Agenda, Keynote Speaker Announced for 2010 Ward's Auto Interiors Conference

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ward's Auto Interiors Conference, North America's only conference dedicated to the automotive interior, has been announced for May 19, 2010.  The day-long event, to be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Dearborn, MI, will cover virtually every aspect of the modern automotive interior.

J Mays, Group Vice President of Design and Chief Creative Officer for Ford Motor Company, will deliver the keynote address at 10 am offering key insights into Ford's vision for tomorrow's vehicle interior.

The conference will also unveil winners of the annual Ward's Interior of the Year Awards, the top honor bestowed upon designers of automotive interiors.  The designers from the winning interior programs will be called to the stage to accept their awards and recognize contributions from team members and vendors.

Attendees will have their choice of conference sessions, each focusing on key aspects of automotive interiors, from design to material usage to demographics:

• Trends in Telematics and Navigation Systems
• The Environmentally Friendly Interior: The Design Perspective
• Consumer Wants and Needs
• Responsible Connectivity: HMI/Instrumentation/Voice Recognition
• The Science of Interior Aesthetics
• Luxury's New Aesthetic: Designing the Premium Interior
• What Makes a Family-Friendly Interior?
• The Environmentally Friendly Interior: The Technical Perspective
• Color Trends for a Brave New World

Sessions will feature top talent from vehicle manufacturers and suppliers sharing the perspectives of designers, material engineers, marketers, and other job functions with key roles in the creation and roll-out of tomorrow's automotive interiors.

In addition, the winners of the first Ward's Auto Interiors Student Design Competition will be announced.  The competition, sponsored by International Automotive Components (IAC) and Lear Corporation, with support from SAE International, will showcase the winning designs of students from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI.  Students were asked to create a vehicle interior for a tech-savvy and green-minded young couple with a growing family.

For more information on the Ward's Auto Interiors Conference, visit www.autointeriors.com.

Ward's Automotive Group is a world-leading provider of auto industry news, data, and analysis, having served the industry's information needs for nearly 80 years. Ward's AutoWorld is a monthly magazine serving more than 68,000 automotive professionals.  The twice-monthly newsletter Ward's Engine & Vehicle Technology Update provides analysis of engineering advancements and technical issues. WardsAuto.com is an online subscription service delivering virtually all the industry news, data, and analysis compiled by Ward's Automotive Group, the world's leader in automotive industry information. A Southfield, MI - based division of Penton Media, Inc., Ward's Automotive Group also publishes the weekly industry newsletter Ward's Automotive Reports, the monthly magazine Ward's Dealer Business, and offers a wealth of other automotive information services including reference annuals, online databases, and customized data reports.

About Penton Media, Inc.

As a leading, independent, business-to-business media company, Penton knows business and how to create and disseminate the vital content that moves markets. Penton serves the information needs of more than six million business professionals every month in industries ranging from Agriculture and Aviation to Electronics, Natural Products, and Information Technology. With the majority of the company's properties ranked the #1 or #2 information source for their respective industries, Penton is where professionals turn to gain the critical insight, expert analysis, and relevant connections needed to compete and succeed.  Headquartered in New York City, the privately held company is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co., LP, and its co-investors.  For additional information on the company and its businesses, visit www.penton.com.

CONTACT:  Bethany Weaver, +1-216-931-9551, [email protected]

SOURCE Penton Media