Predict announces Oxford Economics Chairman as keynote speaker

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has announced John Walker, chairman and founder of Oxford Economics, as a keynote speaker at Predict: CEIR’s Annual Exhibition Industry Outlook Conference. Predict will be held on September 15, 2011, at 10 on the Park at the Time Warner Center in New York City. Executives will share future operating strategies including projected event growth, merger and acquisition strategies and planned launches.

Walker will set the framework for the day’s discussions by providing an overview of the non-U.S. geo-political, geo-economic situation, followed by an outlook for the global economy through 2013. He will provide his thoughts on whether the U.S. will be the driver of the global economy, or simply respond to what is happening in the rest of the world.

Walker is chairman and chief economist of Oxford Economics, which he founded in 1983. He is responsible for all of Oxford Economics’ global economic analysis, forecasting and consultancy activities and plays a key role in setting the strategic development of Oxford Economics. He holds an MA from Balliol College, Oxford and an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics. From 1973 to 1977, he worked in the UK Treasury where he became an Economic Adviser in the short-term forecasting division. He also has worked for the consultancy arm of The Economist as a Special Adviser to the EU Commission in Brussels.

Following Walker’s comments, CEIR’s economists will bring the global discussion home to the U.S. with an analysis of what has transpired in 2011 and the likely outcome for the year. Dr. Allen Shaw and Dr. Jeffrey Werling will report on the impact that economic and political forces will likely have on exhibitions serving various industry sectors.

The Predict conference is a forum in which future operating strategies including projected event growth, merger and acquisition strategies and planned launches will be discussed. The event will be limited to qualified C-level executives. Attendance will be limited to no more than 200 participants including exhibition industry executive decision makers, merger and acquisition firms, private equity firms, debt providers, investment firms and the financial press to allow for an intimate, high-level idea exchange about the future of the exhibition industry and implications for specific business sectors and their supporting exhibitions.