I had planned to do a shriek-making blog saying "guess what, it's only 100 days until Drupa", but as usual events have overtaken me. We're into double-digits as of today, it being a mere 99 days until the greatest print show on earth opens its doors. Double-shriek, then.

Per our interview with Drupa 2012 director Manuel Matar?, it looks like the exhibition will essentially be full despite recent events at Manroland and Kodak and the travails afflicting a raft of industry suppliers. It's difficult, nay impossible, to envisage Drupa having one of those hurriedly thrown together 'networking areas' involving a few pot plants and some chairs that are the standard way of filling up unsold hall space at lesser events.

That said, there is still space available, albeit subject to a wait list. And I did hear tell of one exhibitor who was suitably gleeful about actually being able to increase their stand space, something that would have been unheard of a couple of show cycles ago.

The vibe at Drupa will be really fascinating. The last show had a relatively upbeat and sunny mood, but shortly afterwards the financial crisis hit and the world went mad. Orders for new equipment dried up. 

It's still pretty bonkers, what with the Eurozone crisis rumbling on and ongoing structural upheaval in the industry. One could say that "hope for the best but plan for the worst" should be the adage as we approach the show.

Still, for anyone interested in getting up close to the latest technologies that will be central to print's future, Drupa remains an essential must-see in itself.