ACUP+ Virtual Conference Starts Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP+) will kick off its three-day virtual conference. So far 240 people, representing 40 U.S and six international colleges and universities have registered for the event.

Covering more than a dozen topics, the virtual conference will feature keynote speakers, member-led sessions, roundtables, a virtual exhibit hall, and even live after-hours networking time. It will feature IPI Editor Bob Neubauer as a keynote speaker.

The association engaged ExpoPass to manage its virtual conference platform, which is Web-based and integrates with Zoom for live sessions and roundtable discussions. Topics will include:

• Equipment justification
• Wide-format printing
• Package lockers
• Bulk mail services
• Garment printing
• Promotional products
• Pricing strategies
• Staffing
• Inkjet printing

On Thursday, three in-plants will offer virtual shop tours, followed by a discussion and Q&A led by the shops’ managers.

With the theme “We are Virtually Everywhere,” the conference will kick off April 13 at 11:30 EST with a welcome from ACUP+ President Bob Donahue, director of Franklin University’s in-plant. Then opening keynote speaker Bob Kelly, a well-known Philadelphia TV traffic anchor, will give a keynote presentation about how to reinvent yourself and create new ways to do your job in the face of change. He will discuss how he reinvented himself to stay relevant when the media industry changed, and how that encouraged him to create a new type of morning news segment.

The virtual vendor exhibit hall will open at 1:30 EST, allowing attendees to chat with vendors, watch live product demonstrations, and set up 1:1 meetings with representatives. Three concurrent sessions will start at 3:00 EST followed by four roundtables at 4:15. After-hours networking will kick off at 5:30 EST, giving attendees a chance to catch up with old friends, meet new ones, discuss the sessions, and solve one another’s problems.

April 14 will follow much the same schedule, with IPI Editor Bob Neubauer as the opening keynote speaker, starting at noon. He will tap into recent IPI research and conversations with higher-ed in-plants during the pandemic to provide an overview of how in-plants are faring and what changes and new services they should be focusing on to prepare for a post-COVID world.

April 15 will feature a membership meeting, the virtual exhibit hall, and then the ACUP+ Awards Ceremony.

Both ACUP+ members and non-members can register (at different fee levels), and managers have the option to invite their full team to the event. There’s even a new higher-ed student rate. Learn more about ACUP+ and the 2021 conference here:

ACUP-edu.org/2021conference