Deborah Corn and Pat McGrew discuss upcoming print industry events, technology events, networking opportunities, and how print continues to reign supreme in transforming diverse business sectors. (Transcript Below)
Mentioned in This Episode:
Labelexpo 2023: https://www.labelexpo-europe.com/
Girls Who Print Day 2023: https://girlswhoprint.net/girls-who-print-day-2023-stand-your-ground/
International Print Day 2023: internationalprintday.org
Print Across America: https://printacrossamerica.com
Project Peacock Print Fair: Boca Raton, FL: https://projectpeacock.tv/project-peacock-events/
PRINTING United 2023: https://www.printingunited.com/
Printing Expo Online: https://www.printing-expo.online/
Xplor CCM Summit: https://web.cvent.com/event/5be363e1-956e-41f7-9196-5d3c2f3a1f9b/summary
The Non-Event 2023: https://inkish.news/article/MTM4NA==
Digital Book World 2023: https://www.digitalbookworld.com/
Frankfurt Book Fair 2023: https://www.buchmesse.de/en
drupa 2024: https://www.drupa.com
National Print and Sign Owners Association: https://npsoa.org/
Americas Print Show: https://americasprintshow.com/
Generative AI World Conference: https://www.gaiworld.com/
Gartner IT Symposium: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/symposium-us
Pat McGrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patmcgrew/
McGrewGroup: https://www.mcgrewgroup.com
Deborah Corn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahcorn/
Print Media Centr: https://printmediacentr.com
Project Peacock: https://ProjectPeacock.TV
Girls Who Print: https://girlswhoprint.net
[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:00] DC: Today on The Print Report, we’re talking events.
[0:00:04] PM: And there are lots of them and they’re happening everywhere.
[0:00:08] DC: Welcome to The Print Report with Deborah Corn and Pat McGrew, all the print that’s fit for news.
[EPISODE]
[0:00:16] DC: Hey, everybody. Welcome to The Print Report with Deborah Corn and Pat McGrew. I am Deborah Corn.
[0:00:23] PM: And I am Pat McGrew.
[0:00:25] DC: You are listening to us on Podcasts From the Printerverse. Let me take this moment for you to find your little subscribe button, wherever you’re listening, and subscribe to Podcasts From the Printerverse. Leave us some stars, some reviews, it all helps. Thank you so much. That was my public service announcement, Pat.
[0:00:42] PM: That is a good public service announcement. Certainly, we think everyone should listen to all of the print reports, as well as all the Podcasts From the Printerverse.
[0:00:51] DC: Thank you so much. Today, we have a lot of events to get through. Makes me so happy that so many of them are not just back, but because they were back a little bit in 2021. They were certainly back this year. But next year seems like, we are in full swing for bigger events, but we still have the rest of the year to cover. There’s a whole bunch. Starting with Labelexpo, which technically is next week from where, from when we’re recording right now.
We’re not going to spend too much time on that, because most of you might be listening to this after the event is over. I will just say, stay tuned for a dedicated episode from our adventures in Brussels, because I just found out, Patricia’s going to be there. I will be there with my beloved HP in the patio for anyone who’s listening prior to Labelexpo. What are you doing there?
[0:01:45] PM: There’s going to be a lot going on there. There are just a heck of a lot of demonstrations going on. There is a complete end-to-end workflow demonstration that will be going on. Again, this is something that is typically hosted there, where multiple vendors get together and agree to run a job, basically, from creative all the way through finishing and they do multiple jobs. It is always worth taking a look at that. That’s usually at the far end of the hall, if you’re listening beforehand.
Even if you’re listening afterwards, the thing to watch is that many of the vendors that I’m dealing with will be capturing video in their stands, and they’re capturing it in all sorts of ways. Some of them have hired professional crews. Some of them are just doing it themselves on their phones. But many of them have active initiatives to capture video in their stands of their different demonstrations and posting them live and then leaving them up on their web pages.
Even if you missed Labelexpo in Brussels, you can still see what went on there. It is definitely going to be worth looking at, because we’ve got a lot of product announcements during that week in Brussels, and we’ve got a lot of things that haven’t yet been pre-announced that will be announced at the show. I’m really excited for all the things that are coming. You know the funny thing about Labelexpo? There’s a secret about Labelexpo. Do you know what it is?
