FESPA Nederland TREND Event: knowledge and inspiration gets bigger and better

Club FESPA Online spoke to Eduard Hoogendijk, Managing Director of FESPA Nederland, about the growing success of last week’s FESPA TREND event.

Over the past few years, the FESPA Nederland TREND event has established itself as an essential annual event for professionals in the print and sign industry. This year’s theme was “AI – the next step”, a popular topic that gathered around 260 attendees, a number that has been growing year on year.

“A lot of people said it was the best TREND event we have had so far,” says Eduard Hoogendijk. “Everyone was enjoying themselves, they had a great time and were very enthusiastic about the event. There were breakout sessions, really good keynote speakers, great food and a relaxed atmosphere. This event is on the right track – we will have 300 attendees next year, so we are growing and growing.” 

The TREND event provides a platform for collaboration and knowledge-sharing, giving attendees the opportunity to learn from experts and discuss the latest developments in the sector. It is not just a conference but a festival that gives attendees the freedom to shape their own learning experiences. Attendees were obliged to obtain an event-specific app to view the programme, book breakout sessions, take part in polls and seamlessly connect with other attendees and sponsors. This strengthened networking opportunities and encouraged the exchange of ideas.  


The TREND event is aimed at a wide range of professionals within the print and sign industry, including print and sign business owners, sales and marketing professionals, technical specialists, designers and creatives, and researchers and academics. This year it took place at the Mauritskazerne in Ede and focused on the most divisive of subjects: AI. Clearly the excitement around AI has met with a dose of realism, and attendees were looking for more practical applications as well as creative jump-starts, with clear human oversight: spotting anomalies, forecasting, and streamlining mundane tasks. 

“At the event, we looked at all aspects of AI,” says Eduard. “We had people talking about using AI to generate designs and to create chatbots. But we also touched on the ethical dilemmas around AI: for example, privacy. I think the main takeaway from the event was that AI will be very beneficial for us, but humans are still more capable on the creative side. 

Eduard Hoogendijk

“I hadn’t realised there was such a keen interest for learning more about AI. This was the biggest surprise to me, that people preferred to learn rather than network. The breakout sessions were very busy and very interactive. I think the value of an event like this is that people are forced to go outside their comfort zone and talk to and listen to people from other areas of expertise outside their own.”

Don’t be afraid

For Eduard, the standout speaker was Ben van der Burg, who took the audience on a journey into the world of technological developments. A presenter on BNR radio programme BNR digitaal and the podcast de Technoloog, Ben insisted that with AI we should follow his maxim: “Give it time, experiment with it, but don’t be afraid.”

Van der Burg was optimistic about AI’s future: it would take over all functions of the left hemisphere of the brain: language and arithmetic, and cognitive, analytical skills. This would give businesses more room to perform functions that coincide with the right hemisphere of the brain: feeling, imagination, awareness of music and art, the more creative forms of innovation, and so on.

Other keynote speakers shared their insights on how AI can transform the print and sign industry and what steps companies could take to effectively integrate this technology. 

These included Job van den Berg, a data and AI expert and co-founder of Ai.nl, which helps companies and organisations to make AI work for them. He discussed AI ‘agents’, which are transforming office jobs by executing cognitive tasks and combining unstructured data. 

Following the keynote speakers, attendees registered for breakout sessions that delved deeper into specific aspects of AI, such as the impact of AI on production processes, AI in customer relationship management, data analytics and predictive modelling, and innovative applications of AI in design and creation. Wim van Rooijen and Henk-Jan Bouman ran a hands-on workshop on introducing AI into your own company. 



Aside from speakers, sponsors of the FESPA TREND event played a crucial role in its success. With 19 sponsors each contributing, including HP, AGFA, Zund, swissQprint and Canon, there was sufficient financial scope to attract high-quality speakers. In addition, these sponsors provided additional promotion and visibility in the market, which in turn contributes to the appeal of the event. 

One of the unique aspects of this event was that sponsors had the opportunity to invite eight of their clients. This not only increased the number of visitors, but also created a dynamic environment for different parties to meet each other. This underlined the collaboration within the sector and offered valuable networking opportunities for both sponsors and attendees. 


So, what are the plans for next year? That depends on what people want, says Eduard. “We issued a questionnaire, asking: What do you want for next year? Do you like the festival format? Would you prefer a micro exhibition? Something else? We continually try to learn from people, while it’s clear in their minds and still fresh. Therefore it is important we receive that type of feedback to work on, because then I can choose the right location and try to find the right people. The theme for next year is up to those in the industry: it could be innovation or education or something else.

“Often an event like this can just be a keynote speaker talking at you, but people really got involved in the discussions at this event. We want to be as impactful as we can in the industry.”