ACUP Begins on Sunday
Three days of sunshine await in-plant managers traveling to Charlotte, N.C., for the 45th annual Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference next week. The event is set to kick off with a reception on Sunday evening.
About 45 managers have signed up to attend ACUP—fewer than attended the 2008 event in Clearwater Beach, Fla., but a good deal more than registered for ACUP last year. That event was eventually cancelled. But this year's version promises to make up for that one-year sabbatical. Managers will convene in Charlotte from all over the U.S. and even from Scotland and New Zealand.
Hosted by Richard Griffin, director of Campus Printing at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), ACUP will feature several roundtable discussions on topics like digital presses, online ordering and wide-format printing. Other sessions will cover good financial management practices, best business practices, peer evaluation, using social media to grow your business and utilizing Microsoft Outlook to manage your time.
IPG Editor Bob Neubauer will provide a “state of the industry” address using data from a major in-plant industry survey currently being conducted. He will also discuss the reasons behind some recent in-plant closures, to better prepare other managers for challenges they may face. The ACUP keynote address will be given by CPCC’s president, Dr. Tony Zeiss, on the topic “Becoming Indispensable to Your Organization.”
“One thing we plan to offer is a peer review session,” Griffin reveals. “We plan to break attendees up into groups of like-sized operations, and...each group member will get the opportunity to run her/his issues by other manager/peers.”
ACUP 2010 will also feature a vendor exhibit area, a tour of a major commercial printer and a visit to the Charlotte Motor Speedway and Racing Museum.