Many exhibitors choose to take stands in one of the National Pavilions, most of which are organised in cooperation with the relevant national marine industry association. There are 15 National Pavilions this year: Australia; Canada; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Italy; the Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Spain; Sweden; Turkey; the United Kingdom; and the United States.

Following the success of the National Pavilions, the organisers introduced three specialist pavilions at METS. The established Composites and Marina Equipment pavilions and (after a successful introduction last year) the SuperYacht Pavilion, all return to highlight specific leisure marine growth areas.

The bigger and improved SuperYacht Pavilion reflects the high end of the yacht business and is complemented by a very comprehensive superyacht conference programme – The Global Superyacht Forum; formerly known as Project 2006.The DAME prize is awarded annually to the best designed product at the METS exhibition. It has become recognised worldwide as the leading competition of its type in the field of marine equipment and accessories. An international jury assesses new products entered into the competition in terms of design, functionality, originality, innovation, user-friendliness and price/quality ratio.

The winner will be announced during the METS Breakfast Briefing hosted by ICOMIA and METS on Tuesday 14 November. All shortlisted products will be featured in a special DAME presentation in Hall 6.

METS is strictly a trade-only event and is free of charge to visitors who are registered in advance or have invitation cards. Further information is available on www.metstrade.com where visitors can also pre-register.