FIME MOVES FROM MIAMI TO ORLANDO

Posted by highland82 on July 24th, 2017

It was recently announced by Informa that the location for FIME 2017 has been moved from the Miami Beach Convention Center to the Orange County Convention Center/West Concourse, Orlando, Florida, and the show dates were changed slightly so that FIME 2017 will take place on August 8–10.

HCB News sat down with Dave Panther, Vice President Global Sales, from Informa to find out how this change would impact exhibitors and attendees alike.

What prompted the change in venue for FIME 2017?

This year marked the first year that Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions forayed into the U.S. healthcare exhibitions market and the success of FIME 2016 generated substantial value for our customers and partners by driving further product innovation and deeper engagement in this specific markets.

With 25% growth in visitor numbers in 2016 and 85% of exhibitors already re-booking their booths for next year’s show, FIME 2017 is set to be the largest show to date; both in terms of number of participants as well as the expansion of innovation and technology offering and clinical education.

As the show continues to grow under Informa’s stewardship, our focus now is to ensure that FIME continues to deliver on its promise as the largest medical trade fair in the biggest medical device marketplace. With the Miami Beach Convention Centre undergoing a 5 million complete renovation over the next three years, the decision has been taken to relocate FIME to its temporary home at the Orange Country Convention Centre in Orlando in order the accommodate the increasing scope of the show.

The Orange County Convention Centre is a world-class event facility and will serve as the perfect venue for FIME as it continues to welcome attendees from across Northern and Latin America. Orlando has two major airports within city limits and is well connected to both the traditional FIME audience and the new audiences the show hopes to attract in the coming years. We are also excited to form new partnerships and to knowledge-share with the vast medical community in Orange County adding to the exceptional mix of specialties of the 20,000 attendees from across the region.

Are you planning on bringing FIME back to Miami Beach when the work on the convention center there is completed?

Once the renovation at the Miami Beach Convention Centre has been completed, the venue will position itself among the most prominent and advanced convention centers of the world. The intention is for Informa Life Sciences Exhibitions’ to bring FIME back to Miami in 2019 once the renovation work is complete so that we can fully utilize the 150,000 sq. ft. of new space at the Miami Beach Convention Centre.

A lot of companies had already booked their booth space for FIME 2017. How will you make sure people get an equivalent space in Orlando? And when will they be notified?

As previously mentioned, 85% of exhibitors who at the 2016 show actually made their re-bookings for 2017 during the show. This is a fantastic indication of the buoyancy of the healthcare trade show operations in the U.S as well as the confidence in the strength of the healthcare market as a whole.

Loyal companies and country pavilions that have already re-booked their booths will be given priority with the location of their booths at the new venue. The biggest advantage of the Orange Country Convention Centre is that we will now be able to accommodate all of the exhibitors in one interconnected event space, ensuring easy way finding and facilitating more interaction between our exhibitors and participants.

Are there any new initiatives that you plan to roll-out at FIME 2017?

FIME’s primary focus will remain across four industry sectors: medical technology, medical products & supplies, medical services, and medical equipment. However, the increase in event space at the new venue will allow us to expand the clinical education offering in line with Informa’s motto of ‘Exhibition with Education” providing an unrivalled knowledge-sharing and business networking platform for healthcare trade professionals in the region. Healthcare professionals from across Latin and North America will be able to visit FIME for all of their medical educational needs.

We are also excited to announce the launch of MEDLAB Americas during FIME 2017 as the newest addition to our MEDLAB Series — the world’s largest series of global medical laboratory and IVD trade shows. MEDLAB Americas, which will be integrated into FIME, will feature thousands of cutting-edge medical laboratory products and services from around the world, as well as featuring accredited conference tracks focusing on bridging the gap between test utilisation and test interpretation, concentrating on the correlation of roles between laboratory professionals and clinicians.

Also new for FIME 2017 will be the 3D Medical Printing Zone where visitors can discover many of the innovative technologies that are revolutionising healthcare. Our partners and participators will be showcasing their products and demonstrating the possibilities that 3D printing can achieve for healthcare. Researchers in Florida have long been pioneering the use of 3D printed technology in medicine so we are excited to be able to showcase all the amazing advances being made right on our doorstep, here in Florida.