Supplier association and PacPrint organiser Visual Connections has announced the dates for its future tradeshows between now and 2025 following its recent success at PacPrint.
The next upcoming show will be Visual Impact Sydney, taking place from May 3 to 5 next year at the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park.
Visual Impact Brisbane will take place in May 2024, with dates to be confirmed.
PacPrint will return to the Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park from May 20 to 23 in 2025. This show was initially planned with the PrintEx branding but has now been rebadged under the more well-established PacPrint brand.
Visual Connections said the success of the recent PacPrint tradeshow in Melbourne has already generated high interest in these future shows.
It added that while the number of visitors was a little lower on previous iterations of the Melbourne show at just over 6,500 people across four days, the quality of those who attended was very pleasing with more than 60 per cent recorded as either business owners, senior managers or decision-makers.
And, according to Visual Connections’ exhibitor reports, these attendees were ‘ready to buy’.
More than $50 million of business was also transacted at the show with thousands of new sales leads generated, which could generate flow-on sales in the coming months.
As such, the upcoming annual shows have been planned to optimise the chance for businesses to gather regular updates from suppliers, while bringing the trade show schedule back into line with the international exhibition calendar – drupa is due to be held next in 2024 in Düsseldorf.
Visual Connections president John Wall said pandemic delays and the consequent limited availability of slots at leading exhibition venues have played havoc with expo programs across a wide range of industries, with sectors like print particularly impacted due to the long bump-in times required.
“We were fortunate to secure a long enough window at the MCEC to bring PacPrint, Visual Impact and the Label & Packaging Expo to the industry recently, and it’s been enormously satisfying to see the excitement, energy and real results this has generated for both suppliers and industry businesses,” Wall said.
“Our events team has been working hard over the past few months to secure dates for future shows to continue this momentum, and we are delighted to have secured bookings for 2023, 2024 and 2025, bringing certainty to the schedule and allowing industry businesses to plan for these important opportunities.”
In speaking about rebadging PrintEx to PacPrint, Wall said it was to bring about consistency.
“The decision to bring the major Sydney and Melbourne shows under the PacPrint banner not only brings consistency to our trade show offering by consolidating these shows under the one, highly-respected brand, but also reflects the changes in the PrintEx expo since it was introduced as a purely informational show with shell scheme booths and no major stands,” Wall said.
“Since then, it has grown to take its legitimate place as an equal to its Melbourne counterpart, with the PacPrint name more accurately reflecting what visitors can expect from the 2025 show.”
He also added that the Visual Impact Expo and the Label & Packaging Expo are expected to once again co-locate, providing greater diversity for visitors.
In addition, Wall said interest in the 2023 Visual Impact show is already high, with many of the suppliers who enjoyed much success in PacPrint Melbourne already locking in their spots on the Sydney floorplan.
“It’s great to see suppliers demonstrate their ongoing commitment to the industry by exhibiting at these important, in-person events. PacPrint has demonstrated that their faith in trade shows is more than justified, with businesses from the region showing they are more than ready to invest in the future,” he said.
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