Now that I've been back for about a week, I've had time to let my first drupa experience sink in. I should probably start by saying that this was not only my first drupa, but the first printing trade show I've ever attended (though I have attended dozens of shows for the construction industry; which are very different). So, seven days later, these are the three main thoughts that have stuck in my jet-lag recovered mind:

1. The demo people are amazing.
It's not really my job to know exactly how each product works, so I was fascinated by the demos, especially those set up around the workflow hub. They had speakers behind the demonstrators and large monitors in front so I could hang back and listen without crowding the customers. The demonstrators were straightforward and attentive to what the customers were looking for. By the end of each demo, you could practically see the light bulb flashing above their heads.

2. We're moving in the right direction.
A lot has been written about how busy the booth was, but what really struck me is that by talking with printers and seeing what the competition is up to, it's clear to see that Kodak is slightly ahead of the major trends. Offset class inkjet? Check. Integrated workflows? Check. Blended offset and digital environments? Check.

3. We still have a lot of work to do.
Our booth was impressive, but there were a lot of good things happening on our competitors' booths: interesting technologies, more company alliances, and powerful marketing machines at work. Resting on our laurels is pretty much out of the question.


A moment of quiet before the doors open to customers

On the flight back I was lucky enough to sit beside a friendly sales rep from one of our main competitors. We mostly talked about how good the show was for all of the major vendors and how the industry seems to have turned a corner. As we disembarked from the plane, he shook my hand and said, "Good luck, but not too much." I told him that the feeling was mutual, as in the spirit of Euro 2008, I plan to pull a Franck Ribéry on them.

You don't usually think of the weekend as being busy at a trade show, but drupa attracts an interesting group of people. Many are professional printers who will not leave their business during the week, so we have valuable, productive conversations all through the weekend! 

That is not to say that there weren't the normal array of students looking for posters and children coming through looking for the fabulous yellow balloons. That is a soccer ball for the Americans and a football for most of the rest of the world. Sadly, we couldn't accommodate most of the requests since the balls were part of a giveaway associated with the digital arena presentation. It required a business card to enter the drawing, and not too many 5 year olds have their own business card.

Saturday afternoon traffic - we were competing with the opening of Euro 2008 (Soccer championships)

Through all of this we were doing demonstrations and signing deals. Every time I looked over at the Unified Workflow Hub in the center of the booth it had people waiting for Insite and Prinergy demonstrations. That is not surprising because it seemed that once the show opened we heard workflow stories in many of the stands we looked at. While many have called it the inkjet drupa, and it is the inkjet drupa in many ways, it is also the workflow drupa. 

I want to find the maps of the drupa halls going back to 1995 and look at how the digital story has grown. The drupa map is color coded by the types of equipment on display, and today's version of the map shows a lot of digital printing and prepress where we used to see pure offset printing solutions. Now you see wide format inkjet, large display printers, and car wrap printers mingling in halls with companies like Kodak that offer myriad solutions for every step of the communication story.

One of the cool things we have been doing since we opened this drupa is hosting a future suite to discuss plans and vet ideas. Len Christopher came in for week two and said that there have been times when they have been double booked because interest is so high. Chuck Hura is over with Len making things happen, as is Karl Schultz. It's sometimes hard to get feedback as you are planning upgrades and thinking about product extensions, but with the use of the future suite the team is getting some great feedback!

Look at all of those yellow bags!

If you were ever under the impression that drupa is a German show or a European show, let me assure you, it is an international show! At the halfway point there were 213,000 registered visitors, 64% from outside of Germany.

It's time for me to call it a night... but watch this space tomorrow... more fun from Messe Dusseldorf, home of drupa!