by Jonathan McGrew, edp
Preparing for this year’s GRAPH EXPO got me thinking; in recent years trade shows have been challenged to grow—or at the very least stay the same size. Many shows have suffered the ill fate of declining attendance or, worse yet, shutting down completely. Shows like GRAPH EXPO and their management have to continuously look for ways to reinvent, innovate and drive value for their attendees.
So why should you be at GRAPH EXPO 14 this September?
If you produce any form of communications, you should be at GRAPH EXPO for the latest machines, software and total solutions. You might be saying, “WOOOOAH, you mean if you produce print, right?” Actually, I think communications is a better representation of what is actually being facilitated through all the offerings at GRAPH EXPO. And if you have been reading my column here on Print Media Centr, you know I am on a quest to unite all of us in the print industry, while also taking insights and showing how they can be applied across the many different disciplines in print.
There is not another show in North America that has the range of GRAPH EXPO; as such there isn’t just one type of person in your organization that should be looking at attending. You work for a bank, insurance or healthcare company or print service bureau, commercial or specialty printer. You might be in print operations, EMC architecture, compliance or the C-Suite. No matter, there is an innovation on the show floor that can move the needle for your business.
When you look at GRAPH EXPO as a field of innovation for communicating with your new and current customers, the possibilities are endless. Looking for inkjet technology or new ways to approach your operations? You can join a Case Study Café in the Printerverse booth #4267 and see technology live on the floor. Maybe you need to leverage the hardware you are investing in, while at the same time add value to the technology you already have in place. Or perhaps your organization is trying to keep ahead of compliance regulations for things like accessible documents and communications. If you are at the show, you are in luck because there are four days and many solutions that you can discuss, touch and even buy.
All that said, the REAL reason you should be at GRAPH EXPO is that it is the one time a year in North America where you can find hardware, software, mail and face-to-face conversations all in one space. Sure, it may not be the same show it was a decade ago, but that is actually a good thing. GRAPH EXPO is answering the needs of today’s communicator. So while you are at the show look at the new printer technology, software solutions for automation, tracking and reengineering/repurposing and experience the relationships you can build in a week that would take you years if you had to find each vendor, expert, partnership and solution individually.
If you are planning on coming to GRAPH EXPO, make sure you stop by our booth #344 to see an Automated Document Factory (ADF) that is truly affordable, automated and intelligent while being powered by strategic partnership.
So until next time, live long and print!
Jonathan McGrew spent his formative years being exposed to Xplor and the Enterprise Output Management & Customer Communications Management (CCM) industries (read high-volume transactional printing). Today, Jonathan is Marketing Communications Manager at Crawford Technologies and responsible for Worldwide marketing. His experience spans data management, branding, print (hardware, software & design), graphic design and marketing communications with specialization in Business to Business (B2B). Jonathan completed his MS in Marketing from the University of Colorado at Denver in December 2013 and was awarded his EDP certification at the Xplor Conference 2013.
