In-plant Events

NEW YORK CITY—August 7, 2007—Printing Industries Alliance, formerly known as the Printing and Imaging Association of New York State, has announced that internationally known lifestyle communicator Martha Stewart has been named the recipient of the 2007 Franklin Award, which recognizes the achievements of outstanding leaders and communicators. The award will be presented during the Association’s Franklin Event on Tuesday evening, September 18, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York City. A New Host This is the first time the Franklin Event will be hosted by the Printing Industries Alliance. “We are happy to have this opportunity to host the Franklin Event which has been

Larry Clements and Liz Hunter were both honored as Outstanding Contributors by the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association during its conference in June. Clements, who retires this month as director of Printing and Mailing Services at Redlands Community College, in El Reno, Okla., has volunteered his photography services to IPMA for many years. He has been an In-Print contest judge for a number of years and coordinated the opening and sorting of entries in the most recent contest. An IPMA member for 20 years, he has served on the international board as well as in nearly every office in his local chapter. Liz Hunter,

The UK University Print Managers Group met for its 10th annual conference recently near Manchester, England, drawing 55 attendees from Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Similar to ACUP, the conference featured sessions on staff development, marketing, remaining competitive, sustainable procurement, working for the environment, working with Marketing and more. There was also a problem-solving workshop along with discussions of online services and digital printing strategies. Next year’s event will take place June 1-4 in Bournemouth, England.

Promoting your services is one of the keys to any in-plant’s success. Recently two in-plants were honored for their self-promotion efforts. During the IPMA conference in June, University of Missouri-Columbia Printing Services and University of Oklahoma Printing Services shared the stage to receive the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association’s Promotional Excellence award. The University of Missouri used its invitation to participate in a procurement department vendor fair as a way to draw attention to its many services, from wide-format printing and mounting to variable data printing on its Xerox iGen3. Attendees were given brochures, magnets, pads, pens and other promotional items, and

When I attended my first IPMA conference in 1995, more than 650 people packed the Nashville convention center—and I knew none of them. Having just returned from my 13th conference, I can tell you that a few things have changed. For one thing, I know a lot more people now. That’s a little misleading, though, because with about 100 in attendance this year, the task was a lot easier. Yes, that was quite a drop in numbers from the pre-Internet glory days, when conferences and chapter meetings were the only ways managers could find one another, chew the fat and get advice.

Starting this month, xpedx will offer its MBA of Finance workshops in several locations. Titled “Winning by the Numbers,” the free sessions will take place in these cities: Philadelphia September 18 Houston September 25 Dallas November 6                  Denton, Texas* November 7 Chicago TBD To register, visit www.xpedxworkshops.com * This workshop will be part of the TACUP conference (www.unt.edu/copycenter/TACUP).

Attendees of the recent IPMA conference got a chance to visit University of Oklahoma Printing Services. Administrator John Sarantakos narrates a tour of his award-winning operation.

Kodak customers from the in-plant, data center, commercial printing and other markets gathered at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix recently for four days of information sharing, educational sessions and networking events. Called the 2007 Graphic Users Association (GUA) North American Conference, the event featured topics like digital printing, mailing and TransPromo communications among the more than 90 sessions that took place. Guest speakers from Adobe, Apple, Business Resource Services and the Direct Marketing Association made informational presentations. Other highlights included a full day of Kodak’s Network Symposium, which gave attendees information and ideas about services and applications they can offer to expand

THOSE JUST returning from the IPMA conference, still aglow from the excitement and camaraderie of the three-day event, may be shocked to hear this piece of news: IPMA President Mike Loyd, whose enthusiasm invigorated every aspect of the conference, has announced his decision to take early retirement from Louisiana State University, where he has worked as director of Graphic Services for the past 12 years. The news has had reverberations around the entire printing industry, where Mike has been a well-known figure for many years. Not only is he president of IPMA, the largest in-plant association in the world, he’s a past host

LAST MONTH’S In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference certainly provided a packed schedule of activities for those lucky enough to have attended. It boasted a blend of technology demos, educational sessions, plant tours, networking, baseball, Indian dancing, an Olympic medalist and a small dose of hypnotism. Digital color printing was a popular topic, with at least four sessions and numerous informal discussions dedicated to it. Other hot subjects were PDF workflows, marketing, best practices and mail. After the sessions, attendees took strolls along the Oklahoma City Bricktown river walk with new friends from all over the country, then cheered their colleagues during