Don’t get me wrong, the ViP conference had a great attendance – around 135 all told and just scanning through the delegate list there were around 60 companies in attendance. However, in an industry made up of well over a hundred times that number of firms, it seems that for the vast majority, it was an opportunity missed.

The event covered a whole raft of subjects, but I would wager that each presentation offered at least one nugget of wisdom that could be put to good use by any of the attending print businesses.

In most other sectors, these kind of knowledge-sharing events are hugely popular – but for some reason in print, we don’t seem to have caught the bug to the same degree.

Last month’s BAPC conference is another case in point. Again, there was a great line-up of speakers and, again, attendance was on par with previous events, but in an organisation with thousands of members the number of printers that benefited from the imparted wisdom was, relatively, tiny.

While I appreciate that the vast majority of print company owners employ fewer than 20 people – so justifying time away from the business is difficult at the best of times, nevermind in the middle of the traditional busy season – it’s exactly these kinds of the business leaders that have the most to gain from industry events like these.

The typical owner-manager has to be all things to all people, so the opportunities to get away from the usual fire-fighting and take a measured strategic view of the business are few and far between.

And that’s the real benefit of these kinds of events; they spark ideas and give owners and managers the opportunity to focus their thoughts.

And to my mind that’s even more valuable than the incisive insight offered by the speakers. While the topics discussed may offer lessons that can be applied to your business, the most critical element is that they enable you time to really think about your business – and if you’re honest, when was the last time you had the chance to do that?

Darryl Danielli is editor of PrintWeek