“If we were to close the show now, we are already better than (previous biggest) Munich. There is a massive demand for the show,” FESPA managing director, Neil Felton told SignLink of the June show at the ExCel.

He presented to journalists FESPA's plans for other markets over the coming years.

Felton stated that its events department 'graduated' in 2011, the year he came on board after six year’s of running shows in-house.

The trade association now wants to ensure that its revenues are not primarily focused on its centrepiece European exhibition, but that recently launched shows in Mexico, Brazil, Eurasia and China play their part as well. It is also seeking to grow revenues of its online business.

He was talking at the association's Global Summit, which highlighted the growth opportunities for print-service-providers, bringing together a host of speakers from top brands and agencies. Something Felton says will continue at the show.

He claimed: “What you’re going to see at the show is a huge amount of content that will help printers deliver. We will highlight a wide variety of applications to take your business to the next level. We're spending three times more on our features than we did in Barcelona.”

The show is seeking to beat Munich's record of 21,000 visitors, and has set an ambitious target of 23,000 for the five-day show, starting June 25th.

The managing director stated: “It’s an ambitious target but one that we have to strive to. If you look at the size of the German market and the size of the UK, 23,000 would be a fantastic effort.”

He says that trade shows still have a part to play in the modern marketing world, claiming that FESPA's biggest exhibitors from its last large year in Munich, have taken 15.5 percent more floor space than their previous largest.

Felton added: “Exhibitions are here to stay. People want to speak to people. If I'm going to buy a large output device, I want to meet the sales person, the engineer and the rest of the team behind it.”