Lexington, Kentucky, USA - August 20, 2001 - WhatTheyThink.com, the largest on-line community in the graphic arts industry, surveyed print vendors about their plans for PRINT 01. This survey took place with printers located throughout the United States. The goal of the survey was to determine what percentage of printers would attend the big show. We also determined the main reasons for not attending and examined overall demographics. The results this week emphasizes overall attendance and reasons for NOT going. The questions asked: Will you attend the PRINT 01 Event next month in Chicago? If not, which best describes why you will not attend? Economic/Financial Reasons Schedule Conflict Not See Value in PRINT 01 Use Other Resources to Compile Data I Never Attend Trade Shows Other Reasons Not Listed Here Overall, 33 percent of print vendors surveyed said they would attend PRINT 01 with 67 percent saying they would sit this one out. By annual sales, larger print firms are much more likely to be at the show. 43 percent of printers with revenue over $5 million said they will go to PRINT. Of printers with $1 to $5 million in annual sales, 35 percent said they would attend and only 13 percent of print firms with less than $1 million in revenue will go. Of those attending, 35 percent described their job title as business management - CEO, VP or Owner. 33 percent were best described as operations and production management and 22 percent were sales and marketing professionals. (10% selected something other than the above job titles.) Economic issues will clearly play a role in this year’s event. Of those NOT attending, 32 percent said it was due to economic or financial reasons. 25 percent of these printers said there was a “schedule conflict” and another 25 percent said there were other reasons (not listed in our survey) for not appearing. 13 percent said they gather information from competitive resources and will therefore not attend. Only 4 percent said there was no value in PRINT 01 and a meager 2 percent of those surveyed said they never attend shows. Print vendors not going to PRINT 01 cross-tabulated by annual sales - 32 percent of printers with over $5 million in revenue blamed economic reasons. 44 percent of smaller print firms (Under $1 million in sales) said financial and economic challenges would keep them from the show. Only 17 percent of print firms with revenue between $1 and $5 million blamed economics.