PacPrint Melbourne Moves to September 2021

Following the decision to postpone the major international DRUPA exhibition in Düsseldorf, organisers of PacPrint have announced that the region’s leading show, PacPrint, will now be held from 28 September – 1 October, 2021.

The four-day show, which will be held in conjunction with Visual Impact and the Label & Packaging Expo, will run as usual at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, with the decision on timing made to ensure that businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the surrounding region, enjoy the full benefit of Australia’s traditional ‘post-DRUPA’ show.

Messe Düsseldorf announced in March that the global mega-show would be rescheduled to 10 – 20 April, 2021, meaning exhibitors and visitors would barely have had time to return from Dusseldorf before PacPrint was originally scheduled to open its doors in late May.

“One of PacPrint’s strongest advantages has always been its timing, coming roughly one year after DRUPA. This typically means that new technologies released at DRUPA – even some of those shown in Düsseldorf as prototypes – are nearly always ready for immediate sale and supply in this region by the time PacPrint rolls around, so businesses can benefit straight away,” says Peter Harper, CEO of supplier organisation Visual Connections, which organises PacPrint and its sister shows in Australia.

“Following so closely on the heels of DRUPA would have created logistical challenges for many of our PacPrint exhibitors seeking to get both personnel and post-DRUPA releases to Australia in time for the Melbourne show. It just wasn’t feasible.

“By maintaining this buffer of a few months, PacPrint 2021 will give exhibitors the opportunity to show DRUPA-release technologies to the Australian market and provide thousands of industry people who are not able to make it to Germany the opportunity to see the latest innovations as soon as possible.”

In announcing the new dates, Harper paid tribute to his own events team, who he says have been ‘working overtime’ on a solution, and also to the team at the MCEC who have understandably had a challenging time trying to accommodate the numerous changes and cancellations required by the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are grateful to our colleagues at the MCEC for working with us to secure these new dates, which we believe will help us maintain PacPrint’s position as the market-leading show for print, sign, display, labels and packaging in this region,” he said.

While there is still plenty of work to be done in concert with exhibitors and other stakeholders, Harper says the fact that a window has been secured in which to bring the very latest innovations and market knowledge to businesses in this part of the world is a huge positive.

“It’s good news for everyone, and we look forward to releasing more detail over the coming days and weeks,” Harper said, adding that updates will be available at www.visualconnections.org.au, on the association’s Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook feeds, or by following the hashtags #printexpoaus and #pacprint.

In the meantime, Visual Connections will be running its very first online trade show for print, sign, display and graphics from 30 May to 30 September. Registrations for the free show are open now and can be made by emailing exhibitions@visualconnections.org.au and the current floorplan can be viewed on the Visual Connections website.