One of the best In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conferences in years finished up Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina, with a tour of Bob Jones University Press. The event drew numerous retired in-plant managers and directors who came to celebrate the retirement of Executive Director Mike Loyd, who was honored during Tuesday night's award ceremony.
IPMA 2026 attendees at a session
About 130 in-plant managers from around the country spent the week networking, learning, laughing, and reconnecting with peers. The energy was high all week at the Hyatt Regency Greenville, where attendees — including 30 first-timers — filled sessions, visited vendors, took part in roundtable discussions, and swapped ideas.
IPI Editor Bob Neubauer kicked off the conference.
The conference opened Sunday with a roundtable for state government printers and several afternoon user group meetings before attendees gathered for the opening reception.
On Monday morning, IPI Editor Bob Neubauer kicked off the conference with the opening keynote presentation. Filled with data from a recent IPI survey, his session detailed growth opportunities, challenges facing in-plants, best practices, and ways in-plants can use AI to improve their operations. (Download that data and other in-plant research free here.)
Kristen Hampton talks with a Ricoh representative about the Ricoh C7500 in the vendor fair.
Motivational speaker and comedian Julie Birch followed with an energetic and humorous presentation peppered with personal stories designed to get attendees to think differently about the stressors in their lives. She urged them to change their perception of stressful situations and redefine them as non stressful.
IPMA 2026 attendees at a session.
"How we navigate stress is all about mindset," Birch said.
From there, attendees headed into a busy vendor fair, where 55 vendors showcased displays, equipment, software, and services. More companies than usual had equipment on the floor, like the Ricoh Pro C7500 and Sharp BP-90C80 digital color presses, the Mimaki UJ3304-160 wide-format printer, and in the Ricoh booth the Logojet UVx40R Plus SE direct to object printer, to name just a few.
The day continued with regional roundtable discussions and educational sessions covering production inkjet, software, and postal issues. Consultant Howie Fenton detailed the metrics in-plants should be collecting and how they can use AI to analyze them.
Dr. Nathanial Hearne
Tuesday began with a session by Joanne Gore on how in-plants can better market their services by framing their value through the lens of their leadership, focusing on the outcomes they can bring (e.g., saving money, protecting the brand, security of data, etc.). She was followed by motivational speaker Dr. Nathanial Hearne, who kept the audience riveted with his life story of growing up poor, with low self esteem, and how a teacher and a coach saw his potential and influenced him to try harder. His point was that all of us should focus on leaving a legacy that will ripple through eternity by transferring our skills to others.
The IPMA 2026 vendor fair
"That's what this life is about," he said, "what you can do for someone else."
Tuesday continued with more opportunities to visit vendors, network with other in-plants, and attend sessions on topics such as promotional products, address quality, future proofing your in-plant, and the responsibilities of leaders.
Tuesday night’s awards ceremony honored dozens of in-plants that won In-Print and IPMA awards. Mike Loyd was also recognized for his years of service as he prepares to retire at the end of the year. After a humorous and emotional look back on his career by Neubauer and Konica Minolta's Debra Payne, IPMA President John Cruser presented Loyd with IPMA's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is only the second recipient in IPMA's long history. Then Loyd took to the stage to reflect on his career and his legacy in the industry.
Mike Loyd was honored for his dedication to the in-plant industry.
The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the In-Print 2026 Best of Division and Best of Show award winners. Watch the videos of those winners being revealed here.
IPMA 2026
Wednesday offered a full day of educational sessions along with an interactive "Shop Talk Live" session during which members shared problems they are facing and got suggestions from their peers. The day wrapped up with a party at Greenville's Group Therapy pub and playground where attendees enjoyed mini golf, bowling, darts, and axe throwing.
Watch for our full conference report in the days ahead.
IPMA awards reception
IPMA awards reception
Dana Anastasia received the Outstanding Contributor award
IPMA session on promo products
Leadership panel
Howie Fenton
IPMA 2026
IPMA 2026
IPMA 2026
IPMA 2026
Howie Fenton leads a session on metrics
IPMA 2026
IPMA 2026
IPMA Conference Wraps Up
One of the best In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conferences in years finished up Thursday in Greenville, South Carolina, with a tour of Bob Jones University Press. The event drew numerous retired in-