Exhibitors for the 2013 ProMat trade show will draw for booth spaces on 10 November in Chicago.

Show organiser Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) says more than 70% of the available floor space is likely to be taken during the first day of the draw. ProMat will have 300,000 sqft. (27,000 sqm) in the McCormick Place South hall where the biennial ProMat show takes place on 21-24 January 2013.

Meanwhile, MHIA is gearing up for its 2012 Modex show occurring on 6-9 February in Atlanta, Georgia.

"We will have more than 540 booths" for Modex, says Thomas Carbott, vice president of MHIA sales and events. "We have a little over 500 now" for the show in the Georgia World Congress Centre.

Carbott expects Modex exhibitors will "max out the hall" space of 165,000 sqft. (14,850 sqm) and provide MHIA with the "first sold-out event we have ever had".

Charlotte, North Carolina-based MHIA has lined up 13 different organisations and educational partners with multiple sessions and workshops on tap during Modex.

Carbott says the Modex 2012 organisers aim to reach beyond the four walls of a plant to include some functions of the larger supply chain such as the relationship of logistics to shipping into a facility.

Exhibitors of forklift trucks will maintain their presence on the show floor, and there will be "no erosion of the core industry we represent", Carbott notes. "We are adding components to it."