PrintEx News: Fearnley calls on Dscoopers to find strength

Gold medal winning Paralympian Kurt Fearnley called on printers at the Dscoop PrintEx event to look inside to the struggle to find their strength, and then to be there for each other.

In an inspiring talk Fearnley – born with no lower spine or legs – recounted his days growing up in a small country town, and his strategy for winning gold, which was to crack on with it, embrace the struggle, find your inner strength, and share the journey with others.

The lunchtime Dscoop saw chairman Kelvin Gage welcome the local committee to the stage, with Paul Wilcockson from Dashing, Andrew Crump from Peacock Bros, Lachlan Finch from Rawson Print Co and Matt Mills form Fuzed sharing the benefits they receive from being part of Dscoop.

Tony Bertrand from major sponsor Ball & Doggett then introduced the company's new Aspire rewards programme, which will see printers gain rewards tokens for hitting targets, those tokens then able to be translated into business or pleasure products or experiences.

Gage highlighted the upcoming HP Indigo Operator Saturday events, slated for 24 August in Sydney and 31 August in Auckland, before introducing Alon Bar-Shany who heads HP Indigo from Israel.

Bar-Shany said, “The biggest challenge facing the industry is commoditisation. Our goal at HP Indigo is to enable printers to move away from that.”

Bar-Shany then stepped down for Fearnley to share his story and life lessons with the audience. He said, “The struggle is life, the struggle is the beautiful part, don't shy away from it. It is where we find out who we are. We need to reach in and recognise the strength in ourselves, then reach out and build strength in the people around us.”

Among Fearnley's improbable but inspiring achievements are three Paralympic golds, being part of a winning Sydney to Hobart yachting team, and crawling along the 100km Kokoda Trail.