For about 2 weeks, the German city Düsseldorf hosted the print media messe drupa.
I was one of the almost 400,000 visitors from 122 countries.
Drupa is the most important event for everyone involved in printing, pre-press, and the like.
The most impressive booth was HP. They had a spectacular show, with many special effects, including snow and soap bubbles falling on the audience, and with professional actors, singers and dancers, all to bring us the message how we can get more by using their digital printing technology.
To proove their point, everyone in the audience received custom printed promotional materials. The materials contained the photo of the individual as taken during registration for the show, as well as promotions that were adjusted to choices made in the same registration process.
The buzz words you could hear most of all during drupa were CTP (Computer To Plate, a technology where plates for printing are made directly from the computer instead of lighting films first) and JDF (Job Description Format, the standard file format for describing all informaton related to a printing job).
Drupa is a great place for collecting all kinds of goodies, especially huge posters that are printed there for demonstrations.
I returned home with a huge photo of fruit, large enough to fill a whole wall.