The Sign Africa Regional Expo in Port Elizabeth, held on 18 February at the Boardwalk Convention Centre, was a major success, with 389 visitors, a 29% increase from the last PE expo in 2013. This is a clear indication that the industry is optimistic and looking to invest in new technologies and opportunities. Visitors arrived from all parts of the Eastern Cape, including Grahamstown, East London, King William’s Town, Adelaide, Somerset West, Cradock, Graaff Reinet and Jeffreys Bay.
The expo featured many business opportunities for visitors to explore, such as: signage, T-shirt printing, wide format printing, digital graphics, vinyls and substrates, laminating and finishing, display and directional signage systems, routers and engraving, LED’s, magnetic sheets, banners and flags and laser cutting.
Kurt Carelse from Midcomp said, ‘We made good quality contacts and it was great to make face to face contact with existing and potential customers that we had arranged with to meet at the expo. Despite not having equipment on our stand we have some very good prospects.’
Chayce Strydom from Modico said, ‘Modico had a very good expo. The expos are good for making contact with new prospects and the trip to the regional expos gives me an opportunity to make contact with existing clients.’
Judges visited each stand at the expo and judged the stands according to criteria based on design and staff friendliness and professionalism. The Sign Africa stand winners and runners up include:
Best Small Stand:
First: NSDS
Runner Up: Avery Dennison & Modico
Best Medium Stand:
First: SA Argus
Runner Up: Falcon
Best Large Stand: Digital Intention, the Roland dealer.
Forthcoming Expo’s include:
DURBAN: 18-19 March 2015
Durban ICC
BLOEMFONTEIN: 13 May 2015
Bloem Show Grounds, Violet Hall
AFRICA PRINT JOHANNESBURG EXPO: 22-24 JULY 2015
Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
CAPE TOWN: 2-3 September 2015
Cape Town International Convention Centre
Entrance to all the Regional Expos is FREE, pre-register online to speed up the process and you can stand a chance at winning R1000 in cash.
