PRINT 17: What to Expect at This Year’s Trade Show in the Windy City

PRINT 17 isn’t exactly the same as past editions of the show, but it’s still the go-to event for printers who need answers to their quest for profitable, business-building ideas and new market opportunities..

You really should go.

If you own a printing business, the questions most responsible for keeping you awake at night probably are, “How do I grow my business?” or “Where do I take it from here?” Attending PRINT 17 (Sept. 10-14) won’t necessarily give you the entire answer. But, no other event can open your eyes to as many possibilities.

That’s the essence of the registration pitch being made for PRINT 17 by NPES, the printing equipment manufacturers’ trade association that now owns 100% of the PRINT and GRAPH EXPO shows. It’s a fair and reasonable proposition. Behind it lies the reality that, just as the printing industry has changed, so has its principal trade exposition.

PRINT 17 has long been regarded as the primary venue for evaluating printing and graphic products and technologies. However, according to Thayer Long, president of NPES, this year’s PRINT 17 promises to grow beyond a high-energy exhibition into an entirely new experience.

“We’re rethinking and reimagining our shows,” salys Long. Now the primary objective for PRINT 17 and future exhibitions is to “build up the community” where printers, brand owners and other representatives of the print supply chain can help and learn from each other.

“We are that home for the printing community here in North America,” Long adds. He’s counting on “new, purposeful interactions” among attendees to point the way to growth and to make PRINT 17 a success on its own terms.

The PRINT shows occur once every four years, with the smaller, annual GRAPH EXPO events filling in the off-year gaps. PRINT 17 won’t be the same kind of show as PRINT 13, because it can’t be — too much has happened to the role of graphic arts trade shows and to the perceptions and expectations that exhibitors and attendees have of them.

For one thing, the events have had to adjust to a major change in the kinds of technology that they exist to showcase.

Marco Boer, VP of IT Strategies, says that many of the most important developments nowadays are taking place on the software side. The claim is borne out by Hal Hinderliter, coordinator of the Must See ’ems Awards competition, who notes that management systems, consisting purely of software products, received the second highest number of entries among 11 judging categories this year.
more at:  http://www.piworld.com/article/print-17-what-expect-years-trade-show-windy-city/