FESPA Americas 2011 exhibitor list combined with Graphics of the Americas 2011 exhibitor list Orlando, Florida, two parallel printing and sign expositions

FESPA Americas exhibitor list 2012 is unexpectedly zero

FESPA launched a FESPA Americas for February 24-26, 2011, associated with Graphics of the Americas, in Orlando, Florida. The exhibitor list for FESPA Americas 2011 will be very interesting to see how they rebuild Graphics of the Americas.

Since FLAAR has been associated with Latin America since our inception, and as the main office of FLAAR Mesoamerica is in Central America, and as all FLAAR staff are multi-lingual, it is no surprise that FLAAR would be potentially interested in the rebirth of Graphcs of the Americas.

During GoA 2010 I interviewed dozens of people: booth managers of exhibiting companies as well as attendees (print shop owners). All were very clear: “we like Miami as a location because almost everyone here speaks Spanish.” So I look forward to Graphics of the Americas exhibitors list 2012 and FESPA Americas 2012 returning to Miami and hope to see a vital exhibitor list for FESPA Americas 2012.

Dr Nicholas Hellmuth presented two lectures at GoA and two additional lectures at FESPA Americas. Lectures will be en Español or English (or both, since Nicholas is multi-lingual).

At GoA:
Feb 24: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM (New Technologies in Wide Format Printers)
Feb 25: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM ( Wide Format Opportunities with resin ink Technology)

At FESPA

Feb 25: 3:00 - 4:00 Cartón con estructura de nido de abeja: Materiales innovadores y amigables con el medio ambiente (Honeycomb sandwich board: Re-board (Design Force), Falconboard (Hexacomb Pregis), etc.)
Feb 26: 12:00 - 1:00 Impresión sobre todo tipo de materiales: La impresión decorativa para sobresalir ante su competencia (Printing on everything. Beyond signage: print decor to get ahead of your competition.)

FLAAR will be at booth 1807 at FESPA Americas.

Graphics of the Americas will offer offset, web, copiers: FESPA America will offer wide-format inkjet

2011 is the first year that FESPA has had a sign exposition in the USA, so the 2011 exhibitor list is still being filled out. In past years Graphics of the Americas offered wide-format inkjet plus some offset equipment but also copiers and small digital presses. Wide format inkjet was included but in a DRUPA year (2008) the show began to shrink and then the collapse of the world economy, 2009 and 2010 were a year of consolidation. But for 2011, with FESPA being such an international success in Europe, there will be new vigor in the combined event. FLAAR will definitely attend both FESPA Americas 2011 and also Graphics of the Americas 2011.

For 2012 the show will return to Miami which is definitely a better venue for an event oriented to southeast USA and Latin America. But for 2011 they are in Orlando, February 24-26, 2011.

Last year FLAAR was invited to lecture at Graphics of the Americas so will return in 2011 and speak again. Plus Dr Hellmuth is on the FESPA Americas organizing committee, in part because he speaks Spanish, in part because FLAAR's main office is in Latin America, but also because FLAAR Reports are read around the world.

GoA and FESPA Americas is an international event, with a focus on the Latin American market, so it is logical to have FLAAR Reports be a part of the event.

We look forward to updating the exhibitor list for 2011 and we hope to see you in Orlando in early 2011. We will bring with us information on the trends observed at the Dubai Sign & Graphics Imaging Show in late January: that is the first major international sign expo for the new year. FESPA Americas will be the first event in our industry for North America.

It would be nice if they could get more students to attend GoA and FESPA Americas

Sign expos in Italy are packed with students of graphic design. Photokina expo in Germany probably has more than 5,000 students attending during the week-long event (held every two years in Cologne). Even the Dubai show has student groups attending. Thus it has been sad to see so few students in past years at Graphics of the Americas. Florida in general, and central and southern Florida in particular are packed with colleges, universities, and trade schools. Outreach is needed to organize and bring in student groups.

“Too many trade shows”

During 2005 through 2007, every single printer manufacturer complained that “there are too many trade shows.”

In the USA in past years (2001-2003) there were about eight trade shows in America alone that included wide-format inkjet printers. So now you can see why printer manufacturers were unhappy.

Now, in 2010 -2011, there are about 60% fewer trade shows, so the situation is more manageable. What is sad is that the collapse of some trade shows was more a result of the acts and decisions of the management than the world economy.

For example, the people who attended IRgA tell me this event was embarrassing in 2009 (too few exhibitors; too few attendees). Yet they continue forward and ask $75,000 for a 30x50' booth for 2010. Last year I was told “only 30 people showed up at the cocktail party; in other words even free alcohol did not attract many people.”

