This year’s PRINT 17 conference will be held in Chicago, Ill. at McCormick Place Sept. 10-14. The theme of the conference is “Grow Your Business.” Last year’s Graph Expo in Orlando, Fla. saw more than 12,000 attendees and exhibitors.
“We’re returning to Chicago this year, with new opportunities for the entire printing and graphic communications value chain—from creative to design to printing, mail and fulfillment—to grow their businesses,” said Sherry MacDonald, director of event marketing. “We’ve heard from our attendees that their success hinges on staying profitable. So our promise for PRINT 17 is to deliver the solutions to grow the entire industry.”
Those who attend the conference will be able to evaluate more than 400 suppliers of print and graphic communications technologies and compare new products. Additionally, guests can network and explore ideas with the largest community of colleagues, customers, suppliers and purchasing authorities in the industry.
Some of the specialty areas on the exhibit floor will be News Print, Materials Matter, Mailing and Fulfillment and Workforce Solutions, which was previously Education Main Street.
“We’re really excited about Workforce Solutions,” MacDonald said. “We’ve heard from people across the industry that workforce development is an issue—attracting and keeping good employeescan be a challenge. This year, that area will focus on growing the workforce in the printing and graphics industry, and we plan to expand on that going into 2018.”
The conference will offer more than 50 education sessions with topics including design and creative process, packaging, marketing, growth strategies and emerging technologies. According to MacDonald, this year marks the first time they will refer to the education at PRINT as “The Learning Experience.” The regular seminars are scheduled for Sept. 11-13.
Sessions related to newspapers include:
- “Romano on Digital Printing and Inkjet Trends,” with Frank Romano, professor emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology
- “Marketing and Working with Millennials,” with Trish Witkowski, CEO, FoldFactory.com
- “Fads, Trends and Disruptive Technology,” with Daniel Dejan, print and creative manager, Sappi North America
- “The State of Our Industry: What’s Happening, What’s Ahead and What We Can Do About it,” with Andrew Paparozzi, chief economist, Idealliance
- “The A, B, C’s, and D of Adobe InDesign,” with Ivan Bradley, adjunct professor, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
The expo will also feature a pair of new distinguished leader speakers Sept.11-12. These sessions are open to everyone at no cost. Guests will first hear from Tod Szewczyk of Leo Burnett on “The Future of People, Technology and Advertising,” and the following day, Michael Chase of St. Joseph Communications, who will give a keynote session entitled “Print in a Digital World 2018 Trend Report.”
The show will take place next year at McCormick Place South in Chicago Sept. 30-Oct.3, 2018. For more information, visit print2017.com.