SGIA Expo 2017: What You Need to Know

SGIA Expo 2017 offered more than just an enormous tradeshow floor full of . It was the perfect stage to announce several new industry events:

• WFX: The Wide-Format Exchange, May 21-23, 2018, Minneapolis, hosted by
• ThreadX garment decorator’s conference, February 25-28, 2018, Palm Springs, California, hosted by SGIA
• FP3 – Functional Printing, Process and Products, June 4-6, 2018, Chicago, hosted by SGIA
• , October 23-25, 2019, Dallas, hosted by SGIA and NAPCO Media

The event also featured more than 40 educational sessions, ranging from a to wrap workshops to the Printed Electronics symposium and more. A few of the most interesting insights included:

Wide-Format 101
“Eighty-four percent of shops now provide finishing or post-production services.” –Olga Dorokhina, SGIA research coordinator

“It’s better to train someone and have them leave than to not train them and have them stay.” –Josh Hope, applications product manager, Mimaki USA

“It doesn’t matter how big or small your company is. It’s the quality of the process that differentiates your business.” –Kim Magraw, national operations, Supergraphics

Your Business: Prepare for Success
“You are either moving forward or going backward. There is no such thing as staying the same.” –Ryan Sauers, owner, Sauers Consulting Strategies

“Branding is the art of aligning what you want people to think about your company with what they actually think.” –Jay Baer, quoted by Vince DiCecco, owner, Your Personal Business Trainer

“Always remember: The brand is not about you. It’s about the customer.” –DiCecco

“The way you pay your salespeople sends them a message. What do you want it to say?” –David Fellman, president, David Fellman & Associates

“Consider setting prices based on this question: Are they paying you to manufacture or are they paying you to think?” –Tom Trutna, owner, Big Ink

Brands Talking Sustainability Luncheon
“There’s not enough conversation around sustainability.” –Suzanna Eversole, manager of print production, REI

“The whole picture needs to be right. It’s the entire story of the substrate that we need to look at.” –Eversole

“Establish partnerships with the vendors you work with. Find reliable solutions to lessen waste and inefficiencies.” –Stephen White, print production manager, Starbucks Coffee Company

“Sustainable materials cost more, but the trick is committing to it, and then it will be available to you.” –audience member Libra Avery Balian, senior director of marketing operations, Ann Inc., and Sustainable Green Printing Partnership board member

“Brands are going to drive sustainability through the supply chain.” –Balian

The Inside Scoop
“We’re starting to design systems around the inks, when it used to be the other way around in this industry.” –Scott Schinlever, senior VP and general manager, EFI, in a press conference

“Where’s the marketplace going? To people who can grasp the impact of the internet and sell it.” –Larry D’Amico, director of sales in North America, Durst, in a press conference

“Social media and online media is everything. If you’re not there, you don’t exist.” Sharon Donovich, product marketing manager, Kornit Digital, in her session “Digital Textile Printing in the Rising Promotional Products Industry”

“Technology can help change the business. The application will then drive it.” –John Fulena, VP, Ricoh, in a meeting with Big Picture

Read more or check out the festivities at the 2017 SGIA Expo.