So I have kept my ambitions for this article quite modest. I made just one promise to myself – don't mention Benny Landa.
Oh look, I have failed within two sentences. I may as well give up entirely. It's a lost cause: Benny has commandeered this issue of ProPrint in the same way he usurped the German trade show. But I don't want to discuss his nanotechnology. There's plenty of that elsewhere in this edition. No doubt it will remain a talking point in the months and years to come.
I want to talk about showmanship, style and, yes, even a bit of sexiness. Because what Benny brought to Drupa 2012 was the kind of flair that is sorely missing from print. Yes, his name was in constant use throughout the show, but that isn't the most impressive bit. What is more notable is that on the opening day of Drupa, major UK newspaper The Guardian ran a 2,000-word article about Landa's innovation.
It isn't often that print rates on the news agenda. On the rare occasions it does, it is usually to lament the industry's imminent death. The fact that Landa has started a discussion in which even outsiders can look at our sector as dynamic and forward-looking is uplifting.
For a process so obsessed with images, print has an image problem. It is ironic that the business of making beautiful impressions can leave such a bad impression, particularly on the next generation.
It is hard to blame mainstream news journalists for penning articles about the death of print when so many within the industry are intent on focusing on their own demise.
Yet my takeaway from Drupa 2012 was optimism. There's no doubt that some segments of print are on a downward trajectory, but even within these there will be success stories.
Focusing on the big picture is admirable, but that doesn't mean you should constantly peg your own fate against the wider structural changes affecting printed communications. That's a recipe for depression.
Steven Kiernan is editor of ProPrint
