Visitor numbers at the Print Week Live event held at the Wasps Arena in Coventry last week were estimated to be at around the 2,000 mark raising questions by some over the future of trade shows for the print industry. To be honest it wasn’t very busy although as a talking shop and networking event it had its merits.

In 2014 the print show Ipex recorded about 23,000 visitors to its Excel venue in London down from 2010 when 50,000 passed through the doors of the show but by last year numbers were down to 7,000. The Print Show has usurped Ipex as the industry’s number one exhibition holding their event at the NEC this September having gone head to head last year against Ipex in something of  High Noon showdown in which Ipex blinked first.

There has been an increase in open days at print manufacturers showrooms as buyers come under time constraints. One delegate at the Wasps Arena said that once upon a time the whole workforce would go by coach to a trade show. A day out to see new kit – but as he pointed out there was no kit to see at the arena.