Page 46 - Print21 March-April 2020

Wide Format
Visual Impact opening soon
The local wide format expo is slated for the Gold Coast at the end of April, with plenty on offer to attract printers to the show.
Trade shows are an important opportunity for businesses to stay up to date with trends, explore new opportunities, and make the connections they need
to build successful business, and the local Visual Impact expo provides a much-needed source of information and ideas.
The industry’s leading show for signage, displays, digital and wide-format print, engraving, textiles and more, Visual Impact is to be held from 30 April until 2 May at the Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre at Broadbeach.
It is the first time since 2012 that VI has headed up the coast – last time Queensland businesses responded enthusiastically
and were boosted by numbers from across Australia keen to mix business with a bit
of sand and surf – and organisers Visual Connections say that the location, together with a number of special events and co- located opportunities, are driving keen interest for the show.
“We are delighted with the strong support from exhibitors, who will bring a wide range of solutions to the Exhibition Centre for Visual Impact, and we are already seeing strong interest from visitors, with pre-registrations up more than 50 per
cent over the previous Visual Impact,” said Peter Harper, CEO of Visual Connections, the suppliers’ association which organises Visual Impact and other industry expos
and events. “And this year, the expo is just one of the attractions in what amounts to almost a week of industry information and celebration.”
Harper says Visual Impact will take
up almost the entirety of Halls 2-4 at the Broadbeach centre, with a comprehensive display of the latest equipment, systems and solutions from leading industry suppliers, and will be complemented by the first national sign and display conference, and not one, but two, industry awards nights.
“Visual Impact itself is set to be a
great show, with big names confirmed including Platinum Sponsor, Roland
DG, Gold Sponsors Europoles, HP, Hexis and Mimaki, along with Spicers, Epson, Multicam, Adzon, Wilenco, Trotec, Gravotec, Alfex, Mutoh, and Elizabeth Machines, among others,” he says, noting that the showcase will cover everything from digital and wide format print, to
46 Print21 MARCH/APRIL 2020
Visual Impact: show runs 30 April – 2 May
engraving and laser cutting, textile and DTG printing, display systems, substrates and consumables, neon and LED lighting technologies, braille and more.
Textile Production
Workshop
Other highlights will include a dedicated Textile Production Workshop which will run regular demos during the show, and a special presentation on surface decoration by Hexis on the Saturday morning.
“The Textile Production Workshop
is a particularly exciting collaboration between a number of exhibitors, who have cooperated to create a total, end-to-end workflow – for teardrop banners in this instance – in order to demonstrate how textile printing can be integrated into your production environment,” Harper says.
“This kind of collaborative display is unusual, but with textiles growing in popularity for applications from soft signage, to illuminated displays, fabrics and garments, interior products and
soft furnishings, it’s an area of huge potential. We’re grateful to Peter Wagener from Europoles, who is coordinating
the workshop, and fellow-exhibitors
EFI, Roland DG, Pozitive, Aeronaut and Elizabeth Machines, who are all taking part to create what we believe will be a valuable and exciting show attraction.”
Running alongside the expo will be the inaugural 2020 HP National Conference for sign and display professionals, which is presented jointly by the Australian Sign & Graphics Association (Asga) and Fespa Australia.
“The conference will provide businesses with the opportunity for deeper exploration and discussion of the industry’s most pressing issues and, of course, more opportunities for networking, and has
been designed to allow delegates to take advantage of the on-site exhibition as well,” Harper explains. You can read more about this on page 80 of this issue of Print21.
The networking and celebrations will continue well into the evenings, too. On Wednesday 29 April, Conference delegates will gather for a Welcome Cocktail Party, and the following evening will join Visual Impact exhibitors and guests to that night’s PVCA Queensland Print Industry Creativity Awards (PICA) gala presentation dinner,
at a joint cocktail function at the GCCC. On Friday 1 May, it’s the sign and display sector’s chance to celebrate at the 2020 HP Awards for Excellence.
Visual Impact will run from 10am – 6pm on Thursday 30 April and Friday 1 May, and 10am – 4pm on Saturday 2 May. To find out more about the Visual Impact expo and the Conference, or to register for these events, go to www.visualimpact.org.au. For the PICA event, go to www.printingawards.com.au 21