FESPA to host four regional Congresses in Southern Europe, the Nordics, Mexico and Africa

FESPA is staging four regional congresses in collaboration with its associations during the first half of 2015, as part of its educational commitment to its global print community. The four congresses will take place in Barcelona, Spain; Copenhagen, Denmark; Mexico City, Mexico and Johannesburg, South Africa.

The events are funded through FESPA's Profit for Purpose initiative, which aims to reinvest profits from FESPA's global exhibition portfolio for the benefit of printers.

The first Congress scheduled for 2015 will be the Southern European Print Congress in Barcelona, Spain, from 10-11 March 2015. Entitled, "The WOW Effect of Printing", the two-day event will be hosted in partnership with FESPA's Southern European member associations; FESPA España Association (Spain), FESPA France Association and Siotec (Italy).

The second congress will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark from 24-25 March 2015. The two-day congress is being produced by FESPA's four Nordic associations; Graphic Association Denmark, FESPA Finland Association, FESPA Norway Association and FESPA Sweden Association.

In addition to these new European congresses, FESPA will introduce two separate educational events in Mexico and Africa in 2015. The Mexico Congress will take place on16 April 2015 at Camino Real, Polanco Mexico City, ahead of the eighth FESPA Mexico exhibition, to extend FESPA's presence in the region and respond to regional demand for educational content.

The African Conference will be organised in partnership with FESPA's African associate member, Printing SA. The one-day conference will take place on 21 July 2015 at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, one day ahead of FESPA Africa 2015 (22-24 July 2015). The standalone event will provide tailored insights and networking opportunities for printers from across Africa, adding value for senior decision makers attending the exhibition.

Sean Holt, General Secretary, FESPA comments: "As a not-for-profit umbrella organisation of 37 national trade associations, we have a clear responsibility to support global printers to help them grow their businesses in a challenging and ever-changing environment. Each of these events will provide high-quality content from industry experts across diverse areas of the speciality print industry, tailored to these specific regions and based on the insight of our association members.

"FESPA was founded to promote knowledge-sharing and best practice among printers and these regional congresses will ensure that printers can access FESPA's premium content through a local event among their regional peers. Our Profit for Purpose proposition differentiates FESPA fundamentally from other exhibition organisers while our global network of associations enables us to organise events to suit the needs of individual regions and target audiences. Working in collaboration with the local associations on these events really helps us to understand and reflect the requirements of local printers and the regional market trends."

The four congresses reinforce FESPA's commitment to education, reflected in initiatives such as the Planet Friendly Guides and in the emphasis on free educational content at all FESPA exhibitions worldwide.

For more information on FESPA and its associations, please visit: www.fespa.com