Mediaboss Marketing

CHICAGO, Aug. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Most of us have experienced working in cubicles, open offices, and most recently home offices so future of work trends are certainly top of mind right now for people in every field and companies across a spectrum of industries. This fall, the commercial interiors industry will convene to present and discuss the latest solutions and strategies for the workplace at NeoCon, North Americas most important gathering of commercial interior design experts, taking place October 4-6 at theMART in Chicago. Leading into the show, industry leaders are putting the finishing touches on the new product innovations that will impact the offices and other shared spaces of the future. Whether its tents and pergolas especially designed for both individual and collaborative work, products for a neurodiverse workforce, flooring that incorporates biophilic patterns, or dynamic furniture systems ideal for flexibility, manufacturers at NeoCon will showcase solutions that contribute to the inclusive, efficient, and user-focused workplaces critical to the well-being of and retention of todays workforce.

"For more than 50 years, NeoCon has helped launch product solutions that meet, and even anticipate, needs and trends in the workplace and other shared spaces. NeoCon 2021 is no differentarchitects, designers, and facility managers in attendance will get a first look at thousands of product launches from the best manufacturers in the industry," remarks, Byron Morton, Vice President of NeoCon.

Here are some top workplace trends and products to be featured at NeoCon 2021:

Accounting for Mental Health and NeurodiversityEmployee wellness has been a major consideration in office design for many years, but mental wellbeing is coming into greater focus. According to a recent study, 74% of all workers, including 88% of those ages 18-24, say poor mental health has impacted their productivity.*1 In addition to reducing anxiety, which is at an all-time high due to the pandemic, research indicates the need for workplaces and solutions that accommodate a neurodiverse workforce. Kay Sargent, a NeoCon 2021 presenter and Director of WorkPlace for global design and architecture firm HOK, remarks, Approximately 15 to 20 percent of people are neurodivergent, meaning they have one of a collection of conditions that include autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. Versatile environments that provide for a range of options give users more control and choice, fostering equality, integration, and helping to reduce anxiety. Flexible layouts and work solutions individuals can self-select for different kinds of work also contribute to a healthier, more functional and inclusive workplace. Haworths Pergola, designed by Patricia Urquiola, is a novel environment employees can opt to use when a change of scene is needed for creative tasks, whether individual or team based. The Framery 2Q Huddle contributes to a more flexible office, offering employees another multifunctional space that includes a table to accommodate up to six people. Its superior sound insulation system and designated display screen guarantees internal meetings and video conferences wont disturb others. The HON Companys Workwall transforms any workspace into a personalized command central allowing employees more control over the way they work.

Privacy for Individual Work and Personal SpacePrivacy solutions are not only ideal for heads-down, focused work, they can also offer users a sense of security. With its light and airy organic shape, Steelcases Work Tentwhether outfitted with a desk and chair or lounge seatingis a stylish and safe personal haven within an open floor plan. Pedralis functional and efficient Buddyhub seat, designed by Busetti Garuti Redaelli, offers employees an isolated alcove that encourages concentration and ensures acoustic and visual privacy. When a quiet spot for meetings with remote workers is needed, Mutes Space S pod with video conference capability is a great option and features a state-of-the-art ventilation system to ensure proper air flow. In open spaces, where multiple desks and workplace elements need to co-exist, 3Forms Varia Desk Partitions can establish physical separation for social distancing, and with the option to configure in a number of different ways, create a variety of more intimate areas for personal space and work.

Space Utilization and MobilityOffering a myriad of options and areas for different kinds of work requires space utilization efficiency and mobility. Artomes M10 portable plug-and-play smart solution for presenting, learning, and videoconferencing, delivers movable and adaptable audiovisual technology whenever and wherever it is needed. Space is maximized with KIs Tattoo collection, a modular system of screens, storage, seating, and tables that fit spatially and aesthetically within the same footprint, no matter how they are arranged or rearranged. The stations can be adjusted easily to each user, which is ideal for hot desking. Lightweight, comfortable, and carefully scaled, Keilhauers carbon neutral Swurve chair can easily be moved and rearranged to create an area that respects physical distance while encouraging collaboration. Likewise, OM Seatings Ginny Multi-Tasker is ideal for a wide range of work areas and work styles, performing optimally in both small workspace alcoves and larger collaborative areas.

