Tim Courtney, director of the NFC World Congress, explains:

I have been getting worrying feedback from other events indicating that 2009 is a difficult year for trade shows.

Market data shows a 25% to 30% decrease in attendance at events in the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009. Cutbacks in travel budgets mean that many companies are reluctant to send delegates from further afield and this has also been true even within Europe. Many would-be visitors to trade shows have simply had to stay at home.

Naturally, fewer delegates and exhibition visitors make it more difficult for participating companies to achieve their marketing aims. So, after very careful consideration, I have reluctantly decided to postpone the NFC World Congress until the expected improvement in the economic climate in 2010.

Further information will be published on the NFC World Congress website as it becomes available, and you can sign up for the event’s occasional email newsletter to make sure you are notified of the new dates as soon as they are announced.

You can also keep up to date with all the latest developments in the world of near field communication via the Near Field Communications World newsletter.

Proposals are invited from speakers who can contribute presentations on near field communication to either the NFC Workshop or the main NFC World Congress programme. Four types of speaking opportunities are available:

• Lessons from the front line — Case studies from the payments, transit, marketing & promotion, connectivity, content & information services and ID arenas.
• NFC Workshop guest presenters — Technical and business presentations from experts in the field, focussing on the business case for NFC, NFC applications, NFC technology and NFC project management.
• Innovation showcase — The opportunity for those working on innovative new NFC applications and technologies to present their work to delegates.
• Discussion group leaders — Round-table workgroup leaders with specific expertise in a particular aspect of the NFC ecosystem from either a technical or business perspective. Discussion groups will focus on city services, trusted service management, mobile payments, ticketing, content & information services, marketing & promotion, NFC project planning and more.

Detailed guidelines for potential speakers are available in the call for papers section of the NFC World Congress website.

The closing date for proposals is 15 January 2009.