DRUPA 2004 -- Doing a Full Drupa
Like this leap year, Drupa only comes once every four years. It may have been extended by a day, but now the countdown to this one-of-a-kind international trade fair is quickly running out. Drupa 04 is set to run May 6-19 in Düsseldorf, Germany, and will feature the products of 1,800 exhibitors covering more than 1.7 million square feet of net exhibit space in 17 halls.
For those with tickets in hand, now is the time to do some preplanning to get the most out of the experience. As for procrastinators, with a little flexibility—say, perhaps going over for the second week—it should still be possible to put together last-minute travel plans.
To get some expert advice for both groups, Printing Impressions went straight to the source: Eva Teichmann, vice president of marketing at Messe Düsseldorf North America, a subsidiary of the event organizer, Messe Düsseldorf.
PI: Is it possible to put together a last-minute trip to Drupa 04? What resources are available? And are there any opportunities to find deals—cancellations, unsold rooms?
TEICHMANN: The official travel agency for Drupa 2004 in the U.S. is TTI Travel, and they will do their best to help with last-minute trip preparations. In the past, there has always been a room for everyone. For individual hotel and travel arrangements, contact TTI Travel at (866) 674-3476; fax: (212) 674-3477; e-mail: travltrade@aol.com; www.traveltradeint.com.
In addition, several U.S. printing associations are organizing group tours to Drupa 2004 and might still have spaces available:
* Print America, (704) 663-5808.
* Printing Industry of the Carolinas, (800) 849-7422.
* Printing Industry Association of Illinois and Indiana, (312) 704-5000.
PI: What changes/additions will visitors see at Drupa 04?
TEICHMANN: For the first time, an ancillary program is being organized during a Drupa show. It will consist of "edutainment" events such as the Innovations Arena (a mixture of show and know-how), special exhibits, and presentations about software and hardware solutions for the printing and media industry.
Also new are guided "Highlight Tours" through the exhibit and educational "Compass Sessions" hosted by the German Printing and Media Industries Federation.
In order to provide visitors at Drupa with a clear overview of individual topics on exhibit, daily guided "Highlight Tours" (in English and German) dealing with individual thematic areas will be offered. In groups of no more than eight people, participants will be taken to selected exhibitors relevant to the topic. At each booth, a representative of the company will be on hand to answer questions.
The Deutscher Drucker publishing house is organizing the Highlights Tours in cooperation with the German Association of Managers in the Printing and Information Processing Industries (FDI), as well as the Department of Print and Media Technology at Wuppertal University. Planned topic areas include: workflow/networking, PDF, JDF, exposure technology, proofing, digital printing, large-format printing, finishing and UV technology. Participants with advanced reservations will be charged EUR 30; reservations made at Drupa will cost EUR 40. For further information or to register, visit www.highlightstouren.de.
The Compass Sessions are the "know-how events" at Drupa 2004. International speakers will present information on current trends, equipment, software, workflows, production methods and products on an almost daily basis.
Each Compass Session is devoted to a different topic. Held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (light breakfast included) in German and English at the Congress Center East at the Düsseldorf fairgrounds, these sessions will provide the ideal start for a day at the show.
The Compass Sessions are being organized by the German Print and Media Industries Federation (bvdm) and conducted by Print & Media Forum AG.
The preliminary schedule for commercial printing-related programs is:
Friday, May 7: Digital printing
Saturday, May 8: Offset printing
Tuesday, May 11: Integrated production
Thursday, May 13: Premedia
Friday, May 14: Label printing
Saturday, May 15: Offset printing
Monday, May 17: Integrated production
Wednesday, May 19: Screen printing
The per-day attendance fee is EUR 88 per person (including VAT), which includes a one-day entrance pass for Drupa 2004. Without the Drupa entrance pass, the fee is EUR 55. For further information and registration for the Compass Sessions, visit www.compass-sessions.de.
This year's TDC (Type Directors Club) Show will also be staged as part of Drupa 2004. Two facts promise to make this an extra special occasion: not only will the prize-winning works from the current competition be presented to the international public in Düsseldorf for the first time, but this year marks the 50th anniversary of the TDC Show.
As a career launchpad and important factor in creative rankings, the 'Award for Typographic Excellence' enjoys the acclaim of an "Oscars for typography."
