Celebrating its fifth year focusing on the original communications delivery device, International Print Day (IPD) throws open its virtual doors to the global print community on Wednesday, October 17th – and everyone is invited.

Print will break free of divisions, geographical markets and international time zones as the community takes to social media to share knowledge, showcase its work and form new relationships using the hashtag #IPD18. The fun begins at 6PM ET on October 16th (*11PM GMT) which is 9AM in Australia (AED), and finishes 24 hours later on October 17th at 6PM ET.

As well as using the hashtag #IPD18, print enthusiasts are invited to engage with the event by using #PrintWith as part of this year’s focus on collaboration and working together to make projects and products even better.

Deborah Corn, Principal at Print Media Centr and Founder of International Print Day, says: “International Print Day is a global celebration for all aspects of print and print marketing. To put some unifying context around the sharing we have an annual theme to support that love. This year our theme is collaboration, represented by #PrintWith. We know the best way to make projects, products and services better is to work together, and we will weave that into #IPD18 sharing.”

Last year, IPD brought the community together to share its passion for print, generating almost 30 million social media impressions in 24 hours across six continents. Through this global reach and awareness campaign for print, IPD has received recognition from the likes of Good Morning America, the United States Capitol Building, and in 2017 the United Nations Library in Geneva, helping to cement International Print Day as a high-profile annual event.

Corn continues: “International Print Day is a celebration of print, but it’s also one giant lead generation and workforce development opportunity for our industry. I encourage everyone reading this to plan ahead and put some strategy into your sharing. Help the greater good by promoting all aspects of print media and careers that are available within it. Our #PrintWith collaboration theme strongly ties into this.”

The #PrintWith hashtag was crowdsourced by the participants of #PrintChat, a weekly hour-long Twitter Q&A discussing all things print and marketing, taking place on Wednesdays at 4PM ET (9PM GMT). The chat is hosted by Deborah Corn and Sandy Hubbard, and anyone can take part. A special #IPD18 #PrintChat will take place at the usual time on October 17th.To find out more about how to participate in any #PrintChat session, visit www.printchat.printmediacentr.com.

You can download the official #IPD18 poster created by Craig Bower of Design That Rocks at internationalprintday.org. On October 17th the poster will become interactive through an Augmented Reality experience created by Miralupa. Download the THRUBOX app from your mobile store and follow the instructions on the poster to see and share it.

Corn concludes: “IPD is celebrated through social media for 24 hours which enables everyone to participate from wherever they are. It’s minimal effort for maximum reward, and literally one of the best open networking opportunities all year. On Oct 17th watch the social streams and connect with participants, share and pass along great information, and most of all Help Print Trend The Planet!”

For more information, please visit www.internationalprintday.org, where additional details about the format and content of the day can be found. Novice social media users can also find “Social Media Minute” videos by Print Media Centr at www.youtube.com/printmediacentr ahead of time to shore up their sharing knowledge.

Connect with International Print Day on Twitter @IntPrintDay www.twitter.com/intprintday and on Facebook www.facebook.com/internationalprintday.