Winds of Change?

PrintWeekLive….Same old, same old or the birth of something new?

A two day print conference and exhibition in Coventry.  It’s been done before, time and time again in fact, (ok maybe not in Coventry) and in a number of different guises, so was PrintWeekLive 2017 just a reincarnation of the print shows of days gone by or was it something different?

My first impression was that it was compact and bijou and as I walked around the adjectives unfurled…neat, tidy, well presented, professional looking. What it lacked in size it more than made up for in look and feel.

Not a lump of hard machinery in sight – but on reflection this did not detract from the appeal of the show. In many respects it was less of a distraction and encouraged less talk of impressions per hour or squareness of spines and, for me at least, led to more discussions about business, return on investment and general sharing of best practice.  Surely this is not a bad thing.

A thought-provoking workshop on Colour Management made us question how the same colour can appear to be entirely different on the same sheet – a question many of us involved in print have asked ourselves I’m sure.

On the morning of day two I was treated to a wonderful presentation by Andrew Scrimgeour, Former Managing Director, AJS Labels.  Charismatic, entertaining and again not a bell or whistle in sight but some super tips on engagement and motivation – after all our businesses live or die by the actions and reactions of the people in them, so again probably more important than examining widgets. If the rest of the presentations over the two days delivered as much value then no visitor should have left disappointed.

And so the days unfolded with discussion after discussion with old friends, associates, business partners and first time introductions and in most cases sensible conversations with the sharing of best practice and experiences and in one or two cases an exchange of business cards and promise of exchange site visits to learn from each other further.

Was it me or did it all just feel a little grown up?  There was a little less ‘my press is bigger than your press’ and a little more respect of each others businesses and willingness of learning from each other.

Perhaps the industry is at last maturing to a point where we do not see each other as enemies anymore and we recognise that we need to work together to secure a robust future for us all and if that is the case then I have to say that PrintWeekLive provided the environment for us all to open up and have a little hug or cwtch as we call it in Wales!