Industry Investment and Diversification Proves Successful at Graphics of the Americas-Xplor
Press release from the issuing company
Miami Beach, Florida– March 15, 2007 -- Graphics of the Americas-Xplor, the second largest U.S.-based annual international graphic communications exhibit and conference, today announced the positive results of their 32nd annual exhibition held in Miami Beach, Florida, March 2-4, 2007. The event organizers are eager to report that this year’s attendance exceeded the previous year by 4%, with close to 500 exhibitors filling the Miami Beach Convention Center, both representing an increase over 2006. More importantly, exhibitors reported larger than ever high-level buying activities and capital investments. In a survey conducted during the event with both exhibitors and attendees, yielded the following:
• 92.2% of exhibitors at Graphics of the Americas rated the quality of show buyers from “qualified” to “extremely qualified”
• 93.1% of the exhibitors claimed that their sales expectations, based on attendees met on the show floor, “met” to “greatly exceeded” their event sales goals
• 92.9% of event attendees were stated they were “satisfied” to “extremely satisfied” with their visit and experience at Graphics of the Americas 2007
• Onsite exhibit space sales for 2008 exceed the previous year by nearly 60%.
Many of the exhibiting companies also used Graphics of the Americas to introduce new products into the market, both prior to and during the 3-day exhibition. Announcements from exhibitors included ADAST, Akiyama, CGS Publishing Technologies, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, ECRM, Goss, HP, Human Eyes, Intermarket, KBA, Mitsubishi Imaging, NELA, NUR Macroprinters, Oris, PrintCom Latina, RSA, Websitesforprinters.com, Xante, Xitron and more. Also, the exhibition included a balanced blend of both traditional and digital printing equipment manufacturers including Duplo, Eastman Kodak, Goss, Hamada, KBA, HP, IBM, MAN Roland, Mark Andy, MGI-USA, Nipson, Presstek, Shinohara, Xante, Xeikon, Xerox and more.
Graphics of the Americas 2007 also introduced a number of new and successful exhibition features in 2007. These included the XML/PDF Pavilion, where attendees experienced the latest software innovations for the industry; Substrate Central that featured the latest paper and unique substrate offerings; a Web to Print Pavilion, that featured the latest e-commerce and web-based variable-data printing technologies as well as a hands-on lab for Quark 7 users. In addition, Graphic of the Americas also saw the return of prior exhibit attractions including On Demand Book Making Factory, Printers’ Showcase as well as an expanded footprint for Design City and the Wide Format Hall.
Software and Technology Takes a Major Role
For the first time, record numbers of XML-PDF, web-to-print, graphic design, pre-press, estimating, workflow and page composition vendors displayed their latest software and technology tools that have become increasingly more important to printers, pre-press and creative professionals. For 2007, attendees saw first hand, solutions from many of the leading developers of graphic design, illustration and photo retouching software including Quark, Adobe, Corel, Human Eyes, Digital Juice and Dynagram Software. As the exposition attracts approximately 20% of their attendance from creative professionals and print specificers, many attendees consider Graphics of the Americas to be one of the only events to house over 100 exhibiting companies targeting this audience.