Dscoop8 a Hit in Nashville

In-plants, commercial printers, designers and technology experts spent three days together in Nashville last week attending the eighth annual Dscoop conference, geared toward users of HP Indigo and HP Scitex technology. More than 2,000 people packed the auditorium at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center for the opening keynote address, by Mark King, CEO of TaylorMade.

The three-day meeting included scores of educational sessions geared toward HP users, as well as an exhibit area with nearly 100 partners showing equipment and software designed to work with HP equipment.

Mobile technology was a big topic of conversation at Dscoop, with speakers stressing the importance of using it for marketing and incorporating it into print campaigns.

“The winners in the market are going to have to figure out how to make print and mobile work together,” noted Barb Pellow in a session on strategic marketing.

Another oft-repeated message at sessions was that today’s leaders, thanks to constantly changing communications technologies, must themselves be in a constant state of change. What worked a year ago will not work in today’s business climate.

One strong believer in this mantra was keynote speaker Gary Vaynerchuk, author and social media expert. In a talk both profane and prophetic, he challenged business owners to stop running their operations as if it were 10 years ago. Social media and mobile devices are changing the way we communicate, he insisted.

Read IPG's full report on Dscoop8 here.