Elevating the Office EnvironmentEmployee expectations have changed, and workplaces need to not only be safe, socially distant and clean, but also comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. Andreu Worlds Giro Soft by Alfredo Hberli adds style and sophistication and provides an ideal perch for taking a break in between conference calls or long periods at a desk. Not only does Aquafils noho move chair have a comfortable and supportive feel, its also made almost entirely from waste plasticallowing users to feel good about their design choice, too. Its ergonomic design eliminates pressure points and improves the bodys circulation. Flooring brands have innovated collections to stylishly ground any office space, both literally and figuratively. Mohawk Group connects workers to the peaceful, natural world through its Data Tide collection, which was created using data sets from environmental studies of greenhouse gases to create biophilic patterns that weave a distinct, visual narrative about the immense role bodies of water play in our world. Armstrong Floorings Exchange invigorates and inspires employees with soft pastels and rich, saturated tones and a visual texture that adds depth and interest under foot.

The Outdoor AdvantageThe movement of the office outdoors is nothing new, but there is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated and popularized the trend. Taking advantage of the external environment also allows for greater available use of real estate, such as utilizing the square footage between buildings on office campuses. Once thought of mainly for al fresco social gatherings, employees are increasingly seeking outdoor spaces as havens for focused, individual work, as well as collaboration. Division Twelves durable metal and fully recyclable HDPE seating is engineered with outdoors in mind. Featuring all-weather powder coats, and heavy-duty glides, it can take on the elements. Similarly, Allermuirs CROP collection is fully weatherproof and is available with removable seating pads for added comfort. Everyone has a seat at the table thanks to JANUS et Cies Rally seating and table collection which is ideal for outdoor environments and is ADA compliant. Fermobs Abelio provides unobtrusive, stylish separation within an open plan, open air office. Its transparent plexiglass panel boasts an asymmetrical shape, symbolizing a tree that brings a decorative touch to any space.

Collaboration between architecture, interior design and furniture design is the catalyst in the evolution of space. Of the three, furniture is the most tangible to the occupant, so it has an immense power and impact on the overall environment and end-use. Manufacturers understand this critical role and you will see that firsthand in their showrooms and booths at NeoCon," adds Deirdre Jimenez, President/CEO of BIFMA, the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association.

NeoCon is open to trade, media, C-Suite executives and other industry-related professionals at http://www.neocon.com/register. Credentialed members of the media can register for press passes here. Interviews with NeoCon leadership, exhibitors, and speakers are available. To set up an interview, or for more information please email alexandra@novitapr.com. To access a full gallery of images of products mentioned click here. The show will take place October 4-6 from 8am-5pm CDT with media previews available on October 3. Additional details for attending NeoCon can be found at http://www.neocon.com.

For showroom, exhibitor, and general NeoCon news, images, and real-time information, follow NeoCon Shows on the following: Facebook(@NeoConShows), Twitter (@NeoCon_Shows), and Instagram (@NeoCon_Shows).

Media Contacts: Novit Communications Alexandra Zwicky / Danielle McWilliams / Nicole Haddad / Emma Reuland alexandra@novitapr.com / danielle@novitapr.com / nic@novitapr.com / emma@novitapr.com

About NeoCon: NeoCon is the worlds leading platform and most important event for the commercial interiors industry, held each year at theMART in Chicago. Since launching in 1969, NeoCon has served as the annual gathering place for the commercial design worlds manufacturers, dealers, architects, designers, end-users, design organizations and media. The three-day event showcases game-changing products and services from close to 500 leading and emerging companiesproviding unparalleled access to the latest and most innovative solutions. A robust educational program of keynote presentations and CEU sessions offers world-class expertise and insight about todays most relevant topics as well as the future of commercial design. http://www.neocon.com

NeoCon is a registered trademark of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc, a subsidiary of Vornado Realty Trust.

About theMART: theMART (formerly The Merchandise Mart), located in the center of the sought-after River North submarket, is interwoven into the fabric of Chicago as an innovator in business, technology, culture, art, media and more. As the largest privately held commercial building in the United States, it is one of the worlds leading commercial buildings, wholesale design centers and the preeminent international business location in Chicago. Encompassing 4.2 million gross square feet, theMART spans two city blocks, rises 25 stories, and is visited by an average of 30,000 people each business day and nearly 10 million people annually. Offering continuous innovation and creativity from leading manufacturers and design forward showrooms, theMART serves as the home to Chicago's most creative and technologically innovative companies.

1 Aetna Internationals 2020 Employee Health Study

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

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See the article here:
Is the Office Tent the New Cubicle? The Future of Work is at NeoCon 2021 - GlobeNewswire

The NRLs head of football Graham Annesley has put the leagues coaches on notice, saying that criticism of NRL match officials has become out of control in recent weeks.

