It seemed to me that this year's Graph Expo was really a Horse of a Different Color.  Kind of a funny saying we have in English!  Its origin is the original Wizard of Oz movie.  In the UK, they attribute it to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.  But whatever the source, the phrase has grown to mean "a topic or a plan that represents a change from what one thought was being talked about or considered."

I wasn't quite sure what to expect this year. We knew the show floor would be smaller in terms of actual exhibit space (it was), and felt it was likely that attendance might be down (final numbers are not out, but it is likely the numbers will be relatively flat or up slightly).  Sunday, of course, was a little slow, both because it was Sunday and because the Chicago Marathon was being run that morning, making it difficult to get to the exhibit hall.  On Monday, coming down the escalators from the WhatTheyThink video studio, I looked out over the show floor and thought it was New Year's in Times Square or something.  The floor was jammed!  Tuesday held up well, also, and Wednesday, as is normal for the last day of a show, was quieter.  Overall, GASC President Ralph Nappi estimates that unique attendee numbers (not including exhibitors, the media and other staff) will come in between 12,000 and 15,000, compared to 13,426 actual verified unique attendee/buyers the previous year. And 2011 was up 12% compared to 2010, according to GASC.

From an international perspective, there were 2,117 visitors from 80 countries, also up from last year.

As others of the journalistic brotherhood have commented, Graph Expo 2012 was a "quiet" show.  But that had less to do with attendance and more to do with the change in composition in exhibitor booths.

In last year's post-show press release, GASC stated, "Historically recognized as 'a heavy iron show,' GRAPH EXPO has evolved and adapted to deliver huge successes for both offset and digital press manufacturers." This year, I saw only two offset presses on the show floor (my apologies if I missed any-I had heard that there were three); Heidelberg had a Speedmaster 52 in its booth, and Presstek had a 52DI digital offset press running (as well as one cylinder of its 75DI that was demonstrating how a DI actually images plates but was not printing). Wow.  I don't know how many offset presses were on the floor last year-I'm sure someone counted-but that was surely quite a decline. And Xerox had the coveted Booth 1200, right at the entrance, with a full range of digital offerings covering the gamut from ideation through delivery, including the new Nuvera 314EA black & white cut sheet digital press ideal for production on on demand books and other documents. Xerox was book-ended by Canon/Océ and EFI, with Heidelberg, Kodak and HP behind them.

That is not to say that the offset manufacturers were not there in force-they were. But they chose to present their businesses in a different way.  As I wrote earlier about the Heidelberg booth, its theme was structured around an integrated marketing campaign for a fictitious clothing store that started with an online purchase and visitor survey, and included a personalized thank-you letter with a personalized 8-page catalog (hybrid printing, offset/digital) encouraging a visit to the store for a personal consultation.  Those who responded to the call to action received a further personalized mailing with discounts.

This was reflective of the types of customer communications that most exhibitors were talking about and demonstrating.  Some had more printed content; some had less.  But all of them incorporated some element of both print and digital.  

Komori and KBA took the opportunity to educate North American visitors about their offset, digital and hybrid announcements at drupa – via video – and to bring attendees up to date on the value of their services offerings. manroland web systems also touted its drupa announcements, including ROTOMAN, LITHOMAN and COLORMAN lines, and the importance of its service offerings.  Offset press manufacturers are moving into digital and hybrid solutions and focused on helping customers lower production costs and maintenance expenses while improving productivity.

Packaging was also a focus, with nearly 50 exhibitors featuring packaging and converting solutions in one form or another, including industry veterans such as Esko, Domino and Bobst as well as relatively new entrants such as Delphax and EFI hoping to bring fresh solutions to the industry. Peruse the list and it is clear that, even though this isn't a packaging show, the packaging opportunity is top of mind for many.