[0:03:14] DC: How to get back from hall three to the patio, where I always get lost?
[0:03:19] PM: Yeah. That is a secret. I think you just leave breadcrumbs. It’ll save you a lot of time and effort, or carry a neon thread and carry it through the hall. That helps, because it is a little tricky to get back there. But the big, big dark secret is that people often preview things at Labelexpo that are going to be fully unveiled at Drupa. It’s worth looking up and down the aisles because not everything is label and packaging-oriented at Labelexpo.
[0:03:48] DC: Very cool. I love Labelexpo. It is a great show in a great city. I do enjoy traveling there with HP, where I will be in the booth with them. Of course, they are telling a sustainability story, an efficiency story, a workflow story. They have brand-new equipment there that they are showing for the first time in Europe. You can follow me on my social channels for live things and for reporting after. Awesome, Labelexpo. I will see you soon in Brussels. Pat, next –
[0:04:23] PM: Absolutely.
[0:04:25] DC: Next, we have the big event in the United States, yeah?
[0:04:28] PM: I think we do. The thing to know is that we have PRINTING United, right? It’s a big event. This is the big combo event. I think of 2023 as rum springer for the print industry. Because it’s been the year where –
[0:04:46] DC: Can we just focus on rum spring? It’s one of my favorite things in the world. In case anyone doesn’t know what it is, can you explain it?
[0:04:52] PM: This is the time to go crazy, right? This is, you’ve put in the hard work, you’ve done stuff, but now you’re getting out in public and you’re seeing all the stuff that’s out there. What has happened in 2023 is that even though we had live trade shows in 2022, people were still cautious, right? It was a lot of fist bumping and elbow bumping and a lot of arms wide open and air kisses, but you didn’t get a lot of personal contact. There was still a kind of a weariness.
This is the year of hugging. My gosh, from the time we started at Hunkler at the beginning of the year, actually for me, connect and for you, too, connect at the beginning of the year, all the way through the year, every trade show has been hugging and just a chance to really re-bond with everybody that we’ve missed being able to talk to. For PRINTING United this year, I mean, the one last year was good in Las Vegas, but the one this year in Atlanta is it’s an East Coast show, it’s going to draw a lot of people that don’t go to Las Vegas. It’s going to draw a lot. They’ve got a lot of new vendors who have never done a print show before.
We’re going to be talking to a lot of really interesting mid-tier vendors. Not just Big Iron, but a lot of mid-tier software and workflow vendors. I’m really excited about it. The sense I’m getting from people I know who are going who did not go last year and haven’t been to a trade show yet since COVID is that they’re mostly looking forward to beer and bar crawls. It could be an interesting show from that perspective.
Even before PRINTING United, there are some other things going on elsewhere. There’s the print show in the UK, at the same time, the one in Birmingham. If you’re listening from outside of the US, there’s that going on. Then there’s, if you’re one of our AI fans, you and I have had the fun of talking about AI on podcasts. There are two AI conferences that are probably worth making a mention of. There’s the Generative AI Conference that’s going on in Boston in September, September 12th to 13th. There’s the Gartner AI meeting in Orlando, October 16th to 19th. If you’re an AI fan, you might want to be taking a look at them.
For our world, PRINTING United is the next big lighthouse event, where everyone will be coming to do things. The press invites have been entertaining, to say the least. The thing about Atlanta is everybody thinks Coca-Cola World is a great place to do an event, so I’ve got invites to Coca-Cola World. Then there’s the CNN tours. There’s going to be a lot of people making interesting decisions about what kind of stuff to bring to the show from a vendor perspective. Don’t expect to see a lot of Big Iron there, because it’s not going to be there.
[0:07:40] DC: Correct. Yeah. I mean, after last year, no one’s dragging presses to shows.
[0:07:46] PM: There will be some, but honestly, the challenge with an Atlanta-based show is that everybody already has their customer centers very close by. If you’ve got a customer center within 25 miles of Atlanta, you’re not going to be paying the money to haul Big Iron, but you will see a lot of wide-format devices, right?
[0:08:09] DC: It’s a wide-format show.
[0:08:10] PM: Those are a little bit easier to move. A little bit easier to deal with.
[0:08:12] DC: Same with the apparel. I mean, that’s what the meat and potatoes of that show always was. It makes total sense.
