It has been a long few years with regards to shows and events so the return of the Print Show was a CMYK oasis in a post-covid desert of black and white.
The show ran for three days at the Birmingham NEC and was very well attended. We were delighted to be surrounded by likeminded companies and colleagues all extolling the virtues of print in all of its guises. As you’d expect the venue was clean and spacious with great access but the one thing that we all appreciated was the cyan, magenta, black and yellow carpet that bedecked the entire space. A nice touch to make printers feel at home.
The team worked tirelessly in the months leading up to it, planning and printing and planning and printing and then a bit more printing. Once the stand was put together and we were fully stocked with coffee and muffins, Tunnocks tea cakes and shortbread we were ready to entertain and talk all things print.
We were positively enthused by how many people came to have a chat and how many people were keen to learn more about our recent acquisition of Tayprint, a Dundee-based wide format printer. We had several of our large format print sample packs to hand which were well thumbed by day three.
As any reputable event organiser knows, the devil is in the detail so we had lots of treats for people on the day. We handed out travel mugs and tote bags stuffed with goodies – there’s a chance we may have bought more tea cakes than we could chew and our favourite treat was of the alcoholic persuasion…The team over at V Press hooked up a label machine to an app we had access to on the day which allowed us to personalise labels and pop them on bottles of Moretti beer.
Our highlights from the Print Show included:
- The opportunity to hear guest speakers from the industry who took to the stage with confidence, spoke eloquently and answered questions with grace.
- Meeting so many of our customers – we know this sounds cheesy but it’s true. Being based in Dundee is braw but considering we are a UK wide fulfiller of print it does mean we have a long way to travel to see some of our customers.
- Our neighbours VB Media whose stand was bouncing and whose hands-on demonstrations of their custom CMS were insightful and interesting. Their concept of converting your static website or creating you a brand-new site to a full ecommerce experience is nothing short of inspiring. These guys really know their stuff and have helped many print professionals get online and take their ecommerce game to a new level.
- Another chap whose knowledge of printing could be his specialist Mastermind subject was The Online Print Coach Colin McDermott. He is a one-man encyclopaedia of print marketing tips and strategy. Spaces on his programme only come up once in a while which speaks volumes about what his coaching subscriptions are worth. We really enjoyed his company.
- We spent time talking to Jonathan Tame of Two Sides, the print and paper advocacy group and kept him in steady supply of cups of tea from our fully recyclable paper cups.
- How our eBook about marketing for print professionals ended up in all of the official Print Show Goodie Bags.