It's a bit freaky to realise that this time next year we'll be looking back on Ipex 2010. Yes, that's right, the show is a mere 347 days away. Please diarise the dates 18-25 May 2010 immediately, if you haven't done so already.

Yesterday organiser IIR officially launched its visitor promotion campaign, which might seem a bit early doors for us here on the small island but they are understandably keen to ensure that Ipex retains its status as the top English-speaking international print event, so that involves lots of time-consuming overseas legwork.

At the last show in 2006 40% of visitors came from abroad, and the Ipex team wants to maintain that in 2010. If they're to achieve their aim of growing attendance - something of a challenge in an industry that is contracting and consolidating at breakneck speed - I reckon that international footfall is actually going to have to increase.

Checking out the latest floorplan I was struck by a couple of things. The show is actually in better shape than I might have envisaged given the health of the industry overall and the exhibition climate in general. The total footprint is a bit smaller but much friendlier in terms of visitor flow, as it's a sort of horseshoe shape around the nice new atrium end, instead of that horrible concourse.

Pretty much all of print's big guns have committed to being there in one form or other, the most notable absentee from the current floorplan being EFI. And it's no surprise to see that Heidelberg - the biggest single exhibitor for as long as I can remember - has drastically downsized its space to approximately half of what it usually has. This has resulted in a significant change in the Ipex dynamics as it's a different "big H" that as a result takes top spot: yes HP will have the biggest single presence at the show with the best part of 3,000m².

How times change, eh? HP has gone from niche player a couple of show cycles ago (at Ipex 2002 the firm's headline message was "come and see our award-winning Designjet large format printers", zzzzz) to a major force in print. In fact three of the top five Ipex 2010 exhibitors by space are digital players. Truly a sign of the digital times.

Last but not least, my attention was also caught by a rather more modest 90m² plot. After being so disappointed not to see Riso at Drupa last year I'm delighted they're on the plan for Ipex 2010. In fact, I must make use of the visitor tools on the Ipex website to add them to my itinerary forthwith. Nothing like planning ahead...