Greg Hrinya, Editor01.27.24
As label and package printing companies plan for tradeshows in 2024, it is worth noting that two of the industry’s leading events – Labelexpo Americas and PRINTING United Expo – will occur at the same time this year. From September 10-12, Labelexpo Americas and PRINTING United Expo will take place in Rosemont, IL, USA, and Las Vegas, NV, respectively.
Due to a scheduling conflict, PRINTING United was forced to change dates. To update the industry on what can be expected at both shows, as well as the highlights of each event, L&NW caught up with Mark Subers, president, Events and Exhibitions, PRINTING United Alliance, and Tasha Ventimiglia, Americas Event Director, Informa.
“First and foremost, the overlapping of dates was not intentional,” says Subers. “The Las Vegas Convention Center awarded our usual October show dates to a significantly larger show in Vegas (not in our industry), and the replacement date option that was selected landed us in the same time slot. We publish our future Expo dates publicly for years ahead of time and, at the time the new dates were cemented, we were unaware that Labelexpo would be at the same time.”
Even though the timing was not intentional, the conflict still creates an issue for converters and suppliers alike – many of whom will have to choose one show over the other. “When we heard the PRINTING United dates were changed from late October to the same week as Labelexpo, it was disappointing to say the least,” states Ventimiglia. “PRINTING United never contacted us about our dates, as is a courtesy in the events industry. We knew it would cause issues within the industry, for both exhibitors and show visitors."
She adds, “While it is certainly not ideal that there are two events over the same dates, we have had excellent feedback from our Labelexpo Americas exhibitors – with eight months to go, our event is already larger than it was in 2022."
For visitors who must choose between shows, there are several differences. Both cater to the label and package printing space, while PRINTING United includes far more commercial and large format print. Historically, Labelexpo Americas has been the industry’s most popular event.
“Labelexpo Americas 2024 is an event for you to attend if you are currently in the label and package printing industry,” adds Ventimiglia. “It is a focused show, on this growing and exciting area of print. Labelexpo Americas has the entire label value chain, so if you are looking to educate yourself, see the label technology in action, or catch up on trends and innovations within the labels and package printing space, quite frankly, there’s nowhere else to be. No other event will have this technology and the entire label supply chain available under one roof.”
Subers notes that there is inherent value in attending both tradeshows. “Make plans to come to both,” he says. “There are 11 daily, non-stop flights offered between American Airlines and United Airlines alone, with most fares right now under $200. With the time change, you can spend time at Labelexpo, hop a cab to O’Hare International, and be in Vegas an hour and half later. Clearly, Labelexpo offers value to the 'legacy' label converter looking for label-specific solutions. PRINTING United Expo also offers label solutions; however, they are mostly geared toward the 'net new' printer looking to extend their product offerings into label applications. The real upside for the label converter is the ability to see an array of solutions spanning across multiple application segments – apparel to packaging. It’s all here and it can be done.”
According to Subers, future PRINTING United events are planned and contracted years in advance. The dates are published here.
“We always investigate, to the best of our ability, to ensure we are avoiding other events, major holidays, etc.,” says Subers. “This is ‘event planning 101’ – however, in some unfortunate circumstances, it can’t be avoided.”
Labelexpo originated when label and package printing supplies were getting lost in the larger general print shows. There was demand for one event for label printers to have one home to see all aspects of label printing, from prepress, MIS, materials to printing presses and finishing equipment. According to Ventimiglia, serving this dynamic market is what has made the show so successful for more than 40 years.
“Labelexpo continues to listen to our audience and is diversifying alongside our converters and the industry as a whole,” she states. “It's why you'll see even more flexible packaging equipment and suppliers at this year's Labelexpo Americas. Labelexpo is not a show trying to be all things to all people. Visitors to Labelexpo know that they can see exactly what they want and not have to wade through technologies that are not important to their business."
Ventimiglia continues, “We attribute our success to staying focused and we certainly plan to continue doing so in the future. This is where our expertise lies, and we want to ensure we keep giving the best to this industry."
According to Subers, PRINTING United Expo has moved from the 98th to the 32nd (and, based on 2023 results will almost certainly move up in the rankings) largest Expo in the US over the course of just three events in this format. In addition to the Expo, the Alliance also runs a series of hosted buyer “Summits” that also support the full industry. The Inkjet Summit, Digital Packaging Summit, Wide-format Summit, and Apparel Summit are all valuable events for print industry members.
“Our attendees have held us accountable for delivering on the promise of offering a ‘one-roof approach,’ where they can see all printing and packaging technologies at one show,” Subers notes. “The feedback we continue to receive from our amazing partners and attendees is that we’ve hit the mark there and presented an all-encompassing event, which matches that vision. We had multiple label-specific presses on the floor in Atlanta in 2023 from Durst, Gallus, Screen, and others. In conversations with the exhibitor teams, I believe they had a very solid ROI and, by all accounts, the Expo received rave reviews from the printer community. Looking to 2024, although we’re at the same time, I believe each event provides its own value proposition.”
A new partnership has the Labelexpo team optimistic for the future, as well. “We are excited to be part of Informa, which is the leading international events and digital services group globally, with over 12,000 employees," states Ventimiglia. "The wealth of experience when it comes to best practice and sustainability measures will be a huge benefit to all our Labelexpo events worldwide. You will see many new additions to our events, such as a larger presence of flexible packaging, automation, and sustainability. You will see more networking opportunities, educational content on the latest trends through an enriching masterclass program and engaging new show features. We will also be launching new events in key growth areas, which we will announce shortly. We love this industry and the partnerships we’ve made over the years, and we’re excited to continue to connect buyers with sellers to deliver a premium event experience that we can all be proud of.”
