An informal meeting of leading manufacturer representatives was held on 19 September. Notes from that meeting will be made available shortly.

BOSS East Anglia Executive Dinner, Cambridge - 13 November

BOSS Northern Ireland Dinner Dance, Hilton Hotel, Belfast - 14 November

BOSS North West Dinner Dance, Stretton - 21 November

BOSS Wessex and Wales

Luke Chapman, Sales Director of Integra has taken over as Chairman and he has recently sent an email to all BOSS members in the region introducing himself and seeking their involvement. If you are interested in getting involved and did not receive that email please contact Luke on lukechapman@integra-office.co.uk or 01633 653 000

(BOSS website upload: BOSS Regions)

On 4 September 2008, BOSS held its Annual General Meeting at 12 Corporation Street, High Wycombe. At the BOSS Executive Board meeting that preceded it Alan Barclay, Chairman of Vasanta was appointed Chairman of BOSS Federation.

The Minutes from that meeting together with a report from the Joint Manaufacturers and Resellers & Distributors Forum that followed are available now.

Also available are the presentations that were made at the Joint Forum.

The BOSS Heart of England Dinner Dance was held on Friday, 19 September at the Abbey Hotel Golf and Country Club in Redditch. A good evening was had by all and £750 was raised for the BOSS Benevolent Fund.

(BOSS website uploads: BOSS Regions - Heart of England; and BOSS Benevolent Fund)

BOSS Federation would like to thank XPD for their invitation to attend their Connections Conference that was held on 27th September. Philippa Morrell, General Manager and Keith Paternoster, Membership Development Executive were able to meet many members and look forward to following up with a number of individuals. At the Gala dinner that followed, £1 140 was raised for the BOSS Benevolent Fund.

(BOSS website upload: Events area & BOSS BenFund)

For members who are affected by the REACH Directive, REACH Ready a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chemcials Industry Assocation is running a series of training events to help people understand how to use the system in place for registering chemicals. More information is available from REACH Ready itself.

(BOSS Website upload: Environment - link to REACH Ready site. Will be sent under seperate cover)

A newly constructed trade counter unit prominently situated within the designated trade counter scheme of Jubilee Business Park, Enterprise Way, Stores Road, Derby is now available to let on a new lease.

The adjoining Unit 4 has recently been let to a firm of digital printers and other occupiers in the immediate area include office users, banks and commercial companies. 

BOSS is pleased to announce the finalists (in alphabetical order per category) for the 2008 Industry Awards:

Brand Awareness

Blue Sky

HSM

Stewart Superior

Business Technology

Office Depot

Penkeths

UOE

Catalogue of the year

Integra

Nemo

Tollit & Harvey

Dealer Excellence

Langstane Press

Lyreco

Penkeths

Environment

3M

Everything Office

Office Depot

Penkeths

ManufacturingExcellence

Over £10m

ACCO

BIC

Esselte

Under £10m

Durable

HSM

Rapesco

Manufacturers Marketing Excellence

3M

Durable

Pentel

Resellers Marketing Excellence

The Axworthy’s Group

Penkeths

Stationery Cupboard

Young Professional

James Taylor-ECI2 Europe

Martin Smith- Integra Office Supplies

Max Trotter-Landry- Paperstone

BOSS would like to thank everyone who has entered the Awards this year.

The winners of each award category will be announced at the BOSS Industry Awards Dinner on Thursday 16th October at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.

Table bookings for the awards evening can be reserved by contacting Ann Price at Affinity Media on (Tel.) 01303 814075 or (email) ideas@affinity-media.co.uk

For more information or to download a booking form, log onto www.bossfederation.co.uk

Next April's Stationery & Office Products Show (SOPX) is to major even more on new products, building on this year's launch and visitor research carried out after the event. It has also announced the SOPX New Product Awards, in association with Office Products International (OPI) magazine which will be judged by an independent panel of buyers on the first day of the show.

Entry is free and open to all exhibitors, and will be across a number of product categories.  

8 out of 10 resellers said they visited SOPX to find new products and new suppliers - the same number have either already placed orders with exhibitors as a result of their visit to the show, or expect to do so. Organiser First Events plans to position SOPX as the place to go in the UK for the best in product innovation in stationery and office supplies.  

"You're never going to get a better chance to present new ranges in one place than at SOPX," comments Nigel Eaton, Country Manager for Smead UK who have already confirmed that they will be exhibiting at next year's show and who exhibited at this year's event.  

 Organiser Chris Leonard Morgan adds: "SOPX has proved that it is a great place to showcase new products and initiatives. And now with the launch of the SOPX New Product Awards, exhibitors will have the chance to gain additional recognition for product innovation and all the hard work that goes into product design.   "SOPX is the only time in the year in the UK when all suppliers can show an unrestricted range of products to buyers from the whole market, all in a receptive mind and ready to do business.   "New products are at the heart of the industry, and are key to its success. Whilst the pressure is on for suppliers and resellers to provide great value for money, there is also plenty of evidence of people being prepared to trade up. A special ‘What's new at SOPX' supplement will be mailed to buyers before the show, and visitors will be able to easily identify new products on exhibitors' stands as a result of ‘NEW' showcards provided by us."  

The 2009 Stationery & Office Products Show will take place on Tuesday 7 - Wednesday 8 April at the Business Design Centre in London. For information about exhibiting and visiting, call First Events on 020 8462 0721 or visit www.sopx.co.uk