This year, Fespa’s Global Expo brings together four events, Fespa 2015, addressing screen, textile and digital wide-format printing; Fespa Fabric for garment printing and decoration; European Sign Expo for non-printed signage and visual communication solutions; and Printeriors, the new interior décor showcase and conference. Together, these events mean there is more to engage with than ever before and with just four weeks to go, it’s time for the visitors to start making their final preparations.
To make it easy for the visitors, the organisers have released a five-point checklist.
Pre-register to avoid paying onsite fees: By pre-registering, a visitor can save on the onsite registration fee of 70 euro.
Take advantage of flight and hotel offers: Fespa is continuing its partnership with Lufthansa Group to offer discounted flights for visitors. This year, additional destinations and airlines have been included in the Lufthansa Group deal. Delegates now will not only be able to get discounted flights to Cologne Bonn Airport, but also to Frankfurt and Düsseldorf – both within easy reach of the Fespa 2015 host city by train. Visitors planning to stay in Cologne for more than one day can also get the best possible rates with Fespa’s preferred accommodation partner, Avantel.
Plan your time at the show: With more than 700 exhibitors demonstrating technology, applications and consumables for the digital, screen and textile print and signage industry, there is more than ever to see at Fespa 2015. Visitors will also have the chance to explore new and growing sectors like industrial, digital textile and fabric print, as well as direct-to-garment technology.
Familiarise yourself with the educational content: There will be two main conference hubs at Fespa 2015, the Education Hub (Hall 8), which will provide pertinent insight and inspiration into digital, screen, industrial and textile printing, and the Sign Hub, a theatre dedicated to signage, located in European Sign Expo (Hall 7). Its new interior design showcase, Printeriors (Hall 9), will host its own dedicated conference on 21 May. New to Fespa 2015 is the Industrial Print Showcase (Hall 8), delivered in collaboration with Esma. The showcase will build on the exhibition’s 50 year heritage as the leading event for the screen industrial sector.
Attend the Fespa Awards: Shortlisted entries to Fespa’s annual awards programme, which celebrates print excellence, will be showcased at Fespa 2015. The global competition is open to any print service provider, culminating at the prize-giving ceremony at Gala Dinnerin Cologne on 19 May 2015.
“We’re making the final preparations for Fespa 2015 to make sure visitors have the best possible experience. With no other global wide-format event in 2015, it’s a destination in the calendar that printers won’t want to miss,” Roz McGuinness, divisional director, Fespa.
Founded in 1962, FESPA is a global federation of 37 member associations for the screen printing, digital printing and textile printing community.
| TRAVEL DIARIES |
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Besides the exhibition itself, there is plenty to see in Cologne, the biggest city in Germany’s prosperous Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area. Described by Lonely Planet as a ‘3D textbook on history and architecture, offering seemingly endless attractions’, Cologne is a fascinating amalgamation of ancient Roman walls, medieval churches, avant-garde structures and modern skyscrapers, which can all be explored by foot, bus or boat.
One thing visitors certainly won’t be able to ignore is the famous Cologne Cathedral, which, at 157m in height, has been towering over the city skyline since its completion in 1880. Similarly, a trip to Cologne could not be considered complete without sampling what the Rhine has to offer. A boat cruise gives visitors the best panoramic views of the city.
As a major cultural centre, Cologne is home to 42 museums and a vast assortment of art galleries. Museum Ludwig, devoted to 20th Century modern art, hosts the biggest pop art collection outside of the US. The German Sport & Olympics Museum provides insight into the history of national, international and Olympic sports, while the Cologne Carnival Museum shows how the yearly Carnival has been a key part of the city’s identity since the early 1800s.
Cologne boasts over 3000 pubs, cafés and restaurants, many of which serve local specialities, like KölscheKaviar (black pudding with onions), Halve Hahn (a rye bread roll with semi-mature Gouda, onions and mustard), Hämmche (boiled knuckle of pork) or Soorbrode (a beef dish). Breweries like Sion and BrauhauszurMalzmühle are highly recommended for visitorslooking for a typically Kölsche experience.
There are several musical and theatrical events coinciding with Fespa 2015. The Sommerblut Festival der Multipolarkultur, featuring art shows and performances runs from 9-25 May and the Cologne Philharmonie will host the Gürzenich Orchestra on the 18-19 May, performing symphonies and concertos from the works of Beethoven and Bernd Alois Zimmerman.
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