by JimRaffel on October 25, 2006
First, Adam Dewitz over at Printmode.net took some good pictures at the show and posted them in a shared area at flickr. If you look closely you will find pictures of our booth area towards the end of the collection.
In general, the show went like I anticipated in the #41 post. A few things did surprise me somewhat. Normally the last day of a trade show the floor traffic is slow at best. This year, however, I was busy doing product demonstrations right up to 3:30pm and the show closed at 4:00pm. A bit of a surprise and I am not sure how to explain it.
The other surprise was the large amount of large format inkjet printing equipment present at the show. I do not remember ever seeing this much wide format and flatbed inkjet equipment at a Printing Industry show. I saw more of it at the SGIA show in Las Vegas recently, and at past ISA shows, but this is a first for GraphExpo or Print if my recollections are correct. This is probably a trend to keep an eye on.
Along the same lines digital printing continues to grow. Not only did Xerox and HP have their normal large presence, but so did several smaller players. Many of the smaller players are offering good solutions costing $30,000 and less to enter the color digital printing market.
Over all, at ColorMetrix we view the show as a success and if you stopped by to get product information or just to say hello, thank you for contributing to that success.
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by JimRaffel on October 10, 2006
Each year since 2001 as we approach the fall show in Chicago I become somewhat introspective. September 11th, 2001 fell squarely in the middle of what had all the signs of being a very successful show for our five year old company. That potential success all but evaporated with the terrorist attacks utilizing four airplanes.
I just finished reading “Flags of Our Fathers,†an excellent book by James Bradley that reminded me of some of the things we did to cope after 9/11. The book follows the lives of the six common men who engaged in uncommon acts of valor during the battle of Iwo Jima. The part of the book I found more interesting than the war scenes and the actual famous flag raising was the lives of the 3 survivors after WWII.
I often wondered why my father (an army aviator) and my uncle (an army infantryman) in WWII seldom spoke about the war. After reading the book I finally feel like I have an understanding of the mindset of the “greatest generation.â€Â I mention this, because a motivational message I heard my uncle deliver in the late 1970’s shows great insight into how this generation viewed adversity.
For 50 years our family was in the retail furniture business, and the late 1970’s was not a good time for the US economy. It was an especially difficult time for the Midwest where manufacturing jobs were disappearing in large numbers each and everyday. During a sales meeting prior to a large sale one of the salespeople asked how we could succeed with unemployment hovering in the teens. My uncle’s prompt and simple response delivered with his characteristic smile what that all that means is more than 80% of the people are still working.
Shortly after 9/11 I called my father to ask what we do now. I have to be honest we felt a bit lost an unsure how to proceed. Again a simple answer; focus on what you have and what you do best. Sell your strengths and survive the downturn, because this too shall pass. Excellent advice that is part of why we are here five years after 9/11.
So, what do I expect from GraphExpo 2006? I expect a good show. I do not anticipate aisles filled with attendees, it is after all only one year since Print 2005. I do, however, feel that those who attend will be the true decisions makers and as one who sells for a living I would rather have 10 decision makers than 100 tire kickers.
Presses have been selling very well for the last 12-18 months and I think that means we will see sales starting to swing back to ancillary products like ours. It is a cycle I have observed several times in the life of ColorMetrix. First the heavy iron sales and then the products and services that support full utilization of the big investment.
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