PacPrint, the four-day show held in conjunction with Visual Impact and the Label & Packaging Expo, will now be held from 28 September through 1 October next year.
PacPrint’s organisers said the show would run as usual at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC). They said the decision on timing made to ensure that businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and the surrounding region can “enjoy the full benefit of Australia’s traditional post-drupa show”.
Messe Düsseldorf, the host of drupa, announced in March that the global mega-show would be rescheduled to 10-20 April next year, meaning exhibitors and visitors would barely have had time to return from Dusseldorf before PacPrint was originally scheduled to open its doors in late May.
Peter Harper, CEO of supplier organisation Visual Connections, which organises PacPrint and its sister shows in Australia, said one of PacPrint’s advantages is its timing.
“This typically means that new technologies released at drupa – even some of those shown in Düsseldorf as prototypes – are nearly always ready for immediate sale and supply in this region by the time PacPrint rolls around, so businesses can benefit straight away,” he said.
“Following so closely on the heels of drupa would have created logistical challenges for many of our PacPrint exhibitors seeking to get both personnel and post-drupa releases to Australia in time for the Melbourne show. It just wasn’t feasible.
“By maintaining this buffer of a few months, PacPrint 2021 will give exhibitors the opportunity to show drupa-release technologies to the Australian market and provide thousands of industry people who are not able to make it to Germany the opportunity to see the latest innovations as soon as possible.”
Harper said his own events team had been “working overtime” on a solution; he also paid tribute to the team at the MCEC.
“We are grateful to our colleagues at the MCEC for working with us to secure these new dates, which we believe will help us maintain PacPrint’s position as the market-leading show for print, sign, display, labels and packaging in this region,” he said.
While there is still plenty of work to be done in concert with exhibitors and other stakeholders, Harper said the fact that a window has been secured in which to bring the very latest innovations and market knowledge to businesses in this part of the world is a big positive.
“It’s good news for everyone, and we look forward to releasing more detail over the coming days and weeks,” Harper said.
Updates will be available at www.visualconnections.org.au, on the association’s Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook feeds, or by following the hashtags #printexpoaus and #pacprint.
In the meantime, Visual Connections will be running its very first online trade show for print, sign, display and graphics from 30 May to 30 September. Registrations for the free show are open now and can be made by emailing exhibitions@visualconnections.org.au and the current floorplan can be viewed on the Visual Connections website.
