Day One – Our UK and Ireland Sales Manager shares his thoughts and experiences at his first LabelExpo...

Well here I am.  My first ever day at Labelexpo and all I can say are a few things.  Firstly, I had no idea it’d be this big!  My last show experience was IPEX and I was told that it was one of the bigger print shows to experience. For this reason I was under the impression that this show would be a slightly more modest affair, however, I am extremely impressed at the number of exhibitors at this year’s event and even more impressed at what is on offer.

For us, this year has seen us take a different booth than usual and the majority of people are quite shocked to find us in Hall 7 rather than Hall 5.  Our new location has meant that we were slightly quiet for periods today which in all honesty did have me slightly worried.  However as with any show we picked up and had a fairly good day all in all, resulting in one of agents confirming a purchase of Mia anilox roll cleaning system.  We are hoping that we will be back in our old stomping ground next year, which is conveniently right next to the entrance but all in all I’d say we had a good day. 

Our agents have been a constant at our booth today but not just individually but in groups from different territories.  As the Marketing Manager at Alphasonics this absolutely excellent news for me as I’d love to encourage our partners to meet, share experiences and ideas with others within the network.  Just as importantly, these agents seem grateful to have these opportunities to find new and exciting ways to bring our technology to even more print shops and who are we to stand in their way?

What I am enjoying most here however is the opportunity to meet so many new people myself.  I’ve made some great new contacts already while also getting to see some great friends who I’ve made in my short time with Alphasonics.  My feeling on the show is that it is so much more than simply a sales platform.  The opportunities to network and just as importantly nurture existing relationships, are literally around every corner at this show. This is also helped by the fact we’re staying in the hotel as Edale so there’s some great banter going on between us.  It’s also been great catching up with Tony, Keith and the guys from AB Graphic.  I feel extremely lucky to be in the position I’m in and to really enjoy the excellent social aspect of LabelExpo.  On this note, I have to say that our friends at Tarsus, the show organisers have been absolutely excellent and I can’t wait to catch up with them again tomorrow. 

David is about to leave for the Global Label Awards with the Tarsus gang where we are nominated for the Green Award.  Our AS1000 Trojan system has been nominated for the third time, and we’re hoping it is third time lucky for us.  Fingers crossed.

Phil who is one of our chief engineers is out here with us.  He and I are off for some Moules Frites.  I’ll be blogging again tomorrow and tweeting throughout the day.  Thanks for taking the time to read my ramble through a busy and exciting day at LabelExpo.  Let’s hope it’s an even better day tomorrow.

Chris

*UPDATE – 12:30 am - 29/9/11* David has just returned to the hotel with the Green Award in his hands!  I will post more about this tomorrow.  We’d like to thank the judging panel, the organisers and to those who have sent their congratulations.  We’ll have the trophy on our booth tomorrow.