[0:08:19] PM: You’ll see a lot of that there. It’ll be interesting. There will be some education. It will not be as broad as last year.
[0:08:25] DC: It’s paid education, which everybody should be fully aware. It’s not free.
[0:08:28] PM: It is paid education with one remarkable exception. There is an explore breakfast that you can come to on Wednesday morning of the show. It will be talking about workflow. Last year, we were standing room only at 7:30 in the morning. I still can’t figure that one out. I mean, 7:30 in the morning in Las Vegas is not easy.
[0:08:53] DC: I was up that early.
[0:08:54] PM: The thing to know is that if you are confused about why things are taking so long to get through your shop, why you’re losing money on jobs, you thought you were making a bucketload of money on. Workflow is probably the answer there. Please, come and listen. We have some really cool speakers. Eric Hollingsworth from Red Spring will be coming and telling a real story of how he has tightened up his workflow to save time and money. But we also have some other folks that will be with us. Kevin McPherson from Quadient will be with us. We’re just really excited. Then, Ryan McAbee and I will be there bringing data and hosting it. We’re really excited about that. That’s when anyone can come to. If you have a badge for PRINTING United.
[0:09:41] DC: Yeah. Do the free stuff. I agree with that. I’ve actually forgot to mention, October 5th is the annual Girls Who Print Day Conference. It’s online. It’s open to everybody. Details will be at girlswhoprint.net. I will be broadcasting live from the Cannon Innovation Center in Boca Raton, where they’re going to be hosting me this year. We’re going to do a little tour of the center. It’ll be very cool.
Then after that, we have the big one. I have been working on two initiatives, which hopefully, everybody out there is sick of hearing about by now. Print Across America, which is encouraging print shops, sign shops, packaging plants, and implants to host open house events collectively on one day, which is October 25th. All the information is at printacrossamerica.com. That coincides with International Print Day, the 9th Annual International Print Day, where I will be hosting a 10-hour online conference to support Print Across America. We’re going to be doing a lot of cool things.
First of all, the conference is live for 10 hours. We’re going to bring in people from all around the planet who have registered and are on the conference to say hello to people. There’s an online program working with the gentleman at Print Expo Online, which is a giant printing expo online, which is the giant online trade show. They’re going to be running my replays through their theater. I love international cooperation. It’s going to be a great day. Internationalprintday.org to register. Guess what, Pat? Free. It’s totally free for everybody, including Print Across America.
If you’re a printer and you want to join in the fun, just go fill out a short form, so we know that you’re participating and you can appear on our find and open house near me directory, which is now live and we’re beta testing. Right after that, well, not right after that, but shortly after that, I’m hosting first, Project Peacock Print Fair Live since 2019. Again, going back to the Canon Innovation Center, there’ll be other partners there. We are making the coolest print sample ever. Might even be worthy of a print sample TV. We shall see about that, Patricia. I will be sharing information about that soon, which brings us to the next event, November 14th through 16th, and I’ll shoot that over to you, Pat.
[0:12:22] PM: That sounds like a lot of fun. Look, I am a big believer in print samples for the very reason that you just described. It takes cooperation to get them built, right? No one does it in a vacuum. You just don’t wake up one morning and go, “Gee, I think I’m going to do a print sample that’s got really rich color and has some interactive aspects. And oh, I’m going to embellish it, too and I’m going to do a zone binding on it,” right? You don’t wake up one morning and just say, “I’m going to execute that today.” It takes a lot of planning, a lot of cooperation and it’s great.
[0:12:59] DC: I just want to say, I agree with you. I’ve been on four meetings about this print sample already. There’s a paper company involved, a press manufacturer involved, a finishing manufacturer involved and an animator in Moldova. That’s what I’m going to say.
[0:13:14] PM: That’s what you want, right? You want to create these samples. Some of my favorite samples over the years have been done through cooperation, where whether it’s five partners getting together ahead of a Drupa, or it’s people getting together ahead of even an open house, a press company’s open house, but they get together with their partners to create them. That’s where you get the creativity that gives you something to talk about.
Now, why do you want a print sample? You want a print sample. If you’re a printer, you want a print sample, because many of your customers buy the same thing over and over again and they do that, because they’re at their wit’s end. They’re at the limits of their own creativity and their staffing and their ability to think outside their own box, right? When you hold something up to them that goes, “Well, you could have this,” all of a sudden, it releases the box, right? Instead of going, it goes from a square box to maybe this little box.