Due to a scheduling conflict, PRINTING United was forced to change dates. To update the industry on what can be expected at both shows, as well as the highlights of each event, L&NW caught up with Mark Subers, president, Events and Exhibitions, PRINTING United Alliance, and Tasha Ventimiglia, Americas Event Director, Informa.
“First and foremost, the overlapping of dates was not intentional,” says Subers. “The Las Vegas Convention Center awarded our usual October show dates to a significantly larger show in Vegas (not in our industry), and the replacement date option that was selected landed us in the same time slot. We publish our future Expo dates publicly for years ahead of time and, at the time the new dates were cemented, we were unaware that Labelexpo would be at the same time.”
Even though the timing was not intentional, the conflict still creates an issue for converters and suppliers alike – many of whom will have to choose one show over the other. “When we heard the PRINTING United dates were changed from late October to the same week as Labelexpo, it was disappointing to say the least,” states Ventimiglia. “PRINTING United never contacted us about our dates, as is a courtesy in the events industry. We knew it would cause issues within the industry, for both exhibitors and show visitors."
She adds, “While it is certainly not ideal that there are two events over the same dates, we have had excellent feedback from our Labelexpo Americas exhibitors – with eight months to go, our event is already larger than it was in 2022."
For visitors who must choose between shows, there are several differences. Both cater to the label and package printing space, while PRINTING United includes far more commercial and large format print. Historically, Labelexpo Americas has been the industry’s most popular event.
“Labelexpo Americas 2024 is an event for you to attend if you are currently in the label and package printing industry,” adds Ventimiglia. “It is a focused show, on this growing and exciting area of print. Labelexpo Americas has the entire label value chain, so if you are looking to educate yourself, see the label technology in action, or catch up on trends and innovations within the labels and package printing space, quite frankly, there’s nowhere else to be. No other event will have this technology and the entire label supply chain available under one roof.”
Subers notes that there is inherent value in attending both tradeshows. “Make plans to come to both,” he says. “There are 11 daily, non-stop flights offered between American Airlines and United Airlines alone, with most fares right now under $200. With the time change, you can spend time at Labelexpo, hop a cab to O’Hare International, and be in Vegas an hour and half later. Clearly, Labelexpo offers value to the 'legacy' label converter looking for label-specific solutions. PRINTING United Expo also offers label solutions; however, they are mostly geared toward the 'net new' printer looking to extend their product offerings into label applications. The real upside for the label converter is the ability to see an array of solutions spanning across multiple application segments – apparel to packaging. It’s all here and it can be done.”
According to Subers, future PRINTING United events are planned and contracted years in advance. The dates are published here.
“We always investigate, to the best of our ability, to ensure we are avoiding other events, major holidays, etc.,” says Subers. “This is ‘event planning 101’ – however, in some unfortunate circumstances, it can’t be avoided.”
Labelexpo originated when label and package printing supplies were getting lost in the larger general print shows. There was demand for one event for label printers to have one home to see all aspects of label printing, from prepress, MIS, materials to printing presses and finishing equipment. According to Ventimiglia, serving this dynamic market is what has made the show so successful for more than 40 years.
“Labelexpo continues to listen to our audience and is diversifying alongside our converters and the industry as a whole,” she states. “It's why you'll see even more flexible packaging equipment and suppliers at this year's Labelexpo Americas. Labelexpo is not a show trying to be all things to all people. Visitors to Labelexpo know that they can see exactly what they want and not have to wade through technologies that are not important to their business."
Ventimiglia continues, “We attribute our success to staying focused and we certainly plan to continue doing so in the future. This is where our expertise lies, and we want to ensure we keep giving the best to this industry."
According to Subers, PRINTING United Expo has moved from the 98th to the 32nd (and, based on 2023 results will almost certainly move up in the rankings) largest Expo in the US over the course of just three events in this format. In addition to the Expo, the Alliance also runs a series of hosted buyer “Summits” that also support the full industry. The Inkjet Summit, Digital Packaging Summit, Wide-format Summit, and Apparel Summit are all valuable events for print industry members.
“Our attendees have held us accountable for delivering on the promise of offering a ‘one-roof approach,’ where they can see all printing and packaging technologies at one show,” Subers notes. “The feedback we continue to receive from our amazing partners and attendees is that we’ve hit the mark there and presented an all-encompassing event, which matches that vision. We had multiple label-specific presses on the floor in Atlanta in 2023 from Durst, Gallus, Screen, and others. In conversations with the exhibitor teams, I believe they had a very solid ROI and, by all accounts, the Expo received rave reviews from the printer community. Looking to 2024, although we’re at the same time, I believe each event provides its own value proposition.”
A new partnership has the Labelexpo team optimistic for the future, as well. “We are excited to be part of Informa, which is the leading international events and digital services group globally, with over 12,000 employees," states Ventimiglia. "The wealth of experience when it comes to best practice and sustainability measures will be a huge benefit to all our Labelexpo events worldwide. You will see many new additions to our events, such as a larger presence of flexible packaging, automation, and sustainability. You will see more networking opportunities, educational content on the latest trends through an enriching masterclass program and engaging new show features. We will also be launching new events in key growth areas, which we will announce shortly. We love this industry and the partnerships we’ve made over the years, and we’re excited to continue to connect buyers with sellers to deliver a premium event experience that we can all be proud of.”