Conferences Measure Industry’s Pulse

CHANDLER, AZ—The highest attendee turnout of the decade marked the PIA/GATF Presidents Conference at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass & Resort here March 4-8. More than 300 people attended the five-day affair, which featured the theme, “Printing Industry at the Crossroads,” and it marked the conference’s largest number of newcomers.

Among the highlights of the event was a silent auction, titled “Road Rally,” that helped raise $17,000 for the association’s political action committee, PrintPAC. Another topical subject was a look at private equity partners in the printing industry.

The NAPL’s Top Management Conference got underway March 8 in Santa Barbara, CA, with NAPL Vice President and Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi telling a record crowd of more than 250 that the printing industry is in expansion, with sales for 2006 growing at their fastest rate in eight years.

However, Paparozzi emphasized that the growth rate will slow significantly with the economy over the next 12 months.

“But we are still growing and have been for a while,” Paparozzi told the audience. “Companies that are still not participating in that growth need to quickly ask themselves why they are being left behind.”