[0:14:17] DC: Yeah, there is no buy them. Yeah.
[0:14:19] PM: Right? It helps them understand.
[0:14:21] DC: Yeah. I mean, throughout my entire career, we could do an entire episode just on print samples. Throughout my entire career in advertising and even now when I speak to people who still work in advertising or marketing, we all have a drawer full of samples that are more than likely our wish list. Maybe one day we will be able to do this. Because if you can do it, you probably have done it already, so you have your own sample. In that drawer is like the magic drawer. When we need to do something different, aha, somebody – It doesn’t mean you can afford it, which is usually the barrier. But we have in the past just deconstructed them. Okay, so don’t put that dye cut on it. One little thing we can tweak and make it work for us. Love the print samples. Okay, Xplor International is back, but yet, it’s moved to Orlando. Go, Patricia.
[0:15:19] PM: Yeah, still Florida. We have picked up and we have moved to Orlando for this edition of Xplor. We are calling it the 2023 CXM Summit. If you don’t know those letters, what we’re really talking about is customer communication management and customer experience management. This all has a print component to it because the thing that we do talk about at Xplor is that every channel that you speak with your customer in is important and you should not forsake any of them. Just because you send things out, maybe you send e-statements out, or you send email marketing, or text-based marketing out does not mean you should not be speaking to your clients in print, or your customers in print.
Because to be honest, we know that up to two-thirds of people prefer to see print on a regular basis. That helps them keep the brand in front of them and keeps their relationships in front of them. What we’ll be talking about a lot in our two and a half days at the conference is not only how to weave print and e-delivery communication together and how to use your creative uses to have those communications. We will be talking a lot about AI as well and the role of AI in testing things, like sentience in the text that you send out to customers. Knowing that the words that you’re using are going to resonate with the age cohorts, because frankly, speaking to me is not the same as speaking to Deb, or speaking to someone younger than us. The words matter and the order of the words matter and the sense of the words matter.
We’ll be talking a lot about, especially for mission-critical communication. Let’s face it, we’re all living in a world where there is mission-critical communication. Right now, if you’ve lived through the same 2023 I have, there have been weather events, there have been heat events and a lot of these things can cause communication to become delayed in getting delivered to a recipient.
People aren’t always checking their email when they’re worried about their house blowing away. They’re not always able to check their email when the cell towers are out, because of weather. Heat can be a problem. We’re going to be talking about how to manage all the channels in a way that makes the most sense. We’re really excited. We have some really superstar speakers this time and we will be at the Rosen Hotel. We will be there November 14th through 16th, and explore.org is your headquarters for information.
[SPONSOR MESSAGE]
[0:18:02] DC: Printspiration is streaming across the printerverse on the Project Peacock Network, and our mission to provide education and resources for print customers, students and printers around the world has never been more accessible. Watch what you want, when you want, where you want. It’s free. Visit ProjectPeacock.TV to access original programming and replays from our online events. Learn about the Peacock partners and companies featured in our shows. Join our mailing list to learn about new episode premieres and series launches and create a free account to make watch lists. Ready for your close-up? Get your Peacock show on air by visiting ProjectPeacock.TV and request your partnership proposal today. Peacock, long and prosper.
[EPISODE CONTINUED]
[0:18:53] DC: Excellent. Just to reiterate what you said, I think you know I go to the Project Voice Conferences for the last 12 years. These are the voice-first people, the voice devices that everyone has in their house. I have to spell it, because everyone knows it’s next to me. The people from A-L-E-X-A come every year, and they did a presentation on how many different ways people ask for a restaurant that has hamburgers. Burgers, hamburgers, cheeseburgers. What if they have an accent? What if they have a speech impediment? How you say things and what you call things matters.
Then, these artificial intelligence systems have backups to the backups to the backups, so it becomes almost like a hierarchy. With hamburger as the easiest way that somebody would ask for that, and then all the variations, all the different accents, voices, man, woman, age, I mean, it all – it is crazy how many variants are in there.
I’m going to sneak in one event that I’m actually not attending this year, but I have been before. The Non-Event is in Copenhagen on November 29th and 30th. I believe you’re going this year. You want to share anything about that?
