The old cliché "the show must go on" has never been more evident than this year. We've got drupa, the world's largest printing show, running May 3 – 16 in Düsseldorf, Germany, Graph Expo, October 7 – 10 at McCormick Place South in Chicago, the SGIA Specialty Printing & Imaging Technology Show in Las Vegas, October 18 – 20, the Print World show on short-run technology November 17 – 19 at Exhibition Place in Toronto, and of course our own event, Printing Survivor II in Toronto, Thursday, September 20. Better mark them on your calendar. I also think we'll need the summer to re-charge our batteries after drupa.

At press time, Ontarians learned through the budget, that the provincial government is facing a $16 billion deficit. Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan felt that this, and the problem of lucrative public-sector pensions, must be dealt with immediately. Tomorrow I'm expecting Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's budget to be as tough as he tries to get Canada's deficit under control.

Congratulations to Natalia Gilewicz, Ryerson University Assistant Professor and Graphic Arts Magazine Associate Editor. Her presentation (Interaction of Print and Digital Content in Magazine Advertising) won the Best Paper Award at the recent IARIGAI (Int'l. Assoc. of Research Organizations for the Information, Media and Graphic Arts Industries) Conference in Budapest, Hungary. The paper focused on advances in printing and media technology.

There's been a lot of negativity in the trade media lately. It seems that every time there's one story about a bankruptcy or even a re-structuring, that particular story overrides all other positive articles. In the consumer media, it seems that every time there's a feature about a new electronic gadget, that it's invariably accompanied by articles forecasting the demise of some sector of the print industry.

Every month in this column, I've ended with the words "stay positive and stay focused." However, there's a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in our industry right now. So as we head into a challenging new year, my advice is simple: concentrate on what you CAN DO to improve – and don't worry about events you CAN'T CONTROL.

First of all, I would like to thank all those who attended our Printing Survivor 2011 event in Toronto last month. A special thanks to speakers John Foley Jr., Jay Mandarino, Arjun Basu and Peter Muir for their inspiring presentations, and to our sponsors – Gold Sponsor Konica Minolta, as well as Sina Printing, SNZ Trading, Green Dot Litho and Harrison Mailing Services. We plan on making next year's event just as timely and relevant, based on continuing feedback from our readers. Check our wrap-up story and audience comments on pages 28 and 29.

It was indeed a pleasure meeting and chatting with many of you recently at Graph Expo in Chicago. From the comments I heard, the 2011 version of the printing industry's annual showcase for the Americas was quite busy and very successful.

Well, it's back to work – though I suspect most people reading this have never stopped working! Hopefully however, you have had some well-deserved R&R over the summer. September signals one of the biggest events in our industry – Graph Expo. The 2011 version of the printing industry's annual showcase for the Americas is set for Sept. 11 – 14 at Chicago's McCormick Place. We'll be there visiting the more than 450 exhibitors, feature areas, conferences, special events and seminars. Please stop by and visit our booth. And don't miss our preview of selected exhibitors starting on page 17. I wish we could include everyone, but you can still visit www.graphexpo.com for more information. Enjoy the show!

Hopefully we're all breathing a bit easier now because of the quick, legislated end to the strike at Canada Post Corporation. No matter where you stand on the issues (and feelings were flying high both in parliament, in the media and throughout the printing industry), you might want to check out the articles on pages 26 and 27.

At press time, Canada Post rejected the latest contract proposal from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. CUPW had previously voted in favour of strike action if necessary. The union represents about 50,000 workers across Canada and its contract expired on January 31 of this year. Needless to say, a strike would have a huge negative impact on our industry, so let's hope a negotiated settlement can be reached quickly.