Letter from the President & CEO of Printing United Alliance Ford Bowers:
Dear PRINTING United Family,
We hope this message finds each of you and your staff healthy and well. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt our lives and businesses, PRINTING United and our great industry are not immune to such intrusion. It is with great disappointment to announce that we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s in-person expo in Atlanta.
The unavoidable decision comes after extensive conversations, surveys, and projections that we have been navigating since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. These conversations were held with numerous entities surrounding all aspects of the show, including the team at Georgia World Congress Center, the city of Atlanta, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security specializing in mass gatherings and local authorities. The health and safety of all our attendees and exhibitors remains paramount.
The decision to cancel this event did not come easily and we have waited as long as possible before costs and implications will begin to impact our exhibitors and attendees. Many factors are unfortunately out of our control, including travel restrictions and federal, state, and local governmental regulations, as well as the potential for another spike in COVID-19 occurrences. These factors have made it nearly impossible to hold the event in person.
We have been humbled by the volume of exhibitors and partners who have wholeheartedly expressed the desire and need for PRINTING United to take place in order for their businesses to continue the progression out of this disruption, especially after such a successful PRINTING United showcase in 2019. Even without a show, we will not be discouraged.
“According to the consensus of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, they expect the American economy to grow robustly in 2021 — by its fastest pace in nearly 40 years. That will give the printing industry a big boost, flipping the mindset from cost reduction and survival to capital investment and growth.” — Andy Paparozzi, Chief Economist, PRINTING United Alliance.
With that in mind, we now turn our attention to helping the entire industry prepare for the recovery. While recreating the experience of being together under one roof is a challenge, we can certainly do the next best thing…create a comprehensive online experience like no other! By combining the strengths of our combined PRINTING United Alliance and NAPCO Media organizations, we are already working diligently to launch a unique PRINTING United experience to connect attendees with exhibitors and their latest technologies. Details will be forthcoming on this very shortly.
We cannot thank you enough for your unwavering support and look forward to sharing more details about the online event to come.
So, in 2020, we will remain Bigger.Better.Together.
Wishing you well,
Ford Bowers
President and CEO
PRINTING United Alliance