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Special Report: Graphics of the Americas Education Focus
April 7, 2008
Dennis Mason presents highlights of the conferences and tutorials at the annual Miami-based show:
Not long ago, printing industry trade shows were places to ‘kick the iron’ as well as to learn about the latest mechanical, electrical and chemical innovations from exhibitors on the show floor. But something happened on the way to the 21st Century. Printers began to gather detailed specifications on the Internet rather than at shows. Exhibitors began looking for ways to cut show expenses, and cut back on the amount of equipment shown. Rather than send an entire staff to a show to see the latest, printers scaled back show attendance. As these things happened, once-major trade shows went the way of the old west. Gutenberg, the Charlotte Show, Graph Expo West—all are now names from the past.
The shows that have survived—and more particularly, the few that have thrived—have been reinvented by their promoters. Exhibitors are fewer, booths are smaller, but attendance has remained relatively high. For Graphics of the America—the annual Miami Beach show staged by the Printing Association of Florida—success has come from two major strategic moves. First, Graphics of the Americas is firmly positioned as a show for Latin Americans. One is more likely to hear Spanish or Portuguese spoken on the show floor, for example, than English, and printers from everywhere south of the border come to Miami, which is widely seen as America’s gateway to Latin America. Second, Graphics of the Americas has become a learning forum for both Latin Americans and printer personnel from the southeastern United States. Visitors to Graphics of the Americas 2008 could also choose from an amazing variety of learning opportunities, all conveniently located in the Miami Beach Convention Center, and primarily running concurrently with the show:
Design School—When Graphics of the Americas 2008 opened on Thursday, graphic designers had already put in two solid days of classroom training in more than 40 sessions dealing with Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator, and Acrobat, as well as Flash, Java scripting, and XML workflows. The designer program continued through Saturday, with still more sessions, all conducted by conducted by experienced design consultants and instructors. Most sessions were full, with attentive participants following the instructors on their own laptops. At breaks, designers could browse among tabletop exhibits offered by vendors offering further tutorials, software, and plug-ins.
Brand Protection Conference—The opening day of the show found more than 50 attendees in a specialized, two-day conference dealing with the opportunities in package design and printing resulting from increased product counterfeiting around the world. The conference was keynoted by Paul Fox, Director of Corporate Communications and Global Operations External Relations, who is also the former Chairman of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy. Subjects in the meeting included security printing techniques, RFID technology, holograms and optical variable devices, security inks, and an array of products and protocols for authentication and verification.
Design for Personalized Communications Conference—This one-day conference began on Friday, and focused on variable data printing and personalization. Graphic designers, advertising executives, and variable data printers all found much to take away from these sessions, which included not only a review of the hardware and software available, but also how to create and execute a viable sales and marketing plan based on personalization.
Quark Laboratory—On the show floor, Quark offered a hands-on learning laboratory teaching designers the intricacies of QuarkXPress and related tools. Training was offered in both English and Spanish, at no cost to all show attendees.
Vendor Tutorials—In addition to the usual demonstrations in exhibitors’ booths, a number of vendors offered one-hour product usage tutorials in a conference setting. Nipson America, PrinterPresence by Firespring, Xanté, and X-Rite were among the vendors conducting tutorials.
Printing Association of Florida President and CEO George Ryan, discussing the importance of conferences and product training to the Graphics of the Americas, commented: “Our extensive array of training offerings benefit both show attendees and exhibitors. Show attendees find it easier to rationalize travel expense if one of the takeaways is increased knowledge and job expertise. And exhibitors benefit from increased floor traffic as a result of conference and training attendees going onto the show floor on breaks or between sessions. Everybody wins, and the show is healthier than ever!”
Posted by Mark Vruno on April 7, 2008 | Comments (0)
