Exhibition News January 2019 | Page 9

Digital Construction Week acquired by Diversified Communications Diversified Communications UK has announced the acquisition of Digital Construction Week – the trade show dedicated to digital construction, engineering, design, manufacturing, and operation. Digital Construction Week has grown rapidly since its launch event in 2015 and its latest edition welcomed over 6,500 visitors, 200 exhibitors and around 250 speakers presenting across six stages. The event complements Diversified’s international event portfolio, which includes GEO Business in London; Commercial UAV Expo Europe in Amsterdam; DesignBUILD in Sydney; International LiDAR Mapping Forum in Colorado; and Commercial UAV Expo Americas in Las Vegas. Diversified UK MD Carsten Holm commented: “It’s great to be welcoming Digital Construction Week, together with its co-founders Luke Collings and Oliver Hughes, to Diversified Communications. “We have been watching the growing success of the event ever since Luke and Ollie launched it not so very long ago, and feel that their personal approach, customer focus, long-term vision and attention to detail is very similar to our own way of doing things.” Diving show makes a splash at the Ricoh A brand-new scuba-diving show featuring a ‘real-life’ mermaid is coming to Coventry next year. GO Diving is making its show debut in Ricoh Arena’s Ericsson Indoor Arena on 23-24 February 2019. The show will include a range of diving experiences for visitors as part of efforts to bring through the next wave of divers. This includes eight virtual reality stands where people can experience swimming with sharks, seals and exploring caves and shipwrecks. Freeman acquires US agency mdg Freeman has acquired mdg, a full- service event marketing and public relations agency based in the US. The acquisition enhances the Freeman spectrum of services, from pre-event marketing and on- site user experience to post-show communications based on data- informed insights. The Fishing Show launches in Yorkshire Completely Group to launch wedding show at Farnborough Completely Group, organiser of the Completely Retail Marketplace trade shows, has announced the launch of a new consumer event: The South East Wedding Show. The new show will take place on 7-8 September 2019 at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre and will bring together venues, suppliers and specialists from the whole of the south east. Alongside the venue hub and supplier stands the show will also include a range of workshops, talks and catwalks over four stages including a Craft Stage, Planning Stage, Catwalk and Entertainment Hub. Dom Millar, CEO of Completely Events said: “With a proven track record of growing successful transaction-orientated events in other business sectors we are delighted to be bringing our expertise to the £10bn UK wedding sector. We know there is exhibitor demand for an accessibly priced showcase in the south east and we’ve been extremely encouraged by the initial reaction from the industry. Farnborough International is the obvious choice of venue for The South East Wedding Show for many reasons, not least because it offers us a huge amount of flexibility to expand the event to match this demand.” Rebecca Sawyer, events manager at Completely Events added: “Our new show will concentrate on creating the best visitor experience. The feedback we’ve had from visitors to existing wedding events is that they are either too small, or too generic. The smaller local fairs usually concentrate on a single venue with a limited amount of preferred suppliers. The nationwide wedding events are normally a long way to travel for most and are so vast that it’s often hard for visitors to connect with relevant local businesses. By holding our new event at an easily accessible location and concentrating on local venues and businesses who only operate across the South East, we believe we’ll offer visitors a memorable experience with a huge choice of suppliers and ideas to create their perfect day.” A new consumer fishing show will launch at Yorkshire Event Centre on 8-9 June 2019. The Fishing Show, organised by the venue’s organising arm Bee Events, will ‘bring together everyone’s fishing favourites under one roof’. This will be the first ever dedicated fishing show of its kind to be held in Yorkshire, and will be for anglers from all walks of life - whether they are seasoned rods or absolute beginners. Crown and Communique merge Event agencies Crown and Communique have announced that they are merging. The new company is called Strata Creative Communications Ltd, and employs 60 people. Strata will combine the strategic, creative and production skills of Crown with Communique’s experiential capability and operational facilities, to provide a truly full-service offering for its clients. Simon Hambley, previously board director of Crown, takes on the new role of chief executive officer of Strata effective immediately. exhibitionnews.co.uk | January 2019 9