Texas Roundup for NGPA

THE NATIONAL Government Publishing Association (NGPA) rounded up government in-plant managers from all parts of the country last month for the group’s 31st annual conference.

The three-day event, held in Austin, Texas, was organized by NGPA Vice President Richard Beto, director of document services at the University of Texas-Austin; Robert Gomez, director of publishing for the Texas State Senate; and NGPA President Audrey Marrocco, print administrator for the Pennsylvania Department of General Services.

Several dozen state and federal printing managers, along with a few of their state university counterparts, attended professional development sessions and toured the in-plants at the University of Texas and the Texas State Senate. Evening activities included an authentic Texas barbecue at the Salt Lick, an Austin-area favorite.

Industry Trends

Jim Hamilton, group director at InfoTrends, delivered the keynote address. He began by describing industry trends, which include an increase in demand for print, accompanied by a tendency toward lower per-copy costs. Hamilton pointed to variable data and transpromo (the blending of promotional and transactional documents) as opportunities to add value. He also noted that we operate in a multi-channel environment, including both paper and electronic forms of communications. Successful managers must be able to work in both areas.

“Evaluate your role as a communications facilitator rather than as a printer,” he said. Identify customer needs and look for new services to add.

Jean-Luc Devis, Washington State Printer, led a discussion on marketing. The whole point of marketing, he said, is to create awareness of your in-plant and generate action.

He presented examples of promotional items used in his operations including a color poster and coffee mug. He argued that in-plant managers should be creative and look for innovative ways to tell their stories to their clients.

He suggested sending success stories to In-Plant Graphics and other publications and leveraging the Google search engines that agency customers use to find the latest news. His operation’s Print-to-Post newsletter (reviewed in IPG’s May issue) is an effective tool to promote successes and services, he said.

Using Focus Groups

Rick Wise, director of Printing Services at the University of Missouri-Columbia, described the fine points of using focus groups to gather input from customers. Wise suggested that managers should have a clear purpose for setting up a focus group. The group should be led by someone with decision-making authority, should contain a balance of large and small customers plus administrators, and should have clear boundaries. And most importantly, Wise advised the audience not to ask a question if they can’t live with any answer the group provides.

Ray Chambers, a higher education consultant and former in-plant manager, said that Adobe’s plans to release new versions of Acrobat and Reader without a print-to-FedEx-Kinko’s link may have met the concerns of commercial printers. But it also may have increased the threat to in-plants, which are seriously underrepresented in Adobe’s information gathering process.

Chambers reminded attendees that some commercial printers and print trade associations want to see public in-plants closed and their work moved into the private sector. He suggested that conference attendees become familiar with the potential impact of Web-to-print functionality on their operations and share this information with their administrative leadership. State printers should be especially concerned with confidentiality and workflow issues, he said.

Other sessions:

• Ken Macro, assistant professor of Graphic Communications at Cal Poly, discussed Knowledge Management and the opportunities it presents.

• Consultant Vic Barkin described what it means to be a “green” printer.

• Julian Carter, assistant vice president of human resources at the University of Texas at Austin, discussed succession planning: ensuring that your organization has people in key positions with the ability to develop and execute institutional strategies after you retire.

• Gary Williford, retired in-plant manager at the University of Tennessee, explained the factors in-plants must consider when moving into computer-to-plate, including FTE reduction, thermal vs. violet technology, chemistry-free options and more.

• Several vendors (Heidelberg, Kodak, Xerox and Ikon) participated in a panel discussion on technologies of the future, such as security printing.

Good Feedback

NGPA leaders were pleased with feedback from both attendees and vendors.

“I strongly believe that we had the right combination of education, entertainment, vendor participation and great food,” noted Co-host Richard Beto. “The speakers were outstanding, entertainment was great and vendors received sincere interest from attendees. We are especially grateful for the generous support we received from our vendors.”

NGPA meets next year in the Pacific Northwest, where Washington State Printer Jean-Luc Devis and his team will host the conference October 19-22. IPG