Back again with more adventures from the Floor of FESPA Americas…

Day two started off with a trip to the pressroom and some coffee where I was greeted with a lovely rendition of  “Good Morning” from the movie Singin’ in the Rain sung by Vince Cahill of VCE Solutions. The song was quite unexpected but I joined in for a few bars and then Vince was kind enough to invite me to join him at a table. He was a wealth of knowledge and a veteran of these types of events, so he gave me some great tips and what to look for downstairs as well as provide a quick lesson on how to tie a bow tie, and introduced me to his friends Dr. John Provost and Ming Xu who also joined us.  We started talking about some of the technologies at the show and their global event travels and speaking engagements. Before I knew it, it was time to leave for the Nike keynote, so I excused myself with their business cards in hand and hoped I would meet up with them again in some exotic event locale like FESPA Singapore in October. One can dream, cant they!

The keynote was packed but I found a seat and just in time for NIKE to start.  As expected it was thought provoking and yes, I admit a little tear jerking. NIKE was discussing their “considered” program, which is how they refer to “green.”  From making basketball courts from grinding down the rubber of old sneakers to using plastic bottles to create textiles, they are just an amazing company with a global vision that makes me happy to support them every chance I get.  It was the first time NIKE had participated in a conference such as FESPA, but after their keynote I doubt it will be their last.

Feeling good and optimistic that corporations actually have the ability to care and make a difference for future generations, I stopped by the FESPA booth and checked in with Lorraine Harrow who looked much more rested than the day before.  She was still all smiles and a gracious hostess, and with day one nerves gone and the show an obvious success her eyes had an extra twinkle in them, which was nice to see.  I said my hellos and goodbyes and headed off to visit the Roland section of the FESPA Wide Format Printing Live area.

I had spotted this wide-format printer on day one, but was too late to get a demo and a video.  I knew this was something I wanted to share so I had stopped by before I went to the keynote to introduce myself and let the gentleman running the machine know I would be back.  Why was this so interesting to me?  It was printing metallic in wide-format!  I had never seen that before, and in all honesty didn’t know it was possible as I always associate digital printing with 4color process and metallic with PMS colors.  Greg Hulbert from Roland set me straight and provided some great information that I taped and you can see here in two parts.

The live part of the Wide Format Printing area was about to start, so I moved down the aisle a bit to another booth I had been eyeing.  What caught my attention immediately was a full-sized door that had been printed on.  What I didn’t know is that the door was the tip of the amazement iceberg courtesy of a Russian company named Sun Innovations.  They were there showing off their UV printing technology, and I do mean showing off as they were printing on everything from a table, to a sponge to A BOWL OF WATER!  Alexander Yakushev spent a ton of time with me and I wrangled another amazed visitor into my videos that you can see here in four parts including the water printing!

It was later in the afternoon then I had anticipated when I checked my watch for the first time since before the keynote.  It was time to head back home, but I was taking so much back with me that I actually spent the first hour of my drive without the radio on just reliving some great moments and still in disbelief over that bowl of water being printed on.  FESPA has events all over the world and I hope I can attend them all and share what I see with all of you.  When I cant make it (Singapore anyone) I will hope that some of you do the same. If not, I find comfort in knowing I have the FESPA TV channel and along with following their event Twitter streams it’s like practically being there!

Thanks again to FESPA for a great event and for inviting me to blog here. PrintMediaCentr is honored to have been a media sponsor for FESPA Americas and hopes to continue being part of the FESPA family.  Next stop – Hamburg!

Written by Deborah Corn, COO PrintMediaCentr 

Check out this cool video from balckjacks of Aaron Gillett (www.vehiclewrapsusa.com) competing in the recent Wrap Cup Masters Series at FESPA Americas 2011 in Orlando USA.