If you haven’t attended Germany-based drupa – “the world’s leading trade fair for printing technologies” – you’ve almost certainly heard about it. The 11-day global print-fest happens every four years and was most recently held at the end of May through beginning of June.

More than 1,500 exhibitors from 50 different nations gathered to focus on new equipment launches, business development opportunities and key trends in graphic communications, all with an eye to the future of the industry world-wide. It’s a massive industry event. It even has its own theme song. (Earworm alert! It’s super catchy.)

And at its helm is Sabine Geldermann, Director drupa Print Promotion Industry Summits (PPIS), and the first woman to lead this iconic industry event. If you’ve been fortunate to attend drupa (2028 is on my biz travel bucket list!), you know exactly who we’re talking about. But for the hundreds of women in print whose roles don’t take them to Europe every four years, we thought we’d provide a virtual introduction.

Sabine is literally one of the best-known women in print in the WORLD. In the ramp up to drupa 2024, Sabine launched a 3-continent world tour that included stops in India, Japan, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Italy, France, and Turkey, and culminated with a pan-Eastern European press conference for eight countries held in Hungary. At each stop, Sabine and her team led discussions on the big-picture geo-political issues facing the industry, such as AI, sustainability, and labor skills shortages.

When asked about being named the first director of drupa, Sabine prefers first and foremost to highlight the breadth and depth of the career journey that led her to the position, but she’s just as quick to say that she hopes her role is an “encouragement for other women to enter the industry.”

In an interview with Two Sides, she described drupa as “truly a landmark event” and one with “innovation and strength on display, with so many product launches and premieres, all done within a tangible climate of investment everywhere you go.” She also discusses drupa’s participation in the Net Zero Carbon Events initiative, a growing movement of making trade shows more environmentally-conscious toward their host cities (and planet).

You can learn more about Sabine, what it takes to execute a major world-wide industry trade show, and her unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing the global printing industry in this two-part exclusive interview by PrintWeek here and here.