[0:20:13] PM: The thing about the Non-Event is that it started as just a friendly dinner and it’s turned into a thing. I think we almost shouldn’t even be calling it a Non-Event anymore. It’s actually an event. But this year, it’s going to take place by the Copenhagen airport. It won’t be in downtown Copenhagen, and it will feature a lot of the European thought leaders. We’ve got someone from Volkswagen Marketing. We’ve got Will the Printer from Tampa will be there. The whole idea is to let vendors talk to vendors. It’s not really an event that a typical printer would attend, but the vendors who serve them certainly do and what’s happened in past years is that new partnerships have been formed between people who didn’t know each other, because they just move in different circles.
It should be an interesting event. It’s a fast event. You get in, you have dinner, you have an event, some conference stuff the next day and you head home. Right now, my plans are to be there, so it should be interesting. The thing to remember about our list of events is our list of events may not be your list of events. Whatever segments you’re serving, make sure you go out and you look at the calendars for those industries. I have a lot of friends who go to Acoma Conferences because they serve the insurance industry. Or they go to the different digital transmission industries or the digital payment industry conferences.
Or, if you’re one of those printers who does a lot in charitable printing, go to the charitable giving conferences, because that’s where you’re going to learn about all those people that you might not know are out there, who actually have pretty reasonable, sustainable giving programs, who might be interested in the services you provide. There are probably 50 events between now and the end of the year across insurance, healthcare, charitable giving, manufacturing, marketing –
[0:22:10] DC: Electronics, event planners, travel people.
[0:22:13] PM: Oh, my gosh. They’re out there. Engineers. There’s just dozens and dozens of them. It would be worth your time to figure out what events in your industry, people who buy stuff you sell go to.
[0:22:26] DC: Yeah. Just a word about the Non-Event, Copenhagen happens to be pretty nice around that time of year. It’s a Christmasy time in the Scandinavian region. It’s fun there. I will just let’s say a little shout out that last year, Pat and I parlayed our trip to Copenhagen to a trip to see the Aurora Borealis in Tromsø, Norway. Thank you for making that happen. I’m saying that because it’s a good place to venture out. If you want to have a real adventure and you’re already over there, try to make it happen if you can.
[0:22:57] PM: That’s true.
[0:22:58] DC: To your point about ancillary industries, although they’re obviously related, moving into the new year of my first event every year now is Digital Book World. That is hosted by Bradley Metrock from Score Publishing. It attracts everybody in digital publishing, which is now, at least last year an encompassed podcast, audiobooks, and e-books, I guess. They still call them e-books, but they’ve advanced way past a flipping PDF situation.
I will be presenting again with my making it with Print podcast co-host, David Drucker and Noel Tocci. If you are in New York City January 15th through 17th, or can get there, let me tell you that there is a wealth of information and these are people who don’t realize they need print in their life. Once you show them how you could use print to support their digital efforts, they’re in completely. It’s that the printing industry is still stuck on, “You don’t want to do an e-book. People like to touch paper. You need to print it.” They’re like, “That’s not my world. I don’t want to be in those conversations.” But if you say, “Hey, there are ways that you can help promote these e-books and get people online to make comments about them and have social media campaigns around them that are driven by print, they’re very interested because at the end of the day, they make more money, they sell more e-books, more people listen to the podcast, they can get more revenue.”
We just need to listen to what is going on in the digital space and try to support it, versus replace, or tell them they’re wrong, which I hear wait too often. Any comments on Digital Book World? You should go. You would love that conference.
[0:24:55] PM: You know, if somebody invited me and was paying, I would be there in a heartbeat. My challenge is that there are just dozens and dozens of conferences, and I can’t fund going to all of them.
[0:25:07] DC: Oh, yeah. Of course.
[0:25:08] PM: I pick and choose, right? If somebody wants me, please let me know and I’m happy to have that conversation. It’s not just Digital Book World. Though, look, if you’re in book publishing, don’t forget to be paying attention to Frankfurt Book Fair. Don’t forget to be paying attention to all of the different conferences that are out there in the publishing world. Book Manufacturers Institute does theirs every year. There are just dozens and dozens of ways that you can learn how to have reasonable conversations, as Deb described. I think those are very important conversations to have. But then, coming back into our world, normally at the beginning of the year, the very first conference that I would do would be Connect and in Las Vegas group.
