Celebrating Print at Graph Expo

Here are some other highlights:

• More than 50 educational seminars divided into 11 tracks (including an in-plant track, plus others for wide-format, mailing/fulfillment, marketing and "future print"). In total, the show is offering 70 educational sessions.
• The Executive Outlook Conference (Sunday, Sept. 28), a four-hour sneak peek at some of the best and most innovative technologies on hand in Chicago, backed by economic and marketing information, printing trends and economic forecasts.
• Twelve different printing segments. The latest segment to join the lineup addresses manufacturing and industrial printing (3D, printed electronics and decorative printing).
• Fourteen industry-related pavilions focusing on areas like mailing and fulfillment, marketing, wide-format and future print. The newest addition, Plastic Print, resulted from a partnership between the GASC and the Society for the Plastics Industry (SPI). With the growth of 3D printing, the Plastic Print pavilion will examine opportunities for the marriage between printing and plastics.
• More than 50 co-located events: users groups, workshops, meetings, educational luncheons, etc.

And, while on the subject of numbers, Nappi has been tracking year-over-year attendee growth for the past four years, while physical vendor space has been trending downward. The latter is primarily a function of the trend of industry vendors to use their Graph Expo space for marketing and educational purposes, leaving machine demos for captive customer events at demo facilities or manufacturing plants.