10th Annual — and Largest to Date — Inkjet Summit Kicks Off on Monday in Austin, Texas

Marco Boer addresses attendees at the 2021 Inkjet Summit.

The Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort, located outside of Austin Texas, will become the center of the production inkjet printing industry universe next Monday with the kick off of the 10th annual Inkjet Summit conference. With more than 300 attendees, this year's gathering will be the largest event to date. Of that record turnout, 140 of the attendees will constitute print services providers within the commercial, direct mail, transactional, publishing (books, catalogs, and magazines), and in-plant printing sectors.

Barb Pellow will once again lead a keynote panel of current production inkjet users.

The Inkjet Summit, which is hosted by PRINTING United Alliance —the parent of Printing Impressions and In-Plant Impressions, magazines— will start out with a keynote address by conference chair Marco Boer, who will discuss how innovation and automation are driving the inkjet opportunity forward.

He will be followed by Barb Pellow, of Pellow & Partners, who will lead a keynote panel of current inkjet users. They will include: Don Mader, CEO of Southeastern Printing; Scott Gorman, VP of manufacturing, Premier Press; Cheryl Kahanec, CEO of Quantum Group; and Jeff Matos, senior director of operations, at Broadridge.

The formal program will end with a general session focused on the ongoing labor shortage, and how print providers are turning to automation and digital printing, including inkjet, to help meet that challenge. It will be moderated by Printing Impressions Editor-in-Chief Mark Michelson and will feature Tonya Spiers, president/owner of Knight Abbey Printing & Direct Mail; Randy Sparrow, VP of operations, Corporate Communications Group (CCG); and Chuck Werninger, senior manager and record management officer, IT administrative services, for the Houston Independent School District.

The first day will conclude with a welcome reception/dinner to enable extensive networking and the ability to enjoy face-to-face interactions with industry friends and acquaintances. Commercial and franchise printer attendees will attend from a range of leading companies, including Allegra Network, Allied Printing Services, AlphaGraphics, Bennett Graphics, Cedar Graphics, Corporate Communications Group, Franchise Services, Grandville Printing, Graphic Village, Knight Abbey Printing & Direct Mail, Mittera, Mossberg & Co., Premier Press, Quantum Graphics, Seaway Printing, Traxium, and Walker 360, among several others.

Inkjet Summit: Hosted Buyer Conference Model

For those who may not be aware, the Inkjet Summit is an exclusive gathering that assembles all of the key players in this market, including pre-qualified printing and corporate executives who attend totally expense-free, production inkjet and finishing system manufacturers, software providers, paper suppliers, and others joining together to share ideas, challenges, and solutions that work.

Leading solution providers will share their thinking on important issues and developments, end users will share their successes and challenges, and industry leaders and analysts will discuss the state of the market and how inkjet is impacting different market segments.

Its unique format features multiple inkjet user panels, keynote presentations, breakout sessions broken down by market segments, real-life case study presentations, general sessions, 1:1 meetings between sponsors and attendees, and endless opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction and networking. Stay tuned for ongoing coverage next week in the "Today on Printing Impressions" e-newsletter (click here to subscribe for free) and on PIworld.com.

With last year's Inkjet Summit at the same venue in Austin having to be pushed back to July due to the pandemic, moving back to its traditional April timeframe should enable cooler-weather outside receptions, meals, and evening entertainment.