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NEIL FELTON PROFILE

“FESPA Middle East to be a show

with quality content”: CEO

F serving the speciality print, signage and visual
ESPA has announced FESPA Middle East, a new event

communications community in the Middle East and Africa
regions. The first edition of the annual exhibition will take
place at Dubai Exhibition Centre, United Arab Emirates,
from 29 to 31 January 2024. The exhibition is expected to welcome
over 100 global brands. At the event, FESPA will host the first World
Wrap Masters competition in the Middle East, a Sustainability
Spotlight educational feature, a conference and technical training
programme and a Club FESPA Lounge for FESPA Direct (MEA group)
members to network. On this wonderful occasion, PrintWeek MENA
had an exclusive conversation with FESPA CEO Neil Felton. He
comments, “through our recent FLEX Summit and our increasing
FESPA Direct membership in MEA, we are establishing FESPA’s
brand in this region, and we believe that now is the perfect time to
inspire and stimulate the Middle East’s print, signage and visual
communications community with a FESPA event.
“The whole idea behind the idea of FESPA Leadership Exchange or
FLEX was to connect the leaders of the industry in the Middle East membership, offers access to vital information, along with the perfect
region together and get them talking. And get them to be part of the platform to knowledge sharing with FESPA’s global speciality print
FESPA community. Learning from one another was the most network. The CEO says, “the members will get access to Club FESPA
important thing of the community. FLEX provides a small environment lounge to meet the best printers in the world. They will be provided with
for 30 to 40 printers and talk openly about what’s happening in the refreshments, many technical information, and access to our community.
region. it was really successful in ways which printers can learn from We have a community of 14000 printers around the world. Our job is to
one another. I think it’s important to know about the history of the build demand for print and help printers in the region. We have expertise
event. Our DNA is very much about sharing knowledge and it goes
back to 1960s. We want to do the same in the region. We have done the around the world to help. FESPA network can create great propositions
same in different parts of the world. Now we want Middle East to be for big brands and people who want to use printers.”
part of our family to grow their knowledge. In conclusion, Neil Felton said that, “two things are really important for the
“The response from the FLEX participants was incredible. We trade shows. Number one is content of the show. We need to educate people.
interviewed all of them after event and we did a research on it. They To me, a trade show without content is an advertisement. Some of the shows
said it was incredibly powerful and really good in a format in which I have seen do not have content. We need to take printers through a journey
they could share ideas and start a community. We also have to thank and show them what the opportunities are. That’s the biggest concern as we
the sponsors – HP, Blue Rhine and Flex-Europa. It was a really strong don’t see in regional shows, where at FESPA Shows, content is a key element.
fresh start. With this, we have started our journey purely in the region
now. We would like to do more FLEX events to engage people around “The second thing is to be honest about the visitor numbers to the shows. As
the region. We expect this to grow and do more. In addition to this, a federation representing the print industry, we have to be transparent about
now we have a group of printers from the region to attend the the visitor numbers. With transparency comes trust. When it comes to the
upcoming FESPA Global Print Expo in Europe. We are planning more visitor numbers, FESPA only mentions the unique visitors where many
events in the region to bring the community together.” exhibitions around the world don’t. Exhibitions should be audited and need to
The FESPA Print Census is a unique worldwide research project provide our unique visitors with good content so they can be inspired.
which collects and shares market intelligence. Neil Felton explains, “We will be following the same strategy for FESPA Middle East. We want
“The Print Census is the largest print research in the world. We have the visitors to get excited. They are the people who drive the show. From the
the ability to give not only global view, but also regional view. 1800 FLEX feedback we have received, we understand that people have been
printers around the world have participated in the census. It will give
you the real knowledge on what’s happening in the market. It will be waiting for a show with great content and quality to change the market in the
really interesting to see how the market is looking at the moment region. The Middle East market is really powerful. It’s growing faster than
around the world after the COVID-19 pandemic.” Europe. FESPA Middle East event will be a platform to aid that growth.”
FESPA Direct Membership, whether via an individual or corporate To know more, please visit: https://www.fespamiddleeast.com/

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