Above: Nigel Davies, FESPA Australia president
More than 120 members of Australia’s wide format printing industry attended the FESPA Australia BBQ at The Richmond Rowing Club Boathouse in Melbourne on Thursday 15 February.
FESPA Australia is the leading industry association representing specialty print and signage in Australia.
Attendees were welcomed by FESPA Australia president Nigel Davies, who thanked members and sponsors of the event.
Davies presented alongside Troy Cavanagh, sales director at ImageBox Group and winner of the inaugural FESPA Future Leaders Program, who encouraged members to participate in the 2024 FESPA Future Leaders Program.
“The support of our members and sponsors makes it possible for us as an association to be able to do the things that we care about, and one thing that FESPA cares about is developing young talent in the industry,” Davies told attendees.
Above: FESPA Australia president Nigel Davies presents alongisde Troy Cavanagh (ImageBox Group) and former winner of the inaugural FESPA Future Leaders Program
Davies told Sprinter that the Melbourne BBQ has been the largest in the association’s 30-year history.
“Tonight’s event has been fantastic,” Davies said.
“This event has been going for 30 years and tonight has the biggest turn out we’ve ever had by at least 30 people. It’s been great to see people from all parts of the industry come together.”
Above: Michael Clare, Roger Labrum, Troy Neighbour, Justin Kirkland and Glenn Conyers from FUJIFILM Graphic Systems
“FESPA is a voluntary organisation, so we can only do the things that matter if we get the support from the industry, which we have tonight,” he said.
“On every level, tonight’s event has been a great success. The support shown tonight allows us to go forward into this year with a great deal of confidence that we can do the things that that we want to do for the industry,” Davies told Sprinter.
Above: Shane Britten (IVE) and Keith Ferrel (Cactus Imaging)
“As an industry, we all face the same challenges, such as the shortages of talent coming through to the industry. Our talent is poached by other industries and people don’t necessarily see the industry as an attractive one but there’s no other industry that’s like it. Bringing people together like this allows us to share ideas and more importantly, allows us to start working towards overcoming these challenges.”
FESPA will hold its annual Sydney Social on Thursday 29 February, with tickets now available.
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