Chicago’s Design Center at The Merchandise Mart will host the third-annual Outdoor Design Conference this Thursday, showcasing outdoor residential design products and product lines from the Design Center’s top casual furnishings showrooms. The conference will also host educational events and presentations. 

“The Outdoor Design Conference is now in its third year, and we are thrilled to offer nearly 50 programs, including educational sessions with continuing education units (CEUs) for designers, product debuts, featured presentations and showroom open houses,” says Beth Hicks, managing director of marketing for the Design Center and Casual Market Chicago. “This year, we have more open houses and new product launches than ever, along with educational sessions and featured presentations that will truly give designers the first glimpse into the latest innovations in outdoor furnishings and decor.”

Among the CEU courses are a keynote by Casual Living editor in chief Waynette Goodson, focused on high-performance materials; a course with Glen Raven custom fabrics merchandise manager Marcia Blake on creating color palettes for healthy lifestyle settings; and Artisan Electronics Group artistic director Ken Walker’s course on technology for outdoor spaces. Additionally, 16 showrooms will host open houses, featuring 28 product debuts by brands including JANUS et Cie, Gensun Casual Living, Woodard, TUUCI, Lloyd Flanders, Zuo Modern and others. DEDON will also celebrate its grand opening that day. 

“We’re excited to participate in this year’s Outdoor Design Conference and showcase our latest product lines and designs,” says Jessica Ekern, Chicago showroom sales assistant at DEDON. “The different events planned are perfect for interacting with designers in the casual market and will definitely inspire us to keep innovating with all we do.”