Leading industry trade association, the Independent Print Industries Association (IPIA), recently held its ‘Meet the Trade Buyer’, ‘Meet the Trade Supplier’ event at the FA’s new prestigious headquarters at St. George’s Park in Burton on Trent, scoring a significant boost to its previous year’s attendance figures, both for attendees and exhibitors alike. 

The event was held on 16^th October, 2014, and was attended by a mixture of leading representatives from across the Buyer and Supplier community, who throughout the day held personalised one-to-one meetings, with the aim of providing new networking opportunities and helping to establish new business and working relationships.

A tremendous 563, 20 minute appointments were held during the day-long event, with a total of 60 Buyers and 50 Suppliers in attendance, with each buyer having around a 20-25 minute sit down meeting with a key supplier they had asked to meet. 

A lunch break during the day also provided further networking opportunities for those gathered, and also gave an opportunity for them to examine and visit the varied range of the many exhibitor stands that were also on view.

Following the event in the evening, the IPIA held its Black Tie Gala Dinner, with 90 attendees enjoying the after dinner entertainment being provided by comedian and musician, Brendan Healy, a former keyboard player with Newcastle’s legendary rock band Lindisfarne, who has also worked with Brian Johnson of AC/DC, and appeared in several West End productions.

Brendan’s entertaining and colourful speech was followed by a game of stand-up bingo for the guests, with a total of £200 being donated to St Brides, who were the recognised charity for the evening. A fun casino was also provided, where guests had the chance to gamble with fun money at casino style blackjack and roulette tables, and also have the opportunity for some to retire to the bar for more networking and socialising late into the night.

Commenting on the success of the event, IPIA Chief Executive Andrew Pearce, stated, “I was really pleased with the diversity of buyers and suppliers at this year’s event and the feedback has been fantastic.”

Those who attended the event during the day, through their planned meetings, were able to establish and have meaningful dialogue with both key trade buyers and suppliers, enabling them to develop new long-term business relationships, all under the roof of the St Georges Park venue.

Graeme Smith, Director of Cyan Group, stated, “Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best format to meet IPIA suppliers. This is our fourth year of attending, and this far outreaches any exhibition having key suppliers in one room. I had some great meetings today, and found out a lot of information that I had not known about some suppliers.”

Clive Gotch, Director of Consultants in Print, said, “Today has been tremendously useful. One objective was to understand emerging technologies and more channel providers to the print sectors. I found some forward thinking and innovative companies who could be useful for my clients. I have attended trade supplier events before, but nothing as well represented as this.”

Steve Bridson, Director of 4B4 Ltd, added, “It’s been great. The thing about today is that you get 20 minutes dedicated time, and you can talk to whoever you are meeting sensibly, which makes the follow up call so much easier. This morning’s meetings have been superb with lots of interest in what we supply.

Other attendees included Mark Taylor of ty3 Media and David Hyams of Talking Print, who both said they had established potential new leads and would be back to the event next year.

The suppliers who attended the event were drawn from the following specialist areas; Trade printers, data specialists, paper merchants, 3D printing, trade finishers, direct mail service providers, equipment suppliers, social media and cross media specialists amongst several others.

The media partners for the event were Print Solutions magazine.