Greetings Citizens and Intergalactic Ambassadors of The PrinterverseTM…
For four days in Chicago, in a 4500+ sq foot space tucked deep in the back of the GRAPH EXPO Exhibit Hall, an ideal came to life and took the form of a community comprised of like minded individuals dedicated to the greater good of the whole. Sure, that was the goal, but with so many moving parts and people and personalities, you never really know what will happen until something does, and what happened in The Printerverse was truly magic.
Before we get to that, we need to go back to the beginning of this year when GASC reached out to PMC to do something at the Show. It all started off as a booth, then grew into a spectacle pretty quickly. Chris Price, Debbie Vieder and the GASC team were beyond supportive and extremely proactive with creative ideas and ways to incorporate the bigger picture of GRAPH EXPO into the space. They ended up being silent partners with the public, but it couldnt have happened without their daily and sometimes hourly efforts helping me.
And speaking of help, The Printerverse was also made possible by the VOLUNTEERS who gave up their time and a little sanity to work with me. An echoing bellow of THANKS to Marco Morales, Mary Yurkovic, Nick Ames and Frankie Gray.
Another huge slice of success pie goes out to our Partners who took a chance on our maiden voyage to form the first Intergalactic Alliance of The Printerverse! Kodak, FastBindUSA, PageFlex, Mohawk, NPTA, Two-Sides US, Printing Industries of America/Integrated Print Forum, MUTOH America, Crawford Technologies, LAS-X Industries and Xplor International pooled all of their resources with ours and together we promoted and participated in the space as a group. By sharing each others information and supporting associated Printerverse events as well as individual company endeavors, our reach was exponential in the socialsphere. The Alliance proved my theory that with the right mix of people with the common goal of sharing and giving back to the community, the greater good for “Print” can be served… and believe me it was noticed by attendees!
The Printerverse is made up of many points of light, and one of the brightest clusters contained the Lancaster Super Nova! Peter and Sofie Lancaster of Documobi created more than 10 cross media campaigns for PMC and our partners, and also brought the GRAPHittiTM Wall to LIFE with Intelligent Print Recognition (iPR). GRAPHitti was a major focal point of The Printerverse and an historical combination of imagination and technology. Every single person who participated was fascinated by the possibilities for PRINT, and even better how you can ENGAGE with print! If you havent seen the videos, check them out and watch in AUTO PLAY mode for the best experience since they are each very short.
Speeding along in her own orbit, The Printerverse was honored to get a glimpse of Mary Beth Smith, shooting print superstar and Girl #1 of LinkedIn’s Girls Who Print Group and founder of National Girls Who Print Day. Hundreds showed up for our Launch Lunch and throughout the day for programming developed for the occasion. By far one of my favorite Printerverse moments was the Mentorship Panel we held, oh and MBS did do some singing… dont worry, we have it recorded so stay tuned to see it!
I will follow this post up with a recap of our Printerverse sessions and panels and give some love to all those who VOLUNTEERED their time to share their knowledge and themselves, but I cannot end this one without three more shout-outs.
The first, to Kelly Voss of Bloomingdale Signs for printing and delivering one 30 foot, and two 6 foot banners for us when I was in 911 mode three days before GRAPH EXPO, and helping me on a Saturday to find them in McCormick place! They looked great and you rock!
My next thank you goes to Pat McGrew, M-EDP, CMP. I cant possibly describe what it feels like to have Pat on your side, let alone helping you plan a crazy Show Floor Feature and supporting it on the ground, but a “heavenly experience” might do it a little justice. 1-800-PAT is always there when I need her, and judging by the shout-outs during the mentorship panel and people Ive met through her, she deserves a GALAXY in her honor!
It’s fun saying thank you! And the biggest of course goes to all of you who stopped by and shared info about the Printerverse before, during and even now. I appreciate your kind words, and emails, and enthusiasm to do it all again next year! Print 13 will be even BIGGER AND BETTER so stay tuned with how you can get involved and until then…. PRINT LONG, AND PROSPER!
