Reflections on Connect Conference 2026 and the value of building relationships across the international signs and graphics community
By Linda Edwards, Managing Director, British Sign and Graphics Association
The signs and graphics industry has never been contained by borders. The businesses and professionals who make up our sector, wherever they are based, are working through many of the same questions around skills and recruitment, technology, efficiency and the changing expectations of their customers. Connect Conference 2026 in Sydney brought a good number of those shared conversations into one room, and I am pleased to report that the event was a real success for everyone who took part.
The conference ran during Visual Impact Expo at Sydney Showground, and was created to bring together business leaders, industry experts and decision makers from across the print, sign and graphics sector. Across three days, sessions covered business trends, emerging technologies, sustainability and the strategies helping companies to grow. For BSGA, the chance to collaborate with our Australian partner, Visual Connections, on the other side of the world was one of the real highlights of the week.
Meeting our international counterparts
I was proud to represent BSGA in the International Industry Insights session, led by Karren Challoner-Miles, CEO of Visual Connections. The session brought together representatives from international industry associations to discuss the part associations play in supporting their sectors, and how each of us is responding to the changing needs of the businesses we serve. It was wonderful to meet colleagues whose work so closely mirrors our own, and to hear how associations in other markets are approaching issues that will be familiar to every BSGA member.
A community beyond our borders
Conversations like these are a reminder that our community does not end at the edge of the UK market. The relationships formed in Sydney give BSGA a wider network to draw on, and a clearer sense of where our own priorities sit alongside those of our international peers. Understanding how others approach recruitment, sustainability and new technology helps us to sharpen our own thinking and to keep our work focused on the priorities that matter most to members here at home.
Our industry has always been bigger than any single market, and Connect Conference 2026 was a welcome reminder of how much we gain by looking outward. My thanks go to Karren Challoner-Miles and the team at Visual Connections for their warm welcome, and to everyone who helped make the event such a success. The connections we made in Sydney will continue to inform our work long after the show has closed.