Sign printer trade shows that have disappeared

The BigPicture Show was a congenial event for many years; but it did not survive. DPI was “ample and well visited in Atlanta in 2001.” It did not survive as an independent trade show and forms only a segment at SGIA. Gutenberg Festival likewise is no longer a meaningful event.

Seybold San Francisco used to be an immense international event, filled with wide-format printers. Until 2002. By then they lost focus. The same company also ran Comdex. Comdex was a huge annual event that used to include exhibits of large-format printers. The most apt expression would be “they ran Comdex into the ground.” The last Comdex was about 2003.

In other words, in 2000-2003 there are trade shows every few months. And many of them were substantial. Silly decisions and lost focus resulted in expo after expo going bankrupt. And this was during the boom years: no recession caused these venues to fail.

But we are now in 2010 and the only events in the USA at an international level are ISA and SGIA. Graphics of the Americas was a great event from 2003-2007 but fizzled noticeably in 2008: a result of being a “DRUPA year.” Now, under partnership with FESPA Americas, there is significant new potential, especially if they can return to their roots in Miami. Too many shows are in Orlando; it's nice to have a more diverse location such as Miami.

“United we stand; divided we fall”

Is the best axiom for trade shows now in 2010 and into the future.

If the trade show companies start to squabble and fight among themselves, this will turn off exhibitors and drive away attendees. It would make much more sense to have trade shows forge meaningful partnerships. There is a usefulness for one early-in-the-year trade show; one spring trade show; and one autumn trade show.

But having GraphExpo and SGIA within two weeks of each other makes little sense. If this keeps up it weakens them both. If two trade shows with declining booth rentals and declining attendance join forces, they can save their venues. The best example is the union of Graphics of the Americas and FESPA. Now they have created a potentially strong beginning-of-the-year show. This does not have to be viewed as competition for a late Spring or early summer show and not competition for an autumn show either. SGIA and ISA are vital parts of wide-format inkjet printer industry and it is helpful if they can not only survive, but if they can refocus and regenerate themselves.

Combining trade shows makes sense: small expos can't attract a critical mass of visitors any more.

SGIA is in the autumn. So their main competition is GraphExpo; FESPA Americas and GoA are not competition for SGIA, especially not in the annual trade show system.

GraphExpo reportedly lost Heidelberg as their largest exhibitor; if they also lose Kodak or any other big player, that will be the start of the decline of the offset printer portion of that venue. Their inkjet printer booth space is already down to about a dozen booths.

FLAAR enjoyed working with GraphExpo for years, but Print '09 was simply too long and they did not learn from that and scheduled GraphExpo 2010 for four days. Too long: four days is not a good idea even in a good economy; it is a very bad decision in a weak economy.

I hope GraphExpo and SGIA can combine and both succeed in years to come. At present SGIA is the stronger of these two printing expos in the wide-format inkjet and textile printing industries.

The union of SGIA and IFAI, Industrial Fabrics Association International, is an example of intelligently facing reality. SGIA and IFAI will share a venue for 2013 in Orlando. So the exhibitor list for SGIA 2013 Orlando should be good.

The union of IRgA and ISA 2011 in Las Vegas is another intelligent sign of the times. IRgA 2010 was a public embarrassment. It is also a good idea to have one show start a day before the other, then to overlap. This is perfect. The combined exhibitors list for ISA 2011 with IRgA 2011 will be better than either organization by itself, all alone.

So if these organizations can ally with each other, surely Graph Expo and SGIA can join forces. Otherwise Graph Expo would need to ally with FESPA and GoA in the January season. Graph Expo by itself is a downhill slide.

Why FESPA + GoA makes sense

Unfortunately Gutenberg Festival trade show collapsed years ago, Seybold San Francisco collapsed even earlier. Even the major computer trade show in Las Vegas (that had dozens of wide-format printer booths in past years) went bankrupt long ago.

IRgA is too narrowly focused and booth space is too expensive for the few people that bother to attend any more. They should join another association if they wish to survive.

PMA has made about every mistake in the book. First they lost Epson; this year they lost Canon, and had their exhibit in a not very popular location (Anaheim). Thus they lost FLAAR too; we are one of the larger digital photo evaluation institutes in the world with over 435,000 visitors per year. I skipped 2008, enjoyed the 2009 show, but decided to skip 2010 after Canon pulled out and Epson was not going to be present.

PMA is attempting to hang in by co-location as PMA@CES 2012. I will attend but only because of key executives of another trade show flying in from Europe who want to meet with me about their expo back in Europe.

