Wednesday, 20 Mar 2013 12:51 GMT

When is not exhibiting a withdrawal?

Here are the facts


Here are the facts.

Mimaki were at IPEX 2006 and 2010. They will not be at IPEX 2014.

Now for the grey area.

Hands up. A series of tweets I sent may have helped cloud the issue.

I announced Mimaki had been the latest company to pull out from IPEX (disputed by Informa), I then followed that up with a clarification, that Mimaki had announced they were not exhibiting (the release used the term 'withdrawn') before adding that it was never on the floorplan (it was although there is some debate over the length of time it was inked in).

Its a lesson to all (but particularly journalists) - check your facts before you tweet.

Miamki says it has 'withdrawn' from next year's show whereas organisers claim it had never booked to be there in the first place.

Miamki's European marketing chief, Mike Horsten, claims it was on the floorplan and if it was there for the previous editions it counts as a withdrawal. [Full disclosure – he told me and other members of the SignLink team at dinner. We ate, Mimaki paid]

Organsiers Informa Print Group claim Mimaki were never on the floorplan and questioned whether it was news that they wouldn't be at IPEX.

Understandably from their side, they asked whether the media would report what other exhibitions the firm wouldn't be attending.

Was the justification for running the story questionable?

Our justification is simple – are you, the SignLink readership interested in one of the biggest wide-format manufacturers not attending a global trade show based in the UK? The answer, we would argue, is yes.

So a withdrawal, or a non-exhibit?

I'll let you decide.