Association Insights: Finding a Unicorn

How did October arrive so quickly? It feels like we blinked and the year is almost over. There is no doubt that time seems to move quickly. Perhaps that is because so much around us is in a state of change.

Technology is driving much of that. Consider that just a decade ago, the first iPhone appeared. Now, most of us have smartphones and Apple is already in the double digits in terms of iterations. And yet, as the new iPhone 8 is released, you know that engineers and technicians are already at work on 9, 10, and maybe beyond.

Our industry is no different and nowhere is that more apparent than in print products. Earlier this year at ISA International Sign Expo 2017, manufacturers unveiled a host of new printers, new software solutions, and new substrates. And then, they quickly went back to work on future generations.

Matthew Vaughn, director of grand format for Sun Solutions in Columbia, South Carolina, makes the investment of time necessary to stay on top of things. “Technology changes every day. A machine last year might be out of date this year. We are learning what’s new, what’s quicker, what’s more efficient,” he said at ISA Sign Expo 2017. “We are constantly on the edge of trying to keep up with technology and making sure we are not falling behind the competition with what’s out there and how we can competitively be in the right place in the market. 

And it’s not just printers, of course. He spends much of his year meeting with manufacturers and sales representatives to learn what is changing in equipment. But nowhere else can he find out about the supplementary products. He came to the event to explore new substrates. As machines improve, the number of materials they can print on is also exploding.

“It’s the substrate where you see things that you’re not expecting,” he said. “There is such a wide variety of things that you can’t always be up-to-date on. Sometimes, you run into substrates through a vinyl supplier or a rigid board supplier that we deal with on a day-to-day basis. Maybe they’ve unveiled something at the show or maybe you run across some kind of wrap film or laminate that you haven’t seen before. We take that back to our guys and let them know that we have seen something pretty neat or new that we should know about.”

As his shop continues to experiment with new techniques, new substrates, and new equipment, with more than 200,000 square feet of tradeshow floor, every nook and cranny at ISA International Sign Expo offers possibility. “One of the things we are challenged with is finding tools and resources that will help us be more efficient,” he said. “One of the suppliers here provides that type of equipment and we have not found before. It was good to let them show you how it works and actually see it in action we can take it back to our fabricator and say, ‘Hey, we found this unicorn.’”

While sign, graphics, and visual communications professionals make up the bulk of attendees, ISA International Sign Expo is gaining a reputation as the place for others to learn more about innovative techniques. Steve Eikos, who works in research and development for Hallmark Cards, attended in 2017 looking for new technologies to help drive his company forward.

“Our creative staff or marketing staff might come to us and say, ‘We have a new idea. We want to print on a unique substrate, or we want to offer something new to a different customer.’ So that is my job and my team’s job, to solve the problem. How would I print on that? How would I offer that to a consumer?”

He came to ISA International Sign Expo 2017 in search of an answer for a specific need. “ISA Sign Expo was the perfect solution for that because it has all the vendors I wanted to talk to all in one place. So rather than call them up individually, I can just walk around and talk to the specific people I need to at one time. That could be the print provider, the paper provider, the software provider, all in one place. I don’t have to shop around and I can compare them against themselves and ask them the hard questions like, ‘Who is your competition? Why should I choose your product over someone else?’”

Whether you are looking for something specific like Steve, or just trying to keep up with our rapidly expanding industry like Matthew, ISA International Sign Expo 2018 will certainly be the place to do it. We have a larger-than-ever tradeshow floor and whether you have attended a print show last year or last month, ISA International Sign Expo will introduce you to new products that can transform your business. You may even up like Matthew, finding that “unicorn” that you desperately needed, but didn’t know existed.

ISA International Sign Expo 2018 will be March 22-24, with education sessions beginning March 21, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. We’ve just opened up registration at www.signexpo.org. I hope to see you there.