Speaking at his weekly briefing on Monday, Annesley said it was rubbish to blame referees for defeats and suggested that teams who lost games should focus on improving their own performance rather than taking aim at match officials.

The level of criticism thats been coming about match officials after games I think is over the top. I think its unjustified, Annesley told reporters.

Although there are decisions that clubs dont like, and that they may think should have gone the other way, they are not necessarily wrong decisions.

If you ask the fans and the supporters of the opposition team, theyd be saying the decision is 100% right.

Were getting these marginal decisions and theres a lot of them in our game.

I just think (the criticism) has got a little bit out of control recently. Well see one incident in a game and then the whole post-match discussion is about that incident.

We focus in on one or two decisions that a referee might make and say, We lost the game because of that.

Frankly, its just rubbish.

Annesleys comments came after Dragons coach Anthony Griffin, Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett and Sharks coach Josh Hannay all lashed specific refereeing calls in their sides losses this weekend.

Coaching against his former club for the first time, Griffin bemoaned a couple of dodgy calls in Penriths defeat of his side.

He was particularly scathing of a tackle made by Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary, which he believed was a shoulder-charge.

It was a clear cut shoulder charge; thats the one they brought the rule in for where you dont use your arms, Griffin claimed after the 34-16 loss.

Barrett was left frustrated on Sunday when the Bulldogs had a try disallowed after Sione Katoa was ruled to have hit Warriors player Edward Kosi high and late in the lead-up to the would-be four-pointer.

The coach said the Bulldogs had the try that got us back in the game got taken off us for reasons I still dont know.

It wasnt a high tackle, it wasnt late and we get a try taken off us. I still cant work out why and Ive had a look at it again.

Hannay said the Sharks were shattered to have lost against Newcastle in the last game of the round 22 and lamented the referees tough decision to penalise Cronulla for dragging Bradman Best into the Knights in-goal after held had been called.

Every week, every game you see people driven back into the in-goal, thats part of the game, Hannay said.

For that to be a penalty they march up the other end and then kick the winning goal from that.

Annesley said the referees made the right call on all three occasions and questioned the logic of blaming individual decisions for losses.

Annesley added that referees very rarely cost a team the game and that match officials were not to blame for defeats recorded in round 22.

Many of these incidents happen at different stages of games where teams have got every opportunity to go on and win the game if theyre good enough, he said.

But what Ive seen over recent weeks, while some of these criticisms have been going on, is that teams have lost games because they havent been good enough to win them. Thats why theyve lost games.

Frankly, its time other people accepted responsibility for the outcomes of some games.

Annesley said that teams unforced errors and missed tackles had a far greater impact on the outcome of a game than one or two refereeing decisions that might be arguable about whether they were right or they were wrong.

Annesley said the increased competition for spots in the NRLs top eight may be responsible for the spike in criticism levelled at match officials.

Both Hannay and Griffins teams had been well and truly in the fight for top eight spots prior to round 22, but their losses over the weekend now put them one win behind the teams sitting in eighth and ninth on the ladder.

Weve a scramble for positions in the eight and for making the eight. The eights still far from settled, Annesley said

I get the pressure everyones under. Were all under pressure.

Annesley said not just coaches, but media personalities and other pundits within the game, should rethink their criticism of match officials

Theyre entitled to opinion, Im not trying to stop them from having an opinion, but its the intensity of the criticism, he said.

Annesley said it was not for him to determine whether coaches would be fined for their comments over the weekend.

My role is about what happens on the field. There are other people at the NRL in other roles that determine whether our rules have been breached in relation to post-match comment, he said.

Originally posted here:
Out of control: NRL lashes rubbish trend among whinging coaches - Fox Sports

I wasnt born when India won Independence. I was just one of those privileged Indians who took freedom for granted, and I expected to die in a free country too. I was, however, aware that there was an organisation made up of fat old sickos who worshipped the Nazis, wept into their hankies when the British were kicked out of India, spread rumours and lies like gossipy old aunties, and thought communal riots were a lovely way to pass the day.

My father had warned me about these ghouls when I was little. You see, these fat old sickos used to lurk around kiddy parks when Dad was a teenager in pre-independence India. Such a shame that British plods on duty didnt holler Hoy! and drag the fat old sickos to police stations on the grounds of evil intent.

My father was approached by a couple of fat old sickos when he was playing cricket one evening. They tried to recruit him to their bigoted cause, but he firmly turned them down. I am so proud that he could tell right from wrong when he was in his early teens, unlike so many old editor uncles & aunties, public intellectuals, and businessmen who brought these fat old sickos and their party, the BJP, into power in 2014 and kept them there.

