Print 09 is shaping up to be an interesting show.  The Graphic Arts Show Company has continued to shift the shape of the show based on changing industry dynamics.  In case you haven’t visited the show site, it is being billed as myPRINT and has lots of great features to help attendees plan their show experience and navigate once they get there. The show company is even doing a cross-media campaign with mailings linked to personalized URLs. Visitors to the show site can customize their experience there as well, by specifying the type of visitor they are:  commercial printer, in-plant printer, print buyer, etc., and being presented with the most relevant content. 

The show will consume 450,000 square feet of space in both the North and South Halls at McCormick place, and while there will be lots of the traditional offset and finishing gear on display, 25% of the exhibit space is dedicated to digital printing.  Even among offset players, though, booth sizes are smaller.  Heidelberg, for example, has a 30,000 square foot booth that will be organized as a working shop so that visitors can see the hardware and software in action from prepress through finishing.  Although it is one of the larger booths at the show, it is much smaller than in years past. And once again, manroland, in an 8,000 square foot booth, plans to have no presses on display, focusing instead on optimizing performance of existing production assets.  The company’s philosophy is that while there may be fewer capital investments in the current economy, there is a definite need to improve productivity, and to provide that education—as well as stay top of mind with printers when they are ready to invest—the company will focus on PrintCom, PrintService and PrintNet as value-added solutions that can reduce makeready times and waste, improve uptime and add automation into the production process.

The show will also feature a wide format pavilion, mailing & fulfillment center, and an area called Future Print that will focus on printed electronics and RFID.  The wide format pavilion contains RapCity, a demonstration area for learning best practices for printing and installing vehicle wraps, window graphics, wall coverings and more.