. I would especially like to thank Laura Hoepker for her tireless efforts, great professionalism, and support for this project. I wish her well with the future. Going forward, we will take everything we have learned from this experience, consult with the various sectors of the industry, and look forward to sharing some new ideas later next year."