[0:25:49] DC: This group too, but they were moved.
[0:25:50] PM: This group, but everything is moved. The Connect Conference which is Print MIS from e-predictivity systems has moved to April. It’s at the Venetian.
[0:26:01] DC: Is it April? I thought it was in the summer for some reason. Okay.
[0:26:04] PM: I think it’s April, could be August. It’s an A month. That’s all I remember. But it’s moved way out It’s at the Venetian. It’s even moved venues, so it’s definitely a different – it’s going to be a definitely different experience. Look, next year’s a Drupa year. Between January and Drupa, May 28th, every vendor you have ever dealt with in your life is going to be inviting you to pre-Drupa open houses, pre-Drupa events, pre-Drupa podcast, pre-Drupa Zoom calls, pre-Drupa webinars. They’re just going to be a dime a dozen.
Spend a little bit of time with them, because Drupa, whether you’re going or not, spend a little bit of time with them. But Drupa is where Deb and I will be holding court, basically, for two weeks. There is a lot going on there.
[SPONSOR MESSAGE]
[0:26:56] PM: If what you’re doing isn’t helping you grow, let McGrewGroup help you fix that. Better sales talk tracks, more compelling print samples, and winning close strategies can be yours. With decades of experience and transaction, direct mail, and commercial print, as well as years of marketing expertise, we can help with business and production strategies, CCM advice, and develop your content. McGrewGroup is ready to help you grow, expand, optimize, and thrive. Drop us a note on LinkedIn, or at our website, mcgrewgroup.com.
[EPISODE CONTINUED]
[0:27:33] DC: Before we get to Drupa, which is definitely next, we have two events prior to that.
[0:27:38] PM: Oh, we do. Yup, we do.
[0:27:39] DC: First, I just want to give a shout-out to the National Print and Sign Owners Association.
[0:27:46] PM: NPSOA. Nice people.
[0:27:46] DC: Yes, we love them. I’m an advisory board member because they’re the print owners. Who doesn’t want to be involved with 400 –
[0:27:52] PM: Yeah. Nice people.
[0:27:54] DC: What I call it is the shortest distance to yes is 400 owners in a room. If you want to you want to get something done, it’s a great way of getting things done. If you are an owner of a print shop, a sign shop, a print shop, print business, sign business, whatever you want to call it, or I just found out this recently, you are the official successor to that business, you are entitled to membership, which is under $400 for the entire year. It’s crazy. It’s in New Orleans this year, so I’m a little concerned about being out there with all the print shop owners. Let’s just say, they work hard and they play hard, and we’ll leave it like that. But shout out to Nathaniel Grant and everybody, and Kevin Huber who is actually from that area, I believe, is going to invite everyone to his home, so I think it’s going to be an amazing event.
Then right before Drupa, I’m so happy that Americas Print Show is back. Just a quick recap if anyone doesn’t understand where that came from, the PIA regional organizations who did not move over to under the PRINTING United umbrella have banded together and created their own print show. I think that’s a fair description. Patricia, you can correct me.
[0:29:14] PM: It is. Yeah. That’s fair.
[0:29:15] DC: Okay. Have banded together and created America’s Print Show. This year, it’s going to be in Cleveland, Ohio. They target it in that area of the country because they want people to be able to drive in. Not only do they want people to be able to drive in, but almost tag team. Like, okay, I’m going to go on the first day, you can go on the second day, and more people from the print businesses can come because it’s not as much as a financial burden.
There will be a Girls Who Print co-located event on the first day of the show, like a full-day conference. I’m thrilled to death that Jim and Kristen, who are running the event have invited us to do that. I’m really excited, americasprintshow.com, I believe, is the website. Everyone check it out. Make your plans to go to Cleveland. Then, just a short few weeks after that, we make our way to the mecca of print.
[0:30:16] PM: It’s Drupa, but it is Dusseldorf, and it is the lush belt of Germany.
[0:30:22] DC: Let me describe it. It is the most comprehensive print event in the printing industry. I’m going to put a stake in that, despite what anyone else wants to call that event.
[0:30:31] DC: Yeah. I mean, it’s a good event, right? I mean, I’ve been doing it for three decades, a little bit more. It is one of those places for certain segments of the print industry, it is one-stop shopping. It is over the years, it’s expanded its brief quite a bit. It has grown to encompass, it began as an offset show, certainly grew, well, letterpress show, offset show, grew into digital as well. Digital is now probably the dominant technology that you’ll see at Drupa, but there is still an awful lot of analog print technology there, a lot of finishing technology there.
