Full house expected in Brussels

The organisers of the 1st Global DIY Summit 2011 report that registrations have already reached a good level. EDRA, the European DIY Retail Association, and FEDIYMA, the Federation of European DIY Manufacturers, in association with the Global Home Improvement Network, are inviting delegates to their Summit in Brussels on 8 and 9 June 2011. “I am assuming that we will have a full house,” says John Herbert, general secretary of EDRA. For instance, he expects to see from 40 to 50 CEOs from all over the world attending the event. Retailers in particular are demonstrating an unexpectedly strong interest. Herbert believes that the manufacturing side will display a massive presence: “We’ve already had very many enquiries about Global DIY 2011, the accompanying exhibition.” The list of speakers includes a great number of company chiefs from both the retailing and the manufacturing side. For example, Gregory M. Bridgeford, executive vice president of Lowe’s and Ian Cheshire, CEO of Kingfisher, are both due to address the delegates. Other speakers are George Adams from Maxeda, Sandro Solari from Sodimac, Michael Wedgwood from Bunnings and Stefan Hartung from Bosch.