The organiser, IIR Exhibitions, has invited some 82 editors from around the world to the Media Summit, where it is spending three days revealing details of the show, to which it hopes to build on the 100,000 attendees it attracted to the 2006 event.
Exhibition director Trevor Crawford says, “Many industry figures consider this Ipex to be the most important in its history.” According to Crawford the show is 95 per cent sold out. Crawford is promoting Ipex as a show full of working solutions, he says, “Many of the innovations that we saw at drupa will be coming to commercial fruition at Ipex, that is what the exhibitors are saying to me.” Crawford also says that the recent easing in economies means that many printers will be looking to Ipex as a buying opportunity.
Ipex 2010 has so far signed up more than 580 exhibitors, who will occupy more than 60,000 sqm of exhibition space. Crawford expects some 1,000 exhibitions by the time the show opens, from around 40 different countries.
Crawford is aiming to continue the rise in overseas visitors, 2006 had 40 per cent from outside the UK compared with 2002,with this year’s target a 50 / 50 split. Crawford is certain that there are no questions about the international credibility of Ipex, pointing out that some 98 per cent of exhibitors are funded from HQ. He also says that at the 2006 event visitors attended from 159 countries, up from 142 in 2002, and surpassing drupa, which attracted visitors from 136 countries.
This year’s booking space provides a fascinating insight into the changing nature of print. Prepress and digital solutions will take the most floorspace, with 38 per cent, presses will occupy 26 per cent, with post press solutions taking the remaining 36 per cent. This contrasts strongly with 2006, where presses had 41 per cent and digital 26 per cent, meaning 2010 will see an almost complete reversal in digital to offset space.
This is also reflected by individual exhibitors. The largest stand this year will be HP with its digital and wide format solutions. occupying 3,000sqm, a 39 per cent increase on last time. Heidelberg has slashed its space by 52 per cent, to 2,448 sqm, keeping it in second place. The biggest exhibitor from 2006, Xerox has chopped even more space, coming in 61 per cent lower at 1,980 sqm, putting it in joint third place.
Xerox is almost alone among the major digital players in downsizing, with the others upping their stand size considerably. Canon stays in fourth place but with a massively increased stand size, up by 91 per cent to the same size as Xerox. Fujifilm is up by 65 per cent, Oce more than doubles in size to to 1,050 sqm. But the biggest jump by a long way is Konica Minolta, reflecting its strong success in commercial print, it has increased its stand size by a whopping 395 per cent, up to 1,088 sqm.
The split among the top ten exhibitors form 2006 was 40 per cent digital, 40 per cent offset, and 20 per cent post press. But 2010 sees 80 per cent of the top ten in digital, with ten per cent offset and ten per cent post press.
Some 28 per cent of exhibitors currently signed up are there for the first time, a figure Crawford expects to rise to 33 per cent on opening. The biggest of these by a long way is Ricoh, which becomes the eighth biggest exhibitor at the show, taking 1,432 sqm. The biggest growth country for exhibitors is not surprisingly China, from where 60 exhibitors are now booked in, a 107 per cent increase in last year. Crawford expects the final number of exhibitors from the middle kingdom to top 100.
Innovations announced at the Media Summit include a Springboard area, similar to the innovation parc at the last drupa, where small entrepreneurial businesses will be able to show their ideas and solutions. There will also be three 30 minute masterclasses on sales, profit and finance from business coach Nick Devine.
Pira will be hosting a print debate every day from 1pm to 2pm covering topics such as how printers should be selling print, what the printer of the future will look like, whether green print is worth it, and whether the iPod will kill print. Debates will be hosted by various industry luminaries.
To help printers optimise their Ipex time, IIR has come up with a series of tools, including:
- My Ipex, a personalised online interactive planner, where the visitor inputs target exhibitors and it creates a personalised itinerary;
- Ipex +, an online diary bringing details of all Ipex events; and
- Ipex guided tours, which in 90 minutes cover the latest in three categories; prepress and digital, presses, and post press.
Ipex is also running Product Trails, with route guides available to take in themes such as the environment, finishing systems, offset, digital, wide format, MIS and software, newspapers, and packaging.
Finally Ipex 2010 is making full use of the new social media opportunities, providing news, information and opportunity for debate on facebook, twitter and Linkedin.
The 11 halls booked at the National Exhibition Centre have been arranged to reflect the typical workflow of a print business. Entry to the show is free to those who register online first at www.ipex.org/register, otherwise it’s £30 at the door.
The Media Summit is allowing nine leading exhibitors to present indicators of their new solutions which will be on show. These included Ricoh, Red Tie (a web-to-print operator), Xerox, Océ, Canon, Pitney Bowes, Domino, Fujifilm and CP Bourg.
Full report next week.
