Graph Expo is known as the “largest and most inclusive commercial printing, package printing and converting, publishing, mailing, transactional, newspaper, marketing, and photo imaging exposition and conference for the Americas,” as stated on the official website for the conference. It is held every year at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. The School of Print Media gives students an outstanding opportunity to travel to Chicago and not only learn about the latest and greatest innovations in the industry, but also to meet and network with professionals in their fields of interest. This year, SPMetc’s own Casey Jabbour and Mike Parrone made the trip.
Getting to Chicago proved to be somewhat of a challenge, as the train was cancelled three days in a row due to flooding in upstate New York. However, upon arrival at McCormick place at 3:30pm on Monday, September 12, it was clear that the trip was well worth the struggles. Walking into the show was one of the most overwhelming moments I have had as a RIT student thus far. There were hundreds of exhibitors and so many interesting things to see that it was hard to pick where to start.
Exhibitors ranged from small companies to companies recognizable across the world. Some of the featured exhibits from this year’s show were XMPie – a company from Xerox, Canon USA, Fujifilm, Pageflex, Heidelberg USA, Hewlett-Packard, Agfa Graphics, Scodix, and Presstek Inc. There were also many educational seminars ranging from packaging, to social networking, to workflow.
Mike and I also enjoyed spending time with the SPM Lab Facilities Managers, Erich Lehman and John Eldridge. We attended the RIT alumni dinner Monday evening and then went to eat at Portillo’s. This is a tradition for Erich, John, SPM alumni, and current students who are attending Graph Expo, and was a great opportunity to share opinions, thoughts, and ideas among people who are all passionate about SPM. We were also able to receive a personal tour of Graph Expo, from Erich Lehman which made the show floor much less overwhelming.
Graph Expo is just one of the wonderful opportunities that SPM provides its students with. It’s a chance that should be taken advantage of by undergraduate and graduate students alike. It was not only an extremely informative and interesting few days, but it was a great opportunity for me to work on my networking skills.

Article link – https://spmetc.cias.rit.edu/wordpress/?s=scodix