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Trade fairs in our industry have done a good job of combining demonstrations of new and established products with educational sessions on how they can be used in a practical sense, as well as how they fit into the wider market trends. This year's Viscom Düsseldorf – considered by some to be the more relevant of the four annual Viscom shows for a UK audience – is not likely to disappoint in this regard.

The 2011 show, taking place from October 13th to 15th, will see the debut of Lunch and Learn events, which, as the name suggests, is an opportunity to network with peers over a bite to eat as well as to get involved in some training. Topics on the Lunch and Learn curriculum include ascertaining the total cost of large digital signage networks, intelligent font management, the iPad for POS applications, textile refinement, LEDs for lighting, web fonts, and web-to-print. The ticket price includes lunch and drinks, so it looks to be good value.

There is also a more traditional line-up of seminars, kicking off on the Thursday morning with a workshop on Adobe InDesign 5.5, followed by a session on Adobe Photoshop CS5 and, later in the week, a lesson in Adobe Bridge. Digital signage is likely to attract interest at the show once again, and the planned seminars intend to tell visitors all they need to know about the growing market. A case study of a deployment at fast food chain KFC will start things off, while relative newcomers may appreciate sessions on the basics of digital signage for advertising technicians, using QR codes, and creating 3D content.

Printing, of course, will be a major part of the seminar line-up and the show itself. Subjects relevant to wide-format printers include customisation, digital printing for décor applications – an extension of the dedicated 'print design!' area – textiles and green printing, while also sessions on publishing are also planned.

Aside from the Adobe workshops, the seminar line-up features presentations of a range of other products, services and initiatives, such as Dark Sky for sign-making, CorelDraw X5, and embroidery software DecoStudio e2.

At the end of each day there's also a highlights session – known as the Late Night Talk Show – to update you on what you may have missed. Plan ahead and get to all seminars and workshops early, as they are likely to busy – and so they should be. For many signage and display producers, trade shows are among the few times during the working year that a chance to not only catch up on what's new but also learn how to use it presents itself, without the inconvenience of having to arrange it. The educational programme at any show is not to be missed.