More:
Reality Bites: I want to live in a free nation again - National Herald

LAW AND JUSTICE (PiS), the party that rules Poland, dislikes critics. Soon after coming to power in 2015, it took control of TVP, the public television broadcaster, and purged its management. Since then, Poland has slipped from 18th place in a World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit group, to 64th, its lowest-ever ranking. Now PiS has turned its attention to TVN, a television station owned by Discovery, an American media giant. A bill limiting foreign ownership of media companies adopted on August 11th by the Sejm, the lower chamber of parliament, could force Discovery to sell. Liberals fear that Polands independent media are in jeopardy.

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The Polish media should be Polish, says Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the ruling partys chairman and the countrys de facto leader. Repolonisation has become a buzzword in all sorts of industries. In March PKN Orlen, a state-owned oil refiner, bought Polska Press, the countrys leading newspaper publisher, from its German owner. Senior editors were subsequently replaced.

Law and Justices latest target is TVN24, a news channel. Unlike TVP, it is critical of the government. It is also influential: its evening news was the most-watched news programme in Poland in the first half of 2021, with an audience share of almost 22%, just ahead of TVPs rival offering.

The amendment to the broadcasting law proposes to bar entities from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) from owning more than a 49% stake in any Polish media firm. The party is defending Polish interests, says Marek Suski, the Law and Justice MP behind the proposed amendment. Critics warn that it is aimed at TVN24, whose licence expires in September and has not yet been renewed. If the amendment is adopted, Discovery may have to divest the channel.

The TVN law could spell trouble for the ruling party, though. American officials, who have leapt to TVNs defence in the past, are concerned. Unfettered press is crucial for democracy, tweeted Bix Aliu, Americas charg daffaires in Warsaw, in response to the draft legislation. It also added to the tensions that brought down the ruling coalition this week. Jaroslaw Gowin, a deputy prime minister and leader of Agreement, a pro-business party that was one of Law and Justices two junior coalition partners, was ejected from the government on August 10th. He had wanted an amendment to the media law that would allow ownership by companies in the OECD, a group of rich countries including America. He also opposed government-backed tax reforms.

The media-nobbling law must still pass the Senate, where Law and Justice lacks a majority. With the next parliamentary elections due in 2023, the party continues to lead in the polls, ahead of the centrist opposition. It has shrugged off criticism, including from the European Commission, which also complains about its subversion of the judiciary. Making Discovery sell TVN will harm relations with America. But Mr Kaczynski clearly values control over Polish media more.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Unwelcome Discovery"

Here is the original post:
Poland's proposed media rules threaten press freedom - The Economist

The CEO of Discovery International vowed Friday to keep ownership of a Polish network aslawmakers in Polandpassed a bill in the lower house earlier this week that would reduce media ownership for non-European companies in the country.

The legislation targets Discovery-owned TVN. The bill, which still requires several other legislative steps before going to the president for signature, would mean that non-European companies in Poland could only retain up to 49 percent of their ownership of a media entity, The Associated Press reported.

In an interview with the wire service, CEO and President of Discovery International Jean-Briac Perrette said the network is worth about $3 billion.

We have no intent to sell or leave, Perrette told the news agency.

Polands government has said the legislation is necessary for sovereignty and security reasons, but opponents, including Secretary of State Antony BlinkenAntony BlinkenTaliban's advance picks up speed, intensifying Afghanistan crisis Biden sending 3K troops to Afghanistan to help draw down embassy staff Poland passes controversial bills, straining ties with EU, US and Israel MORE, say it would hurt the most watched independent news station in the country.

Blinken said in a statement Wednesday that he was deeply troubled by draft legislation passed today by the lower house of the Polish parliament that targets the most watched independent news station, which is also one of the largest U.S. investments in the country.

Poland has worked for decades to foster a vibrant and free media. This draft legislation would significantly weaken the media environment the Polish people have worked so long to build, he continued.

Perrette said during his interview that he has called for intervention efforts from countries in Europe, the European Union and the U.S., but he worries it might not be enough to stop a possible passage of the bill in Poland.

Were seeing great support from the U.S. government and great support from the EU, he told the AP. The problem is, I fear, this (Polish) government is so ideologically dead set.

Discovery has already filed a lawsuit after theTV regulator in Polandsignaled it would not be renewing the license for TVN24, which is the news channel owned by parent company TVN, according to Reuters

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Discovery exec says network will fight to keep control of Polish media company | TheHill - The Hill