I Can’t Wait for PRINTING United Expo!

We're one month away from the 2025 PRINTING United Expo (October 22-25) in Orlando. I must tell you, I can’t be more excited. The annual Expo is truly the highlight of my professional year. During its three days, I always feel that I have found my place in the industry. It helps me align my knowledge of wide-format with its current realities. I hope you feel the same.

Amid the strength of my own excitement, I want to take a few minutes to share some highlights and strategies you should consider in order to strengthen yours.

Build Your Business

It is no secret that the Expo floor is massive. Its more than one million gross square feet holds the booths (and products) of more than 825 exhibiting companies. For wide-format producers, it’s all there: the printing systems, finishing solutions, the materials, the software: all the things they need to do the job and do it well. And it holds all the adjacencies, too. All the opportunities to grow and converge your business toward the opportunities you seek. It’s a “choose your own adventure” for printing businesses.

Build Your Brain

Both on and off the Expo floor, educational opportunities will take place to help PSPs (wide-format and otherwise) navigate current conditions and understand how to chart a strong course toward the future. So, whether its attending any of the many paid presentations; interacting in specialized sales-free areas addressing graphic installation, apparel decoration, or A.I.; or learning from many in-booth demonstrations, it taking time to learn and build your knowledge is a very wise investment. By doing so, you will better understand the opportunities your business must consider to stay relevant and competitive.

Build Your Network

While it’s easy to view the Expo as a large collection of equipment, products, and solutions (which it is), it is essential to understand that it is also a massive collection of industry experts. Roughly 25,000 of them (and everyone is an expert in something). So, don’t be shy. If you’re standing next to someone, both looking at a new printing system, turn and ask, “What do you think of this? How would you use it in your business?” If you’re waiting for an educational session to begin, ask the person next to you, “Why are you here? What do you hope to get out of this session?” These brief discussions can give you needed insight, and you just might meet someone who will become a trusted colleague for the long-term.

Build Your Schedule

I’ve learned from experience that is impossible to do “all the things” over the Expo’s three days – there is just too much to do and see, and too few hours to do it. So, get organized. Instead of showing up and seeing what happens, take time before the event to create a schedule, for instance, of the educational sessions you can’t miss. If there are exhibitors with whom you want to engage in serious conversations or negotiations, reach out before the event to schedule a time – you will be glad you did. And pend some time with the online floor map to chart out and efficient path to and between your “must visit” booths. It will help you spend less time walking and more time talking.

Inquisitiveness Wins

Finally, keep your eyes and your mind open. At the Expo, you will see a lot of technologies you’re familiar with, and you will see a lot where you think “What is that? What does it do?” If you don’t know, ask, investigate, discover. It just might become your next big thing.

See you in Orlando!

For everything PRINITNG United Expo (registration, sessions, hotels, etc.). CLICK HERE.