Since Trevor Crawford, Director of the Print + Media Group for Informa Exhibitions, the show company for Ipex, was in Chicago for Graph Expo, I was able to meet with him personally to get the latest updates on the show, scheduled for London, March 26th through April 2nd, especially in light of the fact that at least three major exhibitors have indicated that they will not be participating in 2014.

London is a new venue for Ipex, which has been held in Birmingham for the last 30 years, and Crawford is very excited about both the venue and the way the exhibition hall is shaping up.  He said, "We still have a long time to go, 18 months, and we are already at 63% in terms of confirmed exhibition space, with more than 200 exhibitors already confirmed.  And exhibitors are reserving more space than they did at Ipex 2010."

Crawford reports that the show will be about 65% digital, 25% postpress, with the balance being litho.  In the digital prepress arena, exhibitors have contracted on average 55% more space than last time.

When asked about attendees, Crawford responded, "We will begin focusing heavily on attendee recruitment from February 2013 onwards.  There were 50,000 net visitors last time (95,000 gross), and we expect that to increase to more than 60,000 in London (110,000 gross)."

Crawford was also pleased with the results of the recent Olympics, which demonstrated unequivocally  that the London venue can handle a large event. "We are very excited about the venue," he said, "not only because of the increased space we have available, but also because we believe visitors, whether they are attendees or exhibitors, will enjoy the after-hours convenience and variety they will experience as compared to Birmingham."