I’ve been going to NeoCon for a long time. I remember when it was the only game in town. I have watched it stumble, find its footing and reinvent itself more than once. And I’ll tell you this: The version of NeoCon headed our way June 7–10 at THE MART feels like a must-attend show.

I just returned from a couple days in Chicago and it is already gearing up for Chicago Design Week, which is just over 20 days away.

NeoCon officials say 22 long-term leases have been signed in the run-up to the show. Keilhauer is bringing its Keilhauer and Division Twelve brands together under one expanded roof on the third floor. Calyx by Claridge is tripling its floorplate on the 10th floor. Formica Group is opening a permanent home in the building. ClearSpace Design and HAT Collective are building out bigger, more immersive environments. But the thing I’m most excited about are the ideas.

The 7th floor is being reimagined with a hall-within-a-hall layout built around product categories — the way designers actually want to shop a show. More than 200 companies will fill that floor, with a strong class of first-timers joining the returning veterans. And two new activations down there appear to be genuinely worth your time. The Collab Space, designed by Charlie Greene Studio around the phenomenon of Chicagohenge — that magical twice-yearly moment when the setting sun floods the city’s street grid with light — is exactly the kind of experiential event this industry needs. And Illuminate at NeoCon, a dedicated platform for more than 50 premier lighting brands, is long overdue. Lighting has always driven architecture. Now it has a home at NeoCon that reflects that.

Then there’s what’s happening outside THE MART. Because for the past few years, the real story of Chicago Design Week has stopped being just about one building.

Fulton Market Design Days, running concurrently June 7–10, has been transformed into a living design district, and the brands that have planted flags there — MillerKnoll, Steelcase, OFS, HNI and its brands and KI chief among them — have turned their showrooms into real destinations. MillerKnoll’s annual Design Days presence alone is worth the trip west, with exhibits like Craft Work, a portrait series shot on location inside six of their manufacturing facilities that puts real human faces on mass-produced industrial design. It’s a reminder that great design happens because of the people behind it.

This year, the theme connecting both shows is “Where Design Connects.” Between the increased shuttle frequency running between THE MART and Fulton Market, and the city of Chicago’s formal recognition of Chicago Design Week as an official civic event, the whole thing is starting to feel like more than two adjacent shows. It’s starting to feel like a city-wide design festival. A real one.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NeoCon is the industry’s family reunion. The conversations that happen in those hallways, at those after-parties, over coffee at the River Park are where relationships are built, deals are made and ideas are born. The products matter, the showrooms matter, but the people are why you go.

So here’s my advice if you’re still on the fence. Don’t overthink it. Just book the hotel, pack your comfortable shoes and get to Chicago by Sunday the 7th — the preview day and parties are worth it. Spend time at THE MART and time walking Fulton Market. Chicago Design Week is in good shape and the industry is ready. Instead of trying to get in and get out as fast as you can, stay longer and let Chicago remind you why you fell in love with this industry in the first place.