So having FESPA Americas and Graphics of the Americas together the same dates and in the same expo hall make sense (and will make even more sense once they return to Miami; Miami is a more popular travel destination for people from Latin America than is Orlando. Thus it was surprising, and disappointing, that FESPA Americas disappeared one year after it started. And there is no mention of it reappearing in 2013.

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Where to meet FLAAR at a trade show?

For international events, you can occasionally find Dr Hellmuth at FESPA Mexico, always at the Dubai Sign & Graphics event, Sign Africa, FESPA (Europe), several VISCOM events (but no longer at VISCOM Spain since that has shrunk in size), and occasionally in Eastern Europe (normally Reklama in Moscow). Nicholas is also at Photokina 2012 and formally also some other trade shows related to photography and fine art giclee, such as ArtExpo in New York. But we stopped going to ArtExpo when the manager required we advertise a separate private company in exchange for having a booth; that is an inappropriate request and we did not accept.

You can definitely find Nicholas at most of the Chinese shows: Guangzhou, D-PES, APPPEXPO in Shanghai, and sometimes at the Beijing sign expo. But it is essential to make an appointment in advance.

Dr Nicholas Hellmuth occasionally is invited as speaker or as VIP Guest to other trade shows. If you, or your company, wish FLAAR in your expo or OpenHouse event, contact FrontDesk@FLAAR.org (this e-mail is not for general correspondence; only for invitations for lecture and guest appearance, and for asking for professional consulting).

Most trade show organizers provide a free booth to FLAAR since the FLAAR web sites are read by over one million people a year. Here is the FLAAR booth at the China Sign Expo in Beijing (spring 2010), in association with Sign-in-China (Chinasigns).

In the past we had a booth at GraphExpo each year (notice that FLAAR is listed as a sponsor of the Wide Format Pavilion). But that show was too many days long and for 2010 onward we have been skipping Graph Expo and concentrating on ISA, SGIA and FESPA Europe.

Trade shows for USA and Latin America

Graphics of the Americas, ISA, and SGIA are the international trade shows for North America that offer the most wide-format inkjet printers. In past years Graph Expo was a good show for offset printers and desktop copiers, and also includes some wide-format, but is a printing expo (like IPEX, and like IPEX in the UK not really a signage expo). Losing Heidelberg as main exhibitor at GraphExpo may be an indicator of reality.

Signage expositions in Canada tend to be more like IPEX and Graph Expo: too diverse a spread; not intense enough on wide-format inkjet. Plus you need an exciting city to attract attendees: Las Vegas and Orlando also offer hotels at reasonable prices. The rise of hotel prices at DRUPA is the major cause of why DRUPA 2012 will not be well attended. The other issue of DRUPA is that it's 13 or 14 days long. That is far too long for the wide-format inkjet exhibitors. I predict FESPA 2012 (in friendly Barcelona) will be better attended for wide-format inkjet than DRUPA 2012 (with hotels that gouge attendees with exhorbitant hotel rates).

FESPA Mexico and trade shows in Brazil would be the main events for Latin America, though I would also list FESPA Americas as oriented to Latin America as well (especially once it returns to Miami).

Regional trade shows are The NBM Show in four cities May through November and Sign World USA (USSC).

For wide-format inkjet printers the international shows are the ones that allow you to see the most brands and models. But if your travel budget is limited, and if you prefer to visit your local distributors rather than the manufacturer, then a local show is a good idea. But just realize that only the major international expos offer the full range of wide-format inkjet printers.

Trade shows for China, Korea, and Japan

Japanese signage expos are disappointing. Not even all the Japanese manufacturers bother to exhibit. And even when they do, the managers and executives do not bother to attend. Plus 80% of the booth personnel can't speak English or other international language.

Korea is a nice place to visit but trade shows are oriented to Korean market rather than being truly international. So I have not yet attended any Korean sign expo.

China is where the trade shows are larger than Japan and Korea put together: APPPEXPO in Shanghai, and immense signage expos in Dongguan and Guangzhou are events you will never forget. There is also an exhibit in Beijing, which is a city definitely worth visiting as a tourist. FLAAR is present at most of the major Chinese trade shows, often as VIP guest.

FESPA Asia was in Singapore in 2011. If they co-locate with significant partners in a larger market area of Asia, or Australia, we would enjoy promoting such a venue. But the expo in Thailand was poorly handled when the airport was closed (the PR releases pretended the expo was fabulous, which was simply not true; 80% of the international visitors could not land in Bangkok because of the political mess.

For more information on trade shows around the world

FLAAR evaluates trade shows around the world. Our FLAAR Reports on trade shows lists and comments on sign expos that are both international and regional, in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.