"We thought that it might be difficult compared to the US [Dscoop event], with the cultural and language differences we have in EMEA and the fact it’s a new thing, but they’ve picked up on it and run with it and the numbers illustrate that," said Jon Bailey, Dscoop EMEA membership director and sales director and partner of ProCo in Sheffield.
Speakers at the Print United event included futurologist Magnus Lindkvist, who talked about recycling failure to drive success, former Harley Davidson communications director Ken Schmidt who highlighted the importance ‘storytelling’ to drive growth and Till Schütte, Coca Cola EU head of design and graphics products, who focussed on the rapid evolution in the packaging market.
The Print United conference schedule featured three simultaneous streams; commercial print, label & packaging and business, sales & marketing with dozens of ‘real life’ contributions from print business owners sharing their own experiences.
"The depth here of everything; the organisation, the speakers, the content was fantastic. For a first time [event] we’re really pleased," said Alon Bar-Shany, vice-president and general manager of the Indigo division at HP, which is the executive sponsor of Dscoop.
He added that while the US events, which started seven years ago, were substantially larger and typically draw around 2,500 delegates he believed that there was no reason why the EMEA events couldn’t grow to be even bigger as the Dscoop message filtered into the region, which represents HP’s largest user base.
"Dscoop is a content-led event, the whole point is sharing knowledge, but it’s also all about the networking, that’s the real value of Dscoop for the members. It’s about creating networks across EMEA and the world and delivering solutions to the customer. It makes members money," said Bailey.
To support this ethos, as well as a range of customisable member marketing tools, which will go live next month, one of the member initiatives launched at the event was an enhanced directory, which will go live in February next year.
The ‘Digital Print Locator’ will feature two content paths, one aimed at printers detailing Dscoop members’ kit and services to foster local and global partnerships across its 7,000-strong membership in 70 countries and a gated client facing path highlighting members’ application examples and services to help generate sales and promote their businesses.
"The real power of the Locator is that once members are part of the network they’re no longer a ‘one-engined PSP’ instead they can go to clients and say that they’re a part of a global network," said Erik Hawkinson, Dscoop global director.
