FESPA’s second Digital Printing Europe exhibition, which took place from 1st to 3rd April 2008 at Geneva’s Palexpo exhibition centre, attracted an increasingly diverse international audience, including a significant number of screen and digital wide format printers from Asia-Pacific, looking to explore the latest innovations in the sector.
Overall the show attracted similar visitor numbers to the inaugural event in 2006, with 12817 visits recorded over the three days comprising guests from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. Excellent attendance levels were recorded for Asia-Pacific with nearly 150 printers from the region visiting the show, representing 15 individual countries. Marcus Timson, FESPA Event Director for Asia-Pacific comments: “We are delighted with the number of individuals from Asia-Pacific that attended our digital show. This illustrates the strong interest among the region’s print community to explore the latest industry developments and innovations in the wide format sector, and their confidence in FESPA’s ability to deliver a worthwhile, content-rich event experience.”
Greg Stone of GJS Machinery Pty Ltd comments: “As an Australian distributor of dye sublimation equipment and consumables, it is important to attend international exhibitions to monitor future developments in the industry. FESPA Digital Printing Europe 2008 also gave me the opportunity to build stronger relationships with our current suppliers and meet prospective suppliers in person. This exhibition was my first FESPA event and it exceeded all my expectations in terms of size and diversity of products and services on show. I am looking forward to FESPA World Expo Asia-Pacific in Bangkok later this year.”
Several exhibitors in Geneva also confirmed their interest in the emerging Asia-Pacific markets, by booking their stands at FESPA World Expo Asia-Pacific 2008. With more than six months to go before the event, key industry players including Epson, Konica Minolta, NAZDAR, Bordeaux and GCC have also booked their places, impressed with the quality of FESPA’s digital events, FESPA’s professionalism, industry expertise and strong brand.
Exhibitors at FESPA Digital Printing Europe 2008 expressed their collective satisfaction with the international spectrum of visitors, and their decision-making authority. Many vendors commented that the majority of discussions were with someone with a genuine ability to make or influence a major purchasing decision. This is borne out by the visitor data, which indicates that over 40% of individual visitors to the show were owners or general managers of their businesses.
Timson continues: “Research that we conducted in the Asia-Pacific region, along with feedback from Asia-Pacific visitors at FESPA Digital Printing Europe 2008, further reaffirms the clear need for a high-calibre, pan-regional screen and wide-format printing event dedicated to the unique interests of the Asian-Pacific printing community. Our launch event in the region, FESPA World Expo Asia-Pacific (28th – 30th November) in Bangkok, will aim to inspire printers and help them acquire the know-how to effectively grow their businesses and maximise profitability.”
FESPA
www.fespa.com
