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PRINT 18 is the first conference since Graph Expo was renamed by the brand new Association for Print Technologies (APTech).
PRINT 18 was shorter and smaller than previous Graph Expo conferences at the McCormick Center.
First impressions
Entering McCormick Place, the large banners that once filled the lobby were clearly lacking. Previous conferences had a large hanging poster and column envelopes encouraging visits to specific exhibitors.
Most of the stands of the main exhibitors were smaller and had less equipment. And some of the major past exhibitors such as EFI, Heidelberg and manroland were not even there. Instead of large exhibitor booths cluttering the entrance this year, the closest of them were smaller kiosks and mostly finishing companies. It seemed that in hindsight of the big exhibitors, small sellers were more likely to attract traffic.
Good
Monday visitor traffic was good, but on Sunday and Tuesday participation was much smaller.
Some exhibitors like Konica Minolta have benefited from the fact that many of their competitors have downplayed the amount of print material that they exhibited. Konica Minolta's stand was packed on Monday and there was plenty of traffic on Sunday and Tuesday. Konica Minolta has introduced a number of large printing, beautification, labeling and packaging solutions. They also viewed their WEBjet, powered by the Memjet print head technology, the result of their new partnership with Super Web.
Printing Solutions
With less equipment, the focus was more on demonstrating software and solutions.
Ricoh's clickable paper and contextual store were well received and helped drive traffic to their booth.
HP has focused on adding value to print with software, as illustrated by HP SmartStream Collage. XMPie, a Xerox company, presented a variety of updated software solutions and features, recognized by three RED HOT Technology Awards.
Benefits of participants
The physical space of the salon being reduced, it was much easier for participants to find the exhibitors that they intended to evaluate.
Printing professionals seeking a solution to a specific problem had a real advantage. This location facilitated the discovery of small, innovative vendors with software solutions, workflows or knowledge that could provide a competitive advantage over a printer's competition.
Exhibitor Benefits
Most suppliers have tried to reduce their exposure costs by relying on cheaper and more expensive presses and post-processing equipment. And, PRINT 18 was a show where they accomplished that. Now the question is whether sales opportunities have increased or decreased with the reduced equipment environment.
In addition, the smaller exhibitors seemed to have realized that large exhibitors did not monopolize visitors as much as at previous Graph Expos exhibitions. The Rh-O-Tuff Tornado Autopunch EX, for example, is touted as the world's first output assembly, auto punch and offset stacker.
The result
Yes, there were advantages of a smaller conference. But maximizing the return on investment (ROI) determines the decision of presence of exhibitors and participants.
The list of PRINT 19 competitors, such as THINK, DSCOOP, Inkjet Printer Conference, Hunkeler Innovation Days, Printing United, is a viable alternative to allow suppliers and users to interact. In addition, most major vendors now have dedicated customer experience centers where they and their solution partners organize mini-shows.
The question therefore remains whether PRINT 18 offered a return on investment sufficient to allow participants and exhibitors to return for PRINT 19 in relation to one of the above-mentioned solutions.
A PRINT 19 Suggestion Value Added
One of the trends that emerged from PRINT 18 was the strengthening of partnerships and cooperation between exhibitors. A previous reference was the new Konica Minolta Smart Web Partnership.
In the same way, APTech could consider an opportunity to improve the return on investment: find new ways to associate with events that could bring added value to exhibitors and participants. Potential partners can be brand associations for brand owners, graphic designers, social media, customer experience, political consultants, visual retail managers, craft brewers …
Member associations such as those mentioned above often have the potential to stimulate print purchases if they only knew and understood the power of modern printing technology. In addition, their interaction with print professionals would help to better understand what high-value potential buyers are profitably seeking for our technologies.
In conclusion
Thank you for investing your time in this article.
We shared our points of view. If you would like to share your thoughts and ideas about PRINT 18 and the entire printed conference landscape, feel free to do so in the comments section below or just send us an e-mail.
Promote print-tec in the digital age,
Andy and Julie Plata
[email protected]
the OutputLinks Communications Group
For additional networking with print-tec professionals, can I invite you to join theLinkedIn Group of Leaders of Opinion of the Graphic Industry
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