This year, Drupa we’ll see a lot of first-time and public kind of things, things that you may have heard announced previously, but you haven’t had a chance to see, because it’s been at a private vendor open house or something. There will be a lot of really interesting technology there. Some I’m really excited about because it’s very complex technology that’s been shrunk down into a really reasonable footprint. Technology is a wonderful thing. Motors keep getting smaller. Boards keep getting smaller. The net result of that is that the machines that we use for cutting and folding and doing all sorts of things to create our finished products are also able to get smaller.
Very complex programming involved. These are complex machines, but they can bring a world of value to a print shop. As the footprint gets smaller, as you don’t need a whole warehouse in order to finish a book, as you don’t need a whole warehouse in order to cut labels out of a sheet, or cut foam core pieces out of a sheet, as that can be done in a more reasonable size, the value to a print company becomes very high. Drupa will be the place in 2024, where you’ll be able to come and hug a machine and kick the tires, and ask really hard questions about how these pieces of equipment fit into your business. You should come prepared to interrogate the heck out of the vendors who bring equipment to the show and bring their software to the show to see how it will actually bring value to your business because it’s their job to tell you that.
Talk a little bit about Drupa DNA, though, because that is something that a lot of people miss. You come on a rush. Maybe you’re only coming in for a couple of days and you miss the fact that there’s this really great information that’s also available to you.
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[EPISODE CONTINUED]
[0:33:50] DC: It’s not just Drupa DNA, which they refer to as a forum. There’s the Drupa Cube and there’s a few other ones. I mean, if anybody attended virtual Drupa, then you already understand the quality of the people that occupy these spaces, that Drupa gives a global voice to on their stages. All of the forums are worth checking out. However, for convenience sake and if you want to see me and my co-host, Frank Tueckmantel, who used to be at EFI, we will be hosting Drupa DNA, which is in hall seven, which is if you’ve been to Drupa – I’ve only been to one Drupa, so I’m not making it like, “Ah, this is what you do.” I still ask for directions, of course.
But that is where the train comes up from. A lot of people take the train there. Drupa is very strategic, putting their own whole there. We are basically focusing on startups and new technologies out in the marketplace, including from some established exhibitors, who are bringing startup technology to the show in many ways. Obviously, sustainability is a big topic, artificial intelligence, anything having to do with workforce development is also going to be encompassed in that. As well, we’re going to be having a mini imaging conference, in the middle of Drupa DNA, which I met with the company that’s doing it, but they haven’t made announcement, so I’m just going to – I don’t want to overstep my boundaries as hosts here.
I’m just going to say that it’s very interesting because I’m very happy that people want to start focusing also on the creators. How the files get there, all the methods of how things will be coming to us, especially I speak of phygital all the time, when you have to take something from the digital world and bring it to the physical world. But that also counts from photography and other file creation in general. As our output devices get more fancy and as the cameras get more fancy, I’m happy to know that people are working together as how Project Peacock started, when the ink companies, the paper companies and the press manufacturers started to work together to make things better for everybody to have better business results and creative results. This imaging conference seems very interesting. I’m happy to be part of that, too.
I am happy to say because I have a co-host, I will also be able to go around Drupa, this rumor that I might have a printerverse mobile, we’ll circle back on that. Then the other part of the 11 days that we will spend there, I will be spending with Pat McGrew. We will be doing Print Report Podcast with a few select people only because we just don’t literally have time. There’s no time. Even though you have 11 days, there is no time to get to everything.
We will also separately be exploring and then coming back at night to provide print reports. Also, just want to mention lastly, I believe it’s in the plan for Drupa DNA that we will be broadcasting live in the German afternoon, which is the Eastern time morning. Just pay attention to me, pay attention to Drupa and you will get all the information you need. Anything else you want to say about Drupa as we wrap this up?
[0:37:22] PM: Yeah, we’ll be there. Please, don’t hesitate to reach out to us if there’s something you think we can do for you. We’re happy to come and have that conversation with you. It’s expensive to go to Germany. It is expensive to be there for two weeks and we are two individuals who have to pay our own way for most things, so we’re always looking for a good gig that will help us fund the expenses, so I think that that’s something to be aware of.