In addition to future trends, the history of printing also has its place at Drupa. Experts from the Leipzig Museum for Print Art will be at the show with an interesting exhibit related to the "black art" of printing. This includes lead types and wooden letters, which document how even centuries ago printers used ingenious ideas and techniques to simplify their manual work. A small selection of setting and casting machines will also be on display, alongside hand, platen and cylinder printing presses.
PI: Will there be any special resources or services available to visitors at the actual fairgrounds—information sources, travel services, WiFi connections, e-mail stations, etc.?
TEICHMANN: On the Düsseldorf fairgrounds, attendees have access to a variety of services to make their visit as convenient as possible. The KATI computerized catalog display system—with kiosks located in every hall—makes it easy to find the location of every exhibitor and product category.
E-mail stations will be set up in several of the 17 exhibition halls and the International Lounge also gives international visitors the possibility to check e-mails and meet colleagues.
Located in the middle of the fairgrounds is a Service Center with several shops, a post office, bank, business services, rental car agency, hotel services information desk and travel service counter, as well as a train reservation desk and Lufthansa check-in counter.
PI: What's the best way to get to and from the event, and around town? Can visitor badges be used for travel on trains?
TEICHMANN: Public transportation is recommended to get to the fairgrounds. From downtown Düsseldorf, tram No. U78 goes to the North Entrance, tram No. U79 to the East Entrance and bus No. 722 serves the East and South Entrances. From the airport, bus No. 896 connects to all fairground entrances.
For Drupa 2004, Messe Düsseldorf is offering a special service to all exhibitors and attendees: Visitor, exhibitor and press entrance passes will be valid for free use of all public transportation within Düsseldorf on all days of the show. The entrance passes can be used as a free public transportation ticket on all buses, streetcars, underground trams (U-Bahn), urban railways (S-Bahn) and German rail service within the Rhine-Ruhr regional network (VRR and VRS). This includes the neighboring cities of Wuppertal, Krefeld, Dortmund, Bonn and Cologne.
Entrance passes and show directories are available from Messe Düsseldorf North America in advance ($33 each for a one-day pass, $100 each for a four-day pass and $22 each for a show directory).
PI: Any tips for how visitors can get the most out of their Drupa 04 experience?
TEICHMANN: Pre-show preparation is the key! Use the Drupa 2004 Website in advance of the show to plan your visit. The site, www.drupa.com, serves as a portal for the printing industry, providing current trend and market information from the international printing sector along with all relevant information about Drupa 2004.
The portal includes a listing of all exhibitors, their products and booth location, a listing of international manufacturing and user associations, as well as an international trade press directory and news articles from worldwide trade publications. The portal provides a number of other valuable resources:
* News—"Drupa News" offers information about Drupa 2004; "Cooperating Publishers' News" provides industry relevant updates from international trade magazines; "PR News" is the latest news from the print and media industry, associations and organizations; and "Topic of the Month" features background information on selected topics for the printing industry.
* Basic Information—general information about Drupa 2004, including ticket prices, online order of tickets and show directories, product categories, map of the fairgrounds, international services and the Drupa team.
* Accommodations & Travel—important tips for traveling to Drupa, information about the city of Düsseldorf and an overview of all the hotels, B&Bs and private accommodations within the Düsseldorf area, with a listing of available rooms.
* Exhibitors & Products—information on the exhibitors: hall and booth numbers, product reports, corporate news, company profiles, etc. An online module helps users to contact exhibitors and to set up appointments. To make the orientation for the visitor easier, exhibits are grouped together by product category.
PI: What is the "drupartnerguide"?
TEICHMANN: The "drupartnerguide" is an information brochure that will provide guests with information on some 50 restaurants in "drupacity" Düsseldorf. All Drupa partner restaurants will be recognizable by their red Drupa flags and banners. They will welcome guests with English-speaking staff or at least an English menu and will have a token surprise in store for every Drupa visitor.
For visitors who want to pick up a souvenir of Düsseldorf, the "drupartnerguide" recommends some 50 shops and stores for after-work shopping in the city. These merchants, too, will have bilingual sales staff and will be easy to recognize by their Drupa decorations. Many stores will offer special discounts exclusively for Drupa guests.
PI: What else can visitors do in Düsseldorf?
TEICHMANN: There is much more to the city than just the fairgrounds. Düsseldorf is renowned as one of the most attractive cities in Europe and as a first-class shopping location. The exclusive Königsallee offers an exquisite range of goods and is the top address for high-end fashion stores.
