Training and Education

This quick tour around the show floor provides a glimpse of what was new and gives a sense of the energy generated by attendees and exhibitors alike.

PHOENIX—The PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference is slated for November 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel here. The conference will feature three educational tracks: management, technical, and sales and marketing.Among the conference topics: profiting with digital printing, assessing customer needs, re-engineering database files, and liability/security issues. A Web-to-print symposium will be held in conjunction…

SEWICKLEY, PA—The trend for printing companies to expand their Internet-based services is growing rapidly. A recent survey by PIA/GATF and Printing Impressions highlighted the trend: Of those respondents not yet offering a “Web-to-print” solution, 54 percent plan to introduce one in the next 12 months. The October 2006 survey of more than 400 magazine subscribers also revealed that about 50 percent of the respondents already involved in such services are offering branded customer storefronts, compared to production portals (26), and digital storefronts (18). The addition of these services was not without considerable work: 41 percent of respondents built their sites from scratch, rather than by

ALL ROADS lead to the Windy City for our industry’s biggest annual confab, Graph Expo, this month. Although you might be reading this issue of Printing Impressions just after the event—or perhaps on your way to the show—most pundits predicted that the overriding themes for this year’s edition would be digital printing and workflow. Large exhibits from companies like Xerox, Kodak, H-P, Xeikon and Océ will surely be bustling with show floor traffic. Printers who have already entered the digital printing realm will be crowded shoulder-to-shoulder within these booths with those still pondering whether to make their initial leap. Some show-goers will just

PRINTERS LOOKING to boost their bottom lines with digital printing, look no farther. Attendees at the general session “Profiting with Digital Print” at the upcoming PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference will learn what industry profit leaders have done to maximize their digital printing investments and realize respectable returns. Last year, digital/toner-based printing grew at double the rate of traditional ink-on-paper printing. This session, led by Ronnie Davis, Ph.D., vice president and chief economist at PIA/GATF, will discuss details from recent economic data compiled by the association, a benchmark to compare a company’s efforts in achieving desired results. “Right now, toner-based/digital printing is

THE FIFTH annual PIA/GATF Variable Data and Personalization Conference, held November 12-14 in Phoenix, will feature more than two days of sessions to help companies advance their capabilities. This special supplement has been designed to highlight some of the key conference topics and speakers. Attendees will hear case studies from the Canadian Conservative Party and Move.com that provide a behind-the-scenes look at effective uses of VDP. Three separate tracks, a total of 21 sessions, are being offered. Management sessions will include: Building an Efficient Cost/Financial Model; Liability/Security Issues; Managing a Multimedia Company; Transitioning from Transactional to Marketing; as well as Profiting from Digital

CHICAGO—The Windy City is the place to be this month as thousands of printers from across the country converge upon the McCormick Place South complex October 15-18 for Graph Expo and Converting Expo 2006. Products and services for the graphic arts industry will encompass more than 400,000 square feet of space. Nearly 600 exhibitors have committed to the event, which reportedly will be the largest Graph Expo since 2000. Among the evening festivities is the annual Gold Ink Awards and Hall of Fame Gala, sponsored by North American Publishing (parent company of Printing Impressions), on October 16. Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductees Jim

Any graphic communications industry executive who has ever wished for an expert, objective consultant to guide him or her through today’s maze of business and technological challenges should be sure not to miss EXECUTIVE OUTLOOK® 2006 on October 14 in Chicago, says conference chair William Lamparter. “All of the values an experienced, neutral industry consultant can offer to clients will be at the command of EXECUTIVE OUTLOOK attendees,” Lamparter said. EXECUTIVE OUTLOOK takes place the day before the doors open for the year’s foremost North American trade show for printing, publishing and converting: GRAPH EXPO® and CONVERTING EXPO® 2006. The show, which will

Reenergize Hiring Practices MOST MANAGERS have come to realize that their most troublesome personnel problems are almost always rooted in poor hiring decisions. Poor performance, employee conflict and countless other workplace problems too often confirm a manager’s “gut feeling” that something was not right, even before the employee was hired. And with so many experts offering conflicting advice on how to “hire smart,” it’s no wonder that the number one complaint of commercial printing industry managers is the inability to “find the right people.” Recently, these managers have been swamped by ads and direct mail touting scientific—or scientific-sounding—approaches to the hiring

JUST AS Major League Baseball fans look forward to October for the culmination of a long season with the World Series, printers move into autumn with thoughts of the industry’s largest trade show in the Americas for 2006, Graph Expo & Converting Expo, fittingly held in Chicago, home of the reining world champion White Sox. This year’s Graph Expo & Converting Expo, taking place October 15-18 at the McCormick Place South complex, should provide plenty of action for attendees. Exhibit space has topped 400,000 square feet, with nearly 600 exhibiting companies in attendance. It will be the largest Graph Expo show held since 2000.