Printing United 3, Atlanta: Still Bigger, Bolder & Better?

Musings on a show visit & some thoughts of the future

The last Printing United that I attended was the very first Printing United in 2019 in Dallas. Back then the strapline was ‘bigger, bolder, better’. This struck a chord with me - it must have done as I recall it! I guess it was a big year for us too. Frazer and I had just launched FM Future and this trip was exciting and inspiring. We have been to numerous SGIA Expos, and this show was always so successful. So tinkering with a successful model, or essentially relaunching it completely, did not come without a modicum of risk, to say the least.

But despite the risk, Printing United 1, was a great achievement. In a very short time, the then-new leadership had somehow managed to bring together most of the strands of the printing industry into one show format and under a new brand, Printing United. Impressive stuff. Not just content with the show, management also managed to unite most of the major print associations and media under (nearly) one banner. As I said, a big and bold move which paid off. Now, with very little competition to speak of, Printing United stands astride the North American printing industry with not a lot standing in front of it.

EcoPrint hosted some high quality content with thought leaders and innovators in sustainable print

This is backed up by the numbers. According to Mark Subers, the show has quickly rocketed up the Trade Show Executive Chart from a relatively lowly number 80, back when it was SGIA Expo, up the charts up to what is anticipated to be #28 this year. In essence, PU has bucked the trend compared with other large B2B shows while elegantly leaping over the not-inconsiderable black hole that was COVID in the process.

How did they do that??

First off, Subers states the PU concept is working. It's difficult to argue with this. Exhibitors will not invest in something they think is not worth it. You might be able to sell exhibitors a dream once, but if the dream doesn’t work then you do not often get a second chance. Even more so now, exhibitors demand an ROI worthy of that investment. And when you consider what is now a million sq ft show (gross) this represents a growth trend not to be sniffed at. I walked the entire show. It is huge, much bigger than Dallas. It is varied, with commercial, apparel, textile, packaging, wide-format and a small bit of industrial. The theme of convergence has certainly united a previously disparate group of industries under one roof and, according to the organisers, given the print community inspiration to grow into new markets and develop new revenue streams.

While this story stands up well with the evidence I witnessed on the show floor, the social media activity related to the show was also buzzing off the scale. And as I write, it still is. You cannot pay people to do that (actually, I suppose you can, but I don't think they were). It is called enthusiasm, and it comes from the feeling you get from a sense of pride and belonging. The brains emit dopamine, and this leads to many people taking selfies of themselves on planes, trains and automobiles before they even get to the show! This is genuine excitement and inspiration.

To be honest, for me and my visit to PU, I didn’t get that feeling. But I am distant from the market and based in the UK. I am also not a printer so the show is not designed for me. The fact is a huge amount of people that attended from the USA, and Canada seemed to thrive in it.

I am also a somewhat cynical ex-show organiser, but I admit that I felt a little overwhelmed with the sheer size and scope of the event. Signage is needed for me these days, maybe it is because I am British/European and we do things differently, but I often found myself walking in the opposite direction to the direction I was supposed to. I just could not work out the numbering. And the large graphic floorplans were not well printed! They were difficult to use, and then to orientate yourself.

These are annoying, but minor details. Printing United has done a great job. The only trouble with success is that expectations keep rising and it becomes harder and harder to exceed those expectations. All stars eventually fade, bands inevitably record a clanger of an album, authors run out of plots, and growth stops being possible when you hit the inevitable market ceiling. Then what do you do?

I think a clue to the future is in the name. I would guess acquiring another related show may be an inevitability. An even larger consolidated show (are the venues even big enough for growth?) for one large market certainly presents more reasons for people to attend. I just wonder whether the more you do, the more different subsets of community you have to please and appease, then the more thinly resources, and then value is spread. This could well have been the case with the comparably light attendance in the education tracks.

James Beattie at Xanita’s booth. In our view the best booth design & build at the show: Creative, Sophisticated & Sustainable.

In the near future, this also makes me wonder about what will happen in 2024. Of course, this is a mega year as Drupa runs again for the first time since 2016! Of course, for PU I'm sure ‘24 will also be a good show. Maybe Drupa will be first with the product launches, but the US is not a key audience for a European-based show, no matter how big a deal it may be for the industry.

It occurred to me when comparing the US and Europe, you could not have two more different shows, with more differing positions and personalities, but which have such a similar purpose. Both remain very relevant, both are leading, one has the swagger of youth, and the dynamism of growth, while the other has the pressure of expectation and the prestige of its own storied past. It's the new world versus the old. One is owned by a large exhibition venue, and one is owned by an association. Who will win in the battle of relevance in 2024 and the future?

Affecting all tradeshows is the slow but inevitable fact that B2B buying is changing. Print may be a bit of a laggard in this regard but the growth of proprietary events, and the opening of innovation centres point to the fact that COVID taught us new ways to sell. This is not going to go away, and it will catch up with print, even if people like to see the product before they buy.

Clearly, right now there is no need to panic! But while PU may be growing, I do not think that could be the case for Drupa. It's not even a fair comparison. Drupa has been gargantuan for decades. Perhaps the better question should be, which event will be better at delivering the right value proposition for their marketplace in 2024 and in the future?! That will be interesting to see play out.

For PU, with such a large event, there are many, many moving parts, with multiple stakeholders to satisfy, and a wide range of customers to please. You really cannot please all of the people all of the time.

So Printing United 3 was bigger, bolder and maybe even better. It will be interesting to see how PU develops, and what the next play may look like.

The next stop is Printing United 2024 in Vegas and it is earlier, Sept 10-12.

PS: why was there no wifi? Did I miss something? Oh well.