Last spring, DJ invited a group of design professionals to a breakfast roundtable. The discussions, which covered a variety of top- ics, from shopping with clients to the role of design centers, were lively and informative. The get-together allowed us to develop the hypotheses for a research study that we sent to design professionals in August. The results were outstanding! We had a 50.4% response rate, which shows an extremely high level of involvement with our magazine. ■ Our design-professional readers are of the highest caliber: 66% have profes- signal degrees. They are in demand: 68.4% report the same or greater number of projects than last year. And the projects are large: 51% are more than $250,000, while 20% average $1 million-plus. Overall, in the past 12 months, 90% of respondents completed projects in Fairfield County, 54% in both New York City and Westchester, and 41% in the Hamptons. ■ Not surprisingly, New York City is an important design resource. Ninety percent of our respondents said they had visited New York on buying trips, and nearly two-thirds said they frequently invite clients to join them. However, local resources are growing in importance—more than four out of 10 respondents said they are using their local resources more frequently than in previous years, often with clients coming along. ■ Our design professionals travel the world for products and inspiration: 86% attended at least one trade show this year; 58% travelled outside the US; 50% visited High Point; over 40% travelled to Boston or Miami, and more than 25% visited Los Angeles or San Francisco. ■ Clearly this is an extraordinary group of professionals who should be of interest to design centers, suppliers and retailers—we invite you to talk to them in the pages of our magazine.