The In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) held its first online chapter meeting last month

By Bob Neubauer

The In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) held its first online chapter meeting last month, bringing members together from all over the country. Though it was organized by the Portland, Ore., chapter, participants spanned the country, joining in from Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Indiana and other places.

“This is really a historic first for the IPMA,” proclaimed Dana Bauer, of Fred Meyer’s Portland-based in-plant. “I think it’s going to be a great tool.” Future Web meetings will help IPMA members share information and help one another, he said.

The meeting was facilitated by Ricoh’s Production Printing Business Group (PPBG), with Greg Cholmondeley serving as host. Participants phoned in and also logged in to be able to watch PowerPoint presentations.

Mike Loyd, a Ricoh program marketing manager, gave a presentation encouraging managers to identify and borrow good ideas from other managers. He gave examples of ideas he borrowed while he was director of LSU’s in-plant, such as wide-format printing and using unpaid student interns in the in-plant. He also advised in-plants not to be shy about asking their vendors for help, since it’s in the vendors’ best interest to help the in-plant succeed.

“Vendors are more than willing to help you improve your operations,” he said.

Jean-Luc Devis, director of the Washington State Department of Printing, gave a presentation called “Tactical Strategies to Weather the Recession.” He discussed the importance of educating customers and noted that successful marketing must create excitement, provide new information and motivate the customer to take action.

He recommended visiting key customers, but said managers should first do some homework: identify their mission, view their Web sites and promotional materials, gather data for a review of their accounts and get invited to one of their regular departmental staff meetings.

Also during the Webinar, IPMA members discussed future meeting plans and shared their experiences with various shop management systems.

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.

Virtual IPMA Meeting A Success