By Ian Morris
As Total beckons, many of us will be planning to visit the show. Of course for some, you will be there for the whole week displaying your wares, reminiscing with old colleagues, networking and, hopefully, meeting potential new customers.
During the show, IOP: The Packaging Society and Total will be launching a series of seminars on Open Innovation in Consumer Packaging, supported by Unilever. Bernie Rickinson, ceo of IOM3 (Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, of which IOP: The Packaging Society is part) will give the opening address, followed by a terrific speaker line-up from all areas of industry. Unilever itself will link “Consumers, Brands, Trends”, with new ideas from its own R&D Packaging Programme, Steve Kelsey from design house PI3 will cover “Creating a consumer-led approach to packaging design”, Mark Seddon from RPC will talk on the theme “An Innovative Approach to Packaging Supply” and the Packaging Federation's Dick Searle will consider whether retailers are “asking for too much for too little from the packaging supply sector?”
Retailers and brand owners, research organisations and users too, including Jean Sheppard from the Women's Institute, will pose the question: “Do retailers & brand owners give consumers what they want or is it just so much spin?”
One dilemma may be: “How do you plan your day?” There will be over 700 exhibitors at the exhibition and 30 seminar speakers to choose from. Clearly it will be impossible to listen to every speaker and visit every exhibitor, but with a little forethought you can pick and choose the topics and suppliers most relevant to your business.
So after it's all over, what will you do with the pearls of wisdom and the forest of brochures? File them away and let them gather dust. Hopefully not, but it would be prudent to assess what you have learnt and pass it on to those around you so they can learn too.
As an industry we have some big social, ethical and political issues to address. We need to be able to stand up for our industry and show we are responsible, listening to customers' needs and providing a balanced, thought-through solution. Be prepared to learn a little and share it - you never know when it will come in handy.
*For a full list of the seminars at Total Processing & Packaging 2007 visit: www.totalexhibition.com
IOP: The Packaging Society's Ian Morris Ian_Morris
