Successful Southern Conference

• Ed Arning, of Middle Tennessee State University, talked about the retail center he set up in the student union, which has created a new revenue stream beyond ink on paper.
• John Sarantakos, of the University of Oklahoma, noted that in-plants must be willing to change to meet campus needs. Make sure you are engaged with your customers, he said, and listen to what they are requesting. Be creative in finding ways to meet those needs. (See story on page 24.)
• Catherine Chambers, who recently moved from Virginia Tech to Alfred State University, gave two presentations, one on merging mail and print operations and another on managing customer and employee expectations. Merging print and mail allows for quicker through times from the start of a print project to getting it into the mail stream, but ever-changing USPS regulations and cross training employees can add complexity, she said.
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  Chambers also outlined the characteristics of the four generations that exist in today’s work force, noting the differences in how each might deal with others, as well as their work ethics and loyalty. She suggested pairing different generations for mentoring and said there is less conflict if these pairings are separated by one generation.

In another session, Consultant Vic Barkin discussed the benefits of FSC chain-of-custody certification for in-plants. Then Lisa Cross, of InfoTrends, presented a thorough array of research data on in-plant trends.