The last thing I want to say, Deb, though, you were exactly right. I had the wrong A month for EPS. It’s the 20th and through the 22nd of August. Not April. I just had that little brain glitch there. It’s age, because I’m older than you.
[0:38:01] DC: It’s okay. Pat, we put links to everything in the show notes, so even if we make mistakes, or miss –
[0:38:07] PM: They’ll find it.
[0:38:08] DC: Yeah, when they click over, they get the right information. Just full disclosure, I want it to be clear. I am working with Drupa at this show.
[0:38:16] PM: Yes, you are. You are.
[0:38:19] DC: I’m under contract with them. I just want to put that out there and make that clear. For everything else, I’m in on your statement for sure. I would just like to say this –
[0:38:29] PM: I am not under contract to Drupa.
[0:38:32] DC: Yeah. To your most excellent point, make your reservations now. Now, now, now. If you can make a reservation for a hotel that you don’t have to prepay if possible, but hold a room. Get a ticket. I don’t care. Get a ticket. If you don’t use it, it stays in the bank and you can use it in other ways. But every day that it gets closer to Drupa, it’s a marketplace situation when all the algorithms are like, “Huh, why are a 100,000 people trying –”
[0:39:08] PM: Look at all these people going. Yeah.
[0:39:10] DC: Why are a 100,000 people trying to get to Dusseldorf all of a sudden? There must be something going on. The entire city of Dusseldorf turns into Drupa City. Options start becoming out of Dusseldorf, and taking trains and buses. Which by the way, they make it very easy in Europe to do something like that, especially the train. I know. Can you believe I’m recommending the train? But that train to Drupa, I’ve taken it before. I mean, even I didn’t get lost on the train. The train it’s very simple.
[0:39:47] PM: I know that in the past, I’ve written blogs about how to go to Drupa.
[0:39:50] DC: We should do that. We should do a pre-game Drupa report with bring extra shoes, all the amazing tips.
[0:39:56] PM: All the things. Yeah. We should do it before the end of this year probably, because –
[0:40:01] DC: That’s a big idea. Yeah.
[0:40:01] PM: Get everybody ready for it, because there are a lot of things. If you’ve never been, I remember, Deb, your reaction, the first time we got to the event venue and you were looking around.
[0:40:16] DC: In the mesa, in Dusseldorf?
[0:40:18] PM: Yeah. It was, oh, so it’s these buildings. I know it’s not just these buildings. It’s buildings you can’t even see. It’s buildings that way and buildings that way and buildings that way. It’s pretty big.
[0:40:31] DC: To give some perspective, there is a stadium. Not a little stadium. A stadium. They call it football, we call it soccer. There is a football stadium and you cannot even see it from where the halls are. That’s how big this place is. But, they have an internal tram system. Also, all the halls are connected pretty much, so you can stay inside and go hall to hall. There’s a map. It does make sense because it’s Germany, so everything’s in order, and there’s numbers. It’s not difficult to navigate. It’s just best, which is why you need so much time if you really do want to see everything.
I did walk through every single hall twice last time. But that was a feat that was definitely, that second pair of shoes came in handy at the end of the day, which I’m not going to spoil Pat’s secret, we’ll get to that. Okay, I’m going to speak for you. We are thrilled about events. We love events. We love going to events. We love supporting events. We love working at events. We love working with people at events. Because at the end of the day, it brings us all together and a rising tide lifts all boats. Education, technology, and information is super important, especially now.
I believe, the printing industries on this event horizon line and we’re going to be like, okay, everybody who’s finally said, “Fine, I’ve got to upgrade my workflow and software and focus on all of this and automated tools and online ordering and social media.” All these things that they think have nothing to do with the print shop, this is your moment. If you still feel that way, fantastic. Write it out, merge and acquisition yourself, and keep that equipment clean. If you want to sell it off in your buildings.
Everybody else, we will see you at all these events during the year and next year. Until then, everybody, print long, event long, and prosper.
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[0:42:37] DC: Thanks for listening to Podcasts From the Printerverse. Please, subscribe, click some stars, and leave us a review. Connect with us through printmediacentr.com. We’d love to hear your feedback on our shows and topics that are of interest for future broadcasts. Until next time, thanks for joining us. Print long and prosper.
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