Talking exclusively to Event before the official announcement on 14 November, the event director of both NVS and London's International Confex exhibition, Duncan Reid, explained the rationale behind the decision.
He said: "The Confex brand means so much to so many different visitor and exhibitor types that we decided we should steer away from creating a Confex in Birmingham. We wish to develop NVS into more than just venues and the term 'national' is antiquated and possibly alienates certain areas of the UK. The show, located in the heart of the country, is for all the UK regions and should attract everyone involved in the planning or buying of events. For these reasons we have decided to relaunch NVS as Events UK."
This year's NVS ran from 25-27 September and was the first under the new ownership of parent company CMP. Preliminary onsite visitor figures of 4,023 were up 10% compared with the 2006 show, with total attendance in the region of 5,000.
"However hard you try, 5,000 people in an exhibition hall across three days will never appear busy," said Reid. "Our challenge is to attract more visitors by making the offer more diverse, but by reducing the number of days, not only will the show floor have a better vibe, it will also give the exhibitor better value for money."
This year, NVS introduced a number of initiatives and feature areas including a Birmingham Bar area and The Retreat, a spa experience.