NEW YORK, NY — ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair), North America’s premier platform for contemporary design, has announced the selection of Sessionboard as the official management platform for its newly expanded Emerging Designer Spotlight.

As part of the ICFF 2026 program, this new program builds upon the success of the year-round Emerging Designer Spotlight. While the spotlight program has historically been managed via tools like Smartsheet, the launch of the 2026 Program required a more robust, integrated solution capable of handling high-volume nominations and secure payment processing.

“Managing the Emerging Designer Spotlights and our speaker program together in one system has streamlined our entire process,” said the ICFF team. “Sessionboard allows us to reduce platforms, improve the user experience, and create a cohesive journey for designers and speakers, all while saving our team countless hours of manual work.

Innovation Driven by Client Needs

The development of this new functionality was a direct result of the close partnership between Sessionboard and the event organizers they serve.

“Our job is to listen to our clients and innovate at the speed of the market,” said Chris Carver, Co-Founder and CEO of Sessionboard. “We recognized that over 80% of our clients had an awards program attached to their annual conference, and the process to manage those awards was often outdated and time-consuming. This feedback led us to launch our new Awards Management tool. We’re proud to help ICFF eliminate manual work and provide a seamless experience for their designers and speakers.”

By centralizing speaker management and award submissions, ICFF continues to streamline the "behind-the-scenes" logistics, allowing the team to focus on what matters most: elevating the next generation of global design talent.

About ICFF

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) is North America’s premier platform for contemporary furniture design. With a focus on original and sustainable design, ICFF presents a broad range of furnishing products for residential, contract, and hospitality environments to an audience of more than 10,000 architects, interior designers, retailers, distributors, developers, and press. ICFF is owned by Emerald and serves as a global gateway for the design industry, featuring over 450 established and emerging design brands from more than 35 countries. icff.com

About Sessionboard

Sessionboard is a next-generation event management platform that simplifies the complex workflows behind speaker, content, and awards management. Built to eliminate the "spreadsheet chaos" of event planning, Sessionboard provides a centralized, automated hub for organizers to manage everything from calls for papers and speaker onboarding to award nominations and evaluations. As a trusted partner to over 30 Emerald events and countless global associations, Sessionboard helps event teams save thousands of manual hours, allowing them to focus on delivering high-impact content and experiences. sessionboard.com

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