In brief

Annual meeting and conference The Worldwide DIY Council, an American manufacturers’ association, is bringing together a number of top-class speakers for its annual meeting, which will be complemented by a global business conference. The event is to be held on 9 May 2011, one day before the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. John Herbert, general secretary of Edra, the European DIY Retail Association, will be the keynote speaker. Other speakers will focus their attention on Latin America and its law of contract, as well as on Asia and China. The final address will be given by Tom Barfell, director of international sales and category development for Do it best. Glee boost for Petindex More than 60 per cent of the hall space of Glee, the UK’s garden trade fair, has already been rebooked by 320 exhibitors at last year’s event. In this year the Petindex show that is held in parallel will be fully integrated into Glee and move over from Hall 3a to Hall 5. What is more, it will also adopt the same opening times from Monday to Wednesday. Exhibitor growth in Tokyo The multi-trade show consisting of the International Flower Expo (Ifex), Garden Expo (Gardex) and the Outdoor Living & Building Products Expo (Extepo) staged in Tokyo at the end of October registered 30 651 trade visitors, or four per cent fewer than the previous year. In contrast to this, the total number of 913 exhibiting companies was almost seven per cent above last year’s figure. The organisers’ declared goal is to further increase the number of exhibitors by 30 per cent by reserving another hall next year, and to become the world’s leading flower and garden show. From Europe into the world Edra and Fediyma, the European DIY retail and manufacturers’ associations, are organising the 1st Global DIY Summit 2011. The theme of the event, which is to be held in Brussels on 8 and 9 June 2011, will be “One world – what will shape the future of home improvement worldwide?” Environmental conservation, the common European market, new growth markets worldwide, and global, regional and local procurement are the key topics that are due to be tackled at the event. Presentation of DIY Lifetime Award Hans-Rudolf Müller was presented with the DIY Lifetime Award during a festive ceremony on 30 November 2010 within the framework of the 11th International BHB DIY Home Centre Congress in Cologne. Mr Müller, 71, was for many years the head of Gardena, a German manufacturer of garden tools. He ended his expression of…