JD Events Buys IIR Health Care Show

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 2/28/2005

Just weeks after JD Events sold its AD:TECH series of interactive advertising conferences to dmg world media, the company has acquired the Symposium on Healthcare Design from British event producer IIR Exhibitions.

JD Events CEO Joel Davis said the symposium, which draws about 1,500 attendees and features a 12,000 net square foot tradeshow, appears to have tremendous growth potential. "It's a terrific market. Anywhere in health care is a good place to be," he said.

Davis said he has no plans to change anything for the 2005 show, set for Sept. 26–28 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. JD Events has hired Jenabeth Ferguson, who worked on the symposium from 1998 to 2002, as event director.

"We're just going to continue to do what was planned for this year and do it the best that we can to gain the confidence of the industry," Davis said.

The 18-year-old event draws architects, interior designers, health care executives, facility managers and planners. Davis said he's quite familiar with the symposium, since it was previously owned by Imark Communications.

"It's got a successful track record and a loyal following and lots of potential growth characteristics. We had some good insight into it," he said.

JD Events is positioning itself as an event incubator that buys distressed shows and builds them into attractive acquisitions for larger show management companies. The concept was proven when dmg world media purchased AD:TECH, which JD Events had expanded nationally and internationally. JD Events is currently at work on re-launching ShowBiz Expo, which has had a number of owners in recent years.