GRAPH EXPO 2012 Hailed a Success by Exhibitors, Attendees

RESTON, VA—Oct. 31, 2012—On the heels of an exhilarating GRAPH EXPO 2012, and in advance of verified show attendance data to be reported next week, the following is just a sampling of the comments from attendees and exhibitors who spoke out on the quality of this year’s show.

• Attendees were pleased with the variety of new equipment, applications, products and services, and also the expanded array of education and networking opportunities offered by this year’s 48 co-located industry events and new floor attractions.
• Exhibitors declared plentiful new leads and sales during the event held, Oct, 7–10, 2012 in Chicago’s McCormick Place.

“GRAPH EXPO 2012 was DGM’s busiest and most successful show in recent memory with a 20% increase in leads over last year’s show. Our sales people and strategic partners will be busy for months following up on interest in our equipment and services from new prospects and long-time customers alike,” Michael DeBard, president, Diversified Graphic Machinery

“A great big thank you from the Océ team for a very well planned and organized GRAPH EXPO! Our team and our customers really enjoyed the experience this year and in fact it may be the best GRAPH EXPO to date. Thanks again and glad we were a part of it,” Francis A. McMahon, vice president, marketing, Océ North America

“GRAPH EXPO has been a great show for Enfocus. It tops off a great year so far, especially considering the 36-percent sales revenue increase in new Switch licenses year over year. At the end of the show, we totaled 35 percent more leads than last year’s edition of GRAPH EXPO. I must also stress that the quality of the booth visitors has gone up compared to previous editions, as most of our visitors are trying to make their own organizations more productive and cost effective with our solution,” Fabian Prudhomme, vice president, Esko

“How is GRAPH EXPO this year? Let’s put it this way: We had the worldwide debut of our new Impressia digital print system here at 12:00 on Sunday and it was 12:22 when we placed our first order. We have been averaging one sale every 30 minutes, so it has been very, very exciting. Attendees are buying!” Arthur Verwey, vice president international sales and marketing, Xante

“GRAPH EXPO was our best presentation in the Americas for the second year in a row. With two digital presses constantly in production throughout the show hours, we had a busy booth with over 50,000 samples given to people, which was over 2,000 samples every hour of the show!!! We signed new orders and received many new leads for follow-up after the show. The feedback was great and once again we learned that printers, graphic designers and print buyers all come to GRAPH EXPO to learn about new innovations in the printing industry such as Scodix. We thank GRAPH EXPO for the service and the support and for making it a successful event,” Ziki Kuly, vp marketing, Scodix

“Baumfolder had an excellent GRAPH EXPO this year, with substantially more leads generated than last year. By Monday [day 2 of 4], we had exceeded last year’s count. The overall attendance seemed vastly improved over last year. We were especially encouraged by the traffic and quality of visitors on Sunday. This was the best ‘Sunday attendance’ we have seen for years,” Ulrik Nygaard, president/CEO, Baumfolder

“We had a strong GRAPH EXPO in terms of orders written and confirmed interest in our new technologies, plus we surpassed our qualified lead total from 2011. All in all… a great show!” Giselle de la Moriniere, marketing & communications manager, MGI

“GRAPH EXPO 2012 was an awesome show for GLUNZ & JENSEN. We engaged with very high quality industry professionals in our booth. We have 22 real orders for our new inkjet CTP, seven of those from Latin America as a direct result of exhibiting!” Michael C. Bugge, vice president sales Americas, Glunz & Jensen.

“GRAPH EXPO 2012 was a successful show for W+D. We have doubled the size of our booth space from 2,000 square feet to 4,000 square feet in PRINT 13,” Andrew Schipke, vp sales and marketing, W+D North America.

In addition to the latest technologies displayed across the show floor were the record 48 co-located events—user group meetings, award galas, and host of education conferences—that took advantage of the synergy at GRAPH EXPO, including Print Buyers International’s (PBI’s) 7th annual Print & Media Conference. As PBI President Margie Dana confirmed once again, “…this event in Chicago reaped kudos from attendees and sponsors alike.”

Other co-located event organizers and special session presenters agreed, as well, that their events held in tandem with GRAPH EXPO created a winning combo:

• “Our ING Conference attendees voted 100% to have this newspaper conference at PRINT 13. They love our conference in conjunction with GRAPH EXPO and PRINT,” Kristy Gerry, President, International Newspaper Group

• “The manroland User Group at GRAPH EXPO Conference was a super success. We doubled our member attendance in 2012; we will be back at PRINT 2013!” Kristy Gerry, Director of Production, Omaha World-Herald

Show goers impressed with the educational offerings and technology demonstrated, also placed a high value on the face-to-face connections to be made during the show.

• “I thought the expo was great. It is always great to see the new products and services coming out in the industry and meet those vendors we currently do business with that we are not always able to see in person,” Mike Ferretti, Owner, PostNet Printing & Graphics, Charlotte, N.C.

• “We have brought about 70 people to the show, including 60 franchisees representing 70 AlphaGraphics locations that together produce about $100 million in annual sales. All of the franchisees are paying their own way and making personal investments of their time to be here. This is my first GRAPH EXPO, and frankly, I’m overwhelmed by the response. We probably have the largest single contingent of any group at the show,” Art Coley, President, AlphaGraphics

GRAPH EXPO, customized to offer the latest profit solutions, education and networking for 12 key industry segments, this year focused keen attention on in-plant printers from education, government and corporate print centers. In addition to creating a special in-plant education track, this year’s show also marked the debut of The InPlant Place—an instant hit among in-plant print professionals who came to meet up and connect with peers on the show floor in ‘their own’ dedicated education and networking hub.

The timing was ideal to launch The InPlant Place at GRAPH EXPO says Linda Casey Editor-in-Chief, Package Design magazine who states, “As the former chief editor of Small Commercial & In-Plant Printing, I’m glad to see the focus on in-plant operations. The time seems ripe for rethinking in-plant printing especially considering high shipping costs. I also think more small consumer packaged goods companies will be embracing in-plant printing for packages and labels.”

Whether print pros came to the show to see the latest technology, explore new profit opportunities, take in some of the many education sessions offered, or gather with peers to discuss and debate our industry’s “Print Integrated” future, the consensus among attendees and exhibitors alike was, as Roger Spooner, Upper Midwest Sales Manager, MCS Inc. states, it was “A great show…GRAPH EXPO is the place to be.”

Next up for the industry is the global PRINT 13 exhibition, themed “Innovate, Integrate, Communicate,” set to take place on September 8-12, 2013 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Recognized as the commercial printing, publishing, converting & package printing, newspaper, mailing & fulfillment, transactional, marketing and photo imaging exposition for the Americas, PRINT 13 will welcome co-show CPP Expo 2013 and also debut its newest show floor feature—the Photo Imaging pavilion—for Photo Imagers and Retailers.

Spanning the realm of print, online and mobile, PRINT 13 attendees will be able to see the most graphic communications technologies, ‘live’ running equipment on the show floor, explore the newest applications, and learn about the most in-demand products and profit-making opportunities in the nine special-interest sections planned for the show. A host of 50 new and returning co-located events will provide show goers even greater incentive to attend next year’s show.

For more information about PRINT 13 visit www.print2013.com.

About GASC
GRAPH EXPO and PRINT are produced by the Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC). GASC is owned by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies (NPES), and the Printing Industries of America.

Source: GASC.