The inaugural PRINTING United show wrapped up on Friday, and while the weather in Dallas may have been cold and misty, the atmosphere inside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center was anything but. It was a busy three days for all involved, and by Friday afternoon exhaustion was par for the course. Even our own indefatigable Warren Werbitt was ready for Signs 365’s comfy chairs.

Despite the fatigue, a few exhibitors and analysts I spoke with said that they wished there had been a fourth day, and I kind of have to agree. With as much as there was to see, three days was, improbably, not enough time to meet with everyone I had wanted to or prowl the floor for those serendipitous company or product discoveries one likes to turn up. As I reported last week after day one, not only were the aisles and booths busy, people came to buy stuff, and I’m sure over the next couple of weeks our Newsfeed will be chock full of reports of inked deals.

I am not going to use the “C word” (or Venn diagrams; you decide which is worse) in this story, but it is difficult to separate “wide format” from other aspects of the printing industry, such as textiles, packaging, and industrial printing. However, a good example of how everything is overlapping (“overlappage”—can we use that as the operative buzzword?) was a large show floor exhibit called the Experience Zone. From wall décor, to upholstery, to tabletops, to packaging, to small-format printed materials like postcards and brochures, attendees could see in one space a bewildering variety of printed materials, most of which was printed using the same basic technologies (inkjet). Display cards (also printed) explained how each item was produced. It was a good place to go for anyone new to all of this. The most valuable part of any trade show these days—especially when it comes to wide-format printing—are these kinds of “application zones,” as it gives attendees and potential equipment buyers a good idea (or many good ideas) of the kinds of items they can print and potentially offer to their own customers.