High-powered

FEDIYMA and EDRA, two European industry associations, have announced a high-powered list of speakers for their 2nd European Home Improvement Forum. Taking as its motto “From DIY to home & garden improvement”, it will be held at Disney’s Newport Bay Club Convention Center near Paris on 31 May and 1 June 2012. The 27 speakers come from eight countries. On the retail side are representatives such as Philippe Tible, CEO of Kingfisher France/Spain, Sergio Giroldi, CEO of Obi and Frédéric Sambourg, President of Bricomarché. The speakers from the manufacturing side include Stefan Grote, Executive Vice President Consumer Tesa, and David Algar, Group CEO of Hozelock. Also due to address the forum are specialists like Alistair Bruce, Director Retail Google. David Domoney, a British TV gardening expert, will make an appearance, while an invitation has also gone out to Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, a Swedish member of the European parliament, on the political side. Both retailers and suppliers are bound to follow her speech with particular attention. When Bildt spoke to a meeting organised in Brussels last March between 30 CEOs from the DIY retail sector and European politicians, her address provided much fuel for discussion. Her subject: “A more efficient and fairer retail market”. The lecture programme is arranged in several blocks dedicated to the following topics: design, human relations, garden and multi channel. One of the highlights will be provided by the presentation of the GfK’s FEDIYMA international DIY consumer study with data from Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Turkey. The presentation of the European DIY-Lifetime Award is seen as the festive climax of the event as a whole. The honour is going to Gilles Caille, president of the French manufacturers’ association and co-founder of FEDIYMA. A store tour concentrating on the area around Paris is being organised for the day before the start of the forum. Download: