Staring down the barrel
A look at the issues shaping our industry
Wednesday, 17 Apr 2013 12:18 GMT
It was with palms sweating, heart rate elevated, and eyes staring down the barrel towards another exhibition season that I began work on our record May issue of
SignLink.
This is always the most intense three to four months of the year, as the magazine swells and our team dances between exhibition venues reporting both for the magazine and our weekly broadcast bulletin Sign7 News, hosted both on
http://www.signlinktv.com/ and
www.signlink.co.uk.
Looking ahead we have kicked things off with reporting live from
Traffex, which started on April 16th at Birmingham’s NEC, and has reached out to the wider sign industry this year. It not only has a floorplan with a significantly increased number of core sign industry suppliers on it, but will also feature a number of specialised seminars to educate sign-makers about diversifying into doing specialised road signage and vehicle wrapping work.
This is always the most intense three to four months of the year, as the magazine swells and our team dances between exhibition venues reporting both for the magazine and our weekly broadcast bulletin Sign7 News”
April 30th will then see us bounce back to the NEC for one of our industry’s longest-running institutions,
Sign and Digital UK. Evolving over the last 26 years, the show has come a long way and this year’s installment promises to be of more benefit to our industry than ever before. Reacting to trends that have seen internet-based research make exhibitions become less about looking at new technology and more about gathering business intelligence, and this year will see the show significantly expand its education programme. This will include tours, workshops, and seminars on everything from how best to wrap a van, through to diversifying into the digital signage sector.
This year we will also be treated to a second major exhibition in the form of
FESPA 2013, taking place at the Excel, London from June 25th to 29th. Targeting an international visitor base, at the show’s core is wide-format print technology. However, with it coming to the UK for the first time it has bought annual digital signage exhibition Screen Media Expo and integrated it into new satellite event, the European Sign Expo. These two developments have significantly broadened the shows reach and further reinforces evidence for the trend mentioned above.
So, deep breath, coffee at the ready, let’s go.
dddd
