OUTPUT

Morwenna Kearns asks Christian Hruschka, Viscom Düsseldorf's project manager, about what's new this year and how he maintains the right balance for visitors.

This year's Viscom Düsseldorf will feature Lunch and Learn events. What will these entail?

At the Lunch and Learn, which takes place every day, exhibitors can sit down at the lunch table with up to ten people and present their topics, listen to the opinions of their customers and discuss ideas for new products. Visitors have the opportunity to ask questions in this small circle, supply ideas and express their own wishes. Several exhibitors have already planned a Lunch and Learn.

Which areas of the show are you looking forward to most?

To all of them. It is precisely this broad range of subjects that is reflected in the various special areas which makes Viscom so attractive and successful. With its own exhibition zone, marketing concept, award and lecture programme, the Digital Signage World for example has the character of a trade fair of its own. At the same time, it particularly benefits from its integration into Viscom – a trade fair covering all areas of visual communication.

What else is new this year?

The supporting programme has many new features this year. Examples are the LED Summit, which offers the possibility to learn the basics of light and lighting, or the Textile Summit – topics here are trends and innovations in textile printing, modern materials, processing possibilities and printing technologies. For the first time this year, the Digital Signage World will feature the Speakers' Corner. This open forum is where exhibitors will give lectures on innovations and trends in digital signage, but it is also a pleasant place to just take a short break.

Is it difficult balancing the range of different visual communications media when planning the show?

Of course that remains an ongoing challenge for us. After all, we want to give our full attention to all segments of the fair. What's most important for us here is to support traditional exhibitor segments, such as advertising technology, light advertising, sign-making, LFP and digital printing just as much as the new segments – Digital Signage World, Customised Design Forum and Display/POS World. Viscom's vitality is also due to the immense variety of its visitors – be they digital printers, light advertising specialists, shop fitters and trade fair construction specialists, advertising agencies, marketing and sales managers from the consumer goods industry and the retail sector or architects, to name but a few.

What are you, personally, looking forward to most?

I am particularly looking forward to the second edition of the designmaker. The competition, which was launched last year, has been well received by the industry. Many creative minds submitted their designs, the three best of these received awards and will now present their designs at this year's Viscom. At the same time, this will then also be the opening of the new round. We are very curious.