Natural Products Expo East will be moving to Baltimore in 2011 to improve attendee and exhibitor experience and cut down on costs, according to the Erica Stone, show manager. The show was last in Baltimore in 2007 and has since developed further initiatives to improve community involvement both for this year’s show and future events.

“We are constantly evaluating the needs of our clients when determining the characteristics of this industry’s trade events, inclusive of dates and location,” Stone said. “After a thorough examination of the market and feedback from the industry, an aggressive initiative plan aimed to increase show floor commerce, reduce participant expenditure and ensure community development has been introduced for the 2010 event in Boston. The move back to Baltimore in 2011 will complement these initiatives in the future and re-establish Expo East as the premier buying show on the East Coast.”

Concerns about lodging, traveling to and from the convention center, exhibition space and buying activity will all be addressed with this move set for Sept. 21-24, 2011, Stone said. An additional 1,300 hotel rooms have been added within four blocks of the Baltimore Convention Center and 700 rooms have been added outside of the four-block radius since 2007. A new Hilton Hotel has also been built nearby, providing further exhibition space. And more initiatives have been implemented this year in Boston to improve buying activity, and those programs will continue.

Expo East 2011 will still be co-locating with All Things Organic and The Organic Summit as well as continuing to partner with Nuremberg Messe to host BioFach America. Stone hopes that other programs at this year’s show, like the “Find a Product Desk” product locator on the show floor, staffed with market experts, and events like the 25th Anniversary Celebration will bring the natural products community together.

“The ‘one-stop-networking-shop’ events focus on bringing all segments of the supply chain together in one location,” Stone said. This year there will be “a blown out community and 25th Anniversary Celebration inclusive of dinner, drinks, music, dancing and networking hosed by exhibitors.”

Stone said new buyers and manufacturers are registering for Expo East 2010 in Boston every day and that this momentum will continue as the show moves to Baltimore in 2011.