Esko has announced that it will be racing to the home of NASCAR, buckling up for another exciting edition of EskoWorld. The company has scheduled its annual EskoWorld user event from May 9-11, 2017 at the Sheraton Charlotte/Le Meridien Charlotte complex located in downtown Charlotte, NC, USA.

EskoWorld is the annual conference of Esko users, whose mission is to connect the entire packaging supply chain, bringing together packaging buyers and manufacturers, industry partners, application specialists and support staff to share ideas, product knowledge and business expertise. It is attended by leading brands, graphic and structural designers, flexo trade shops, sign makers and packaging and label converters.

“This 26th edition of EskoWorld has taken a very pronounced focus on user education and training,” says Mark Quinlan, president, Esko Americas. “There will be more workstations than ever before, ready for more hands-on training and more opportunity for one-on-one interaction with experts.”

A full agenda
The three-day event will include over 75 educational sessions, helping attendees to enhance their knowledge of Esko solutions they currently own—or expand their education on the industry’s latest trends. Interspersed will be sessions explaining specific product roadmaps, product training and lectures on relevant topics—including two keynotes.

EskoWorld will focus on a number of inspiration—rather than product—tracks, allowing attendees with varied backgrounds and interests to attend sessions that most apply to them. They include:
• Brands, Specification & Briefing tracks focus on the holistic go-to-market process, including project and asset management and the packaging production workflow from idea to shelf, connecting stakeholders. This includes brands, designers, premedia and converters.
• Design sessions will help attendees make packaging and display designs better and faster.
• The Artwork & Repro track covers ways to produce print-ready artwork efficiently and avoid rework.
• Flexo Platemaking showcases how companies can take control of their flexo plate production
• Printing presents ideas to help tackle the increased complexity of mixed printing environments (digital, flexo, gravure, offset) with extra attention to achieving color consistency and improving printing press uptime.
• Finishing shows how companies with digital finishing departments can get the absolute most out of their equipment, their workflows and their staff.

During the sessions, users can contribute their own experiences working with changing packaging regulations, creating photo-realistic 3D packaging and successfully implementing an extended gamut printing process. In one specific workshop, Esko conducts an event-wide exercise to map each participant on a large scale workflow diagram, specifying roles, communication channels and requirements in order to build a giant visual map of the connected value chain.

Executive Summit and Brand Owner track
For the first time, there will be a one-day concurrent Executive Summit. While EskoWorld always focuses on sessions that benefit those who build workflows and operate Esko tools, the Executive Summit will focus on inspiring business owners and decision makers about solutions and opportunities to improve their businesses. The objective is for customers to develop deeper trust relationships with Esko, built on intensive interaction among decision makers on relevant business, technology and economics subjects.

In addition, EskoWorld will be the home, once again, for a Brand Owner track. Those responsible for brand packaging can understand how to efficiently manage packaging and packaging assets as part of the go-to-market process and work with partners throughout the complete packaging supply chain.

Economic perspective for the keynote
With the addition of the Executive Summit, it is appropriate that Dr. Alan Beaulieu, president, ITR Economics, will offer the keynote, “A perspective on the US Economy.” He has been providing workshops and economic analysis seminars in countries across the world to thousands of business owners and executives for the last 25 years. He is considered one of the country’s most informed economists.

He is co-author of Prosperity in the Age of Decline, a powerful look at how to make the most of the US and global trends over the next 20 years. Beaulieu also co-authored Make Your Move, a practical and insightful guide on increasing profits through business cycle changes, and noted by one reviewer as “simple, yet awesome.” As the chief economist for numerous US and European trade associations, it has been remarked that Alan’s “insight into our business, a track record of accurate forecasting, and unparalleled knowledge of global markets has earned him the respect and appreciation of key business leaders in our industry.”

Esko partners to participate in event
The EskoWorld conference invites companies that support and/or pair with Esko to attend as partners to showcase their solutions and partnership value. This year, the Partner Zone will be expanded, as it will be combined with the Interaction Zone, where attendees can schedule interactive meetings with product specialists. Esko product teams–for example, the workflow automation group or ArtPro+ booth–will set up tabletop demonstrations, manned by specialists, for product information or one-on-one problem solving meetings. There is still time for companies to participate as an EskoWorld partner. If interested, companies can contact the Esko North America marketing team at 937-535-6126, or [email protected].

“EskoWorld has become a very productive and meaningful event for our users. In fact, EskoWorld 2016 was the largest and best-attended edition ever. As we build a portfolio of solutions that support a wide variety of interests up and down the supply chain, it is even more imperative that users have significant knowledge of how to best use our products,” concludes Quinlan. “We are particularly excited that the event this year will help users bring back tangible, useful ideas.”