Located in the heart of Europe, Düsseldorf offers an excellent infrastructure, a wide selection of hotels for every budget, a variety of restaurants for every taste and cultural activities galore—opera, ballet, drama, concerts, theater, museums and art galleries.
Düsseldorf is just as interesting at night as it is during the day—numerous clubs and bars offer non-stop entertainment and Düsseldorf's Old Town enjoys an international reputation as the "longest bar in the world." After a hectic day at the fairgrounds, enjoy the charisma, cuisine and culture of this cosmopolitan capital.
The Düsseldorf WelcomeCard is the cheapest and simplest way of getting to know the city. It gives buyers free entry to many museums, various sightseeing attractions and leisure facilities. The card is also good for substantially reduced prices on tickets to Düsseldorf theaters and musical events. Order the WelcomeCard from Messe Düsseldorf North America before leaving for Germany. Cards can be purchased for $9 single/$18 group (valid 24 hours), $14 single/$28 group (valid 48 hours) or $19 single/$38 group (valid 72 hours).
PI: Is there a contact point for Drupa 2004 in the United States?
TEICHMANN: Messe Düsseldorf North America (MDNA) serves as an international link for U.S. companies, assisting with everything necessary to make a visit of Drupa 2004 as effortless as possible—from general information to brochures, maps, entrance passes and show directories.
Contact Messe Düsseldorf North America at (312) 781-5180, fax: (312) 781-5188, info@mdna.com or on the Internet at www.mdna.com.
United They Will Stand
Providing a show within a show, the combined displays of PrintCity member companies reportedly will account for 16,000 square meters of Drupa 2004, or 10 percent of the total exhibit space. At the core will be a "Common Production Centre" that covers some 40 percent of Hall 6.
PrintCity bills itself as "a strategic alliance of independent, best-in-class companies in the graphic arts industry." The organization currently has 56 member and associated companies representing a combined turnover in excess of 30 billion Euros. Its membership spans the three major market segments of publishing, commercial printing and packaging, with a focus on sheetfed, web and digital printing processes.
This May, PrintCity is promising to show completely integrated, multi-vendor production workflows driven end-to-end by implementations of the JDF (Job Definition Format) specification. The starting point will be an "Integration Centre" that simulates the networking and office processes of a medium-sized printing company. From there, JDF data will be directed to five PrintCity Print Factories set up to produce innovative printed output across major target applications, including commercial printing, packaging, publishing and postpress.
PrintCity will be using the full range of JDF capabilities by carrying out real job tracking and statistical analysis on live production equipment operated by its lineup of member and associate companies. "The networking concept we have designed for Drupa takes the early JDF experiments to a completely new level," asserts Christian Gugler, chairman of the Networking Activity Group.
"It's important that customers can clearly see the benefits of network integration. Examples of this are reducing errors through removing the need for rekeying information, time savings through less requirements for manual intervention, and the high transparency of production status, quality and costs that JDF data provides," Gugler continues. "We are determined to show customers how JDF can benefit them right now, as well as its huge potential for the future of their printing businesses."
In Düsseldorf, visitors will be able to supply PrintCity with their names and a preference for market segment, such as sheetfed, and then observe the entire production process with a PrintCity expert serving as a guide. JDF job ticket information will be personalized with an individual's name throughout the production process.
This will be live production, stresses Rianer Kuhn, managing director of PrintCity. The entire graphic arts chain will be represented, he adds, with each factory featuring solutions for networking and MIS, color management, prepress, printing and finishing. "More than 40 different print jobs will be created by completely integrated production systems," Khun says.
While not strictly a Drupa initiative, also in May, PrintCity's Sheetfed Activity Group will be releasing the next installment in its Best Practices Guide series. "Optimized Sheetfed UV Printing & Coating" is being published to disseminate generic UV process knowledge with the goal of optimizing industry quality and productivity, the group says.
The Compass Sessions are the "know-how events" at Drupa 2004. International speakers will present information on current trends, equipment, software, workflows, production methods and products on an almost daily basis.
In addition to future trends, the history of printing also has its place at Drupa. Experts from the Leipzig Museum for Print Art will be at the show with an interesting exhibit related to the "black art" of printing.
- People:
- Eva Teichmann