This month I had the opportunity to chat with renowned industry expert Frank Romano to discuss the future of printing trade shows, and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead for printers.

What are you most looking forward to seeing at Print World?

The PDF alone does not have any features for printing a number of copies, but there are many ways to get multiple copies or page count information into RIPs, including older ones. Here are some examples of automation strategies for a number of different configurations:

Canon EXPO 2010 took place September 1-3 at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, with the theme being "We Speak Image." This once-every-five-year event that Canon puts on for customers, partners and dealers drew nearly 3,000 invited customers and dealers to see the latest in current and future digital printing technology before the show makes its appearance in Tokyo and Paris later this year.

Consumables: Paper & Substrates

Many people involved in the world of print have a special relationship with paper. Be it the designers, the production coordinators, the printers themselves or the end-user, the selected stock for any job is carefully considered, and inevitably faces tough scrutiny. They will carefully judge its thickness and weight, its brightness and its opacity; they may even smell it and caress it lovingly. I, for one, enjoy stopping by the paper supplier booths at trade shows to see the vast array of colours and textures available, and maybe even snag a sample or two. This passion for paper is well justified though. After all, it is an integral piece in the print puzzle; it is the substrate that carries the printed message.

This year’s Graph Expo show at McCormick Place in Chicago promises “four days of comparison shopping, networking, live equipment demonstrations, seminars and critical decision making.” The show floor will be divided tinto four main sections: prepress, press & converting, wide-format, and mailing & fulfillment. To be held from October 3-6, 2010, Graph Expo is the year’s largest display of “live” running equipment in the Americas. With the exception of a few well-known press manufacturers, the show’s exhibitor attendance is looking exciting this year. More than 450 companies are scheduled to show off their stuff in Chicago this year – including most of the “big guys.”

It wasn't long ago that artists wanting to produce open or limited edition prints of their artwork needed to have them reproduced via the traditional printing press. The biggest disadvantage was that the artist needed to purchase a run of at least 5,000 prints in order to make it worthwhile even to turn the press on. Therefore, the entire fine art reproduction market was dominated by a small group of publishers who financed, printed and distributed the artwork.

So here we are more than halfway through the year and over 5 million iPads have been sold. Consumers are rapidly snatching up all the available iPad and iPhone 4 devices as fast as Apple can make them. As a publishing professional you're asking yourself "what does this mean to me? What impact does this have on the publishing industry and how do we as publishers get involved?"