Outstanding summit proves industry is thriving
Record numbers descended on Sao Paulo for the highly acclaimed Label Summit Latin America as it returned to Brazil last month. Held at a new venue, the Hotel Transamerica in Sao Paulo, the summit was a huge success.
532 industry professionals from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and beyond, attended the conference and table-top exhibition, demonstrating the high demand there is for an even bigger event of this type in the Latin American market.
A new format which offered delegates a packed conference program in the morning and cutting edge interactive breakout sessions in the afternoon was extremely well received. The conference program was expertly put together to emphasize the latest developments in the label industry worldwide and the more local industry in Latin America. Being able to choose between two streams, business management or technology, for the breakout sessions proved to be very popular, with the keynote speeches and dynamic end-user and converter panel sessions in the morning conference being praised for the exceptional quality of the presentations and speakers.
An interesting trend also started to emerge with almost 200 delegates arriving at the summit to just attend the exhibition to the delight of the exhibitors. The need for more educational events in the Latin American labeling industry is increasingly becoming more apparent as it rapidly grows at a rate of 10-15% per anum. John Davis, Senior Vice President of CTI commented: “The Label Summit in Brazil turned out to be an excellent venue for CTI to expose its products to the right targeted prospects. We left the show with leads that we believe will more than pay for our time and investment. I would do it again in a heartbeat! ”
Presentation highlights from the morning conferences included an invaluable presentation: “Challenges of running a family run business”. Given by brothers Amin Silva Yedra and Fabian Silva Yedra of the Mexican company Etiquetas Anro, they discussed the arrival of the new generation, how to define roles within the business and the importance of gaining experience in other markets. Fernando Aravena, President of Primitiva Label and Maurício Preto, President of Indexflex, presented an extremely interesting converter case study: “International partnerships”. They looked at the best ways to share knowledge in the global market, getting a competitive edge and how to discover new opportunities in the market. Another interesting panel session “Opportunities in today's economic climate - how to maximize your potential” which was chaired by Roger Pellow, Labelexpo Managing Director, bought together international and local opinions from a mature market and a new emerging market by having John Hickey, President of Smyth (USA), and Jean W. Chatziefstration, Director of Prakolar (Brazil), on the panel. The interactive session focused on the opportunities in our global industry and also looked at the technological and geographical potentials in new markets.
With Latin America now one of the fastest growing markets in the world, it is fast becoming one of the main hubs for the labeling industry. As a result of this, Labels and Labeling magazine has actually sent journalist, James Quirk, to be based in Buenos Aires, reporting on developments and writing a local newsletter to meet this high demand.
Roger Pellow, Labelexpo Managing Director, commented: “It was fantastic to be back with Label Summit Latin America in Sao Paulo for the third time, and to such a brilliant reception. It is an exciting time for the labeling industry in this region so we are pleased to yet again be able to provide a high quality and an extremely well received summit where the industry can congregate to focus on the key developments that are happening both locally and internationally. We are looking forward to continuing our excellent relationship with the Brazilian association ABIEA moving forward into the future and will definitely be back in 2011 with an even bigger and better educational event for the industry.”
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