Officials say visitors at NPE2015 will have ample opportunity to maximize the return on their trade-show investment by taking advantage of the broadest array of educational programs ever offered at an NPE.

• SPI’s Business of Plastics Conference will provide a broad menu of timely topics with business implications. Running from March 23-25, the Business of Plastics Conference will consist of 37 presentations in nine topic areas. Fees for early bird registration, which ends on January 15, are $245 for SPI members and $300 for nonmembers; afterward, online registration fees are $295 and $350, respectively. On-site registration costs $345 and $400. These fees grant access to any of the Business of Plastics session tracks throughout the week.
• SPE ANTEC Orlando 2015. Produced by the Society of Plastics Engineers, the annual ANTEC is the world’s largest plastics technical conference, with hundreds of technical papers consisting of original content reviewed by industry peers. In 2014, for example, ANTEC had 124 topical sessions with 627 presentations. ANTEC Orlando 2015 will run from March 23 through March 25. Fees are charged for either a single day ($595 for SPE members / $695 for nonmembers) or the full conference ($745 / $895).
• Latin American Seminar in Spanish, titled “Trends, Opportunities and Technologies in the Business of Plastics,” will be produced by CarvajalMedios B2B, a media partner of NPE2015 and publisher of Tecnologia del Plastico and El Empaque magazines. There will be three half-day session tracks on March 24 and 25. Until January 15, 2015, fees are $150 for one session, $270 for two, and $330 for three. After that date, the fees are $180, $330, and $410, respectively.
• IDSA Southern District Design Conference. The Industrial Designers Society of America will host this conference for design professionals, students, educators and business professionals. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from subject matter experts, explore how design is changing to meet expanding demands, and see how design is key in the creation of end user products in the plastics industry and its vertical markets. This conference will take place March 26 and 27. 

• SPI / IHS Key Market Breakfast Briefing. Building on an ongoing collaboration between SPI and IHS Chemical, a provider of global market and economic information, this briefing on March 24 will provide insights on the economy, energy, feedstocks, and polymers. One of the highlights will be a presentation by Wal-Mart called “America Makes,” based on the renaissance of manufacturing in North America.
• Panel Discussions on Plastics Design. Held on the morning of March 26, two panel discussions by experts in design will be organized by Robert Grace, president of RC Grace LLC and former editorial director and associate publisher of Plastics News. Session 1: “Designing the Future: How Materials Can Change the World,” moderated by Gaylon White, consultant and former director of design programs at Eastman Chemical. Session 2: “Bridging the Communications Gap: How to ‘Talk Designer,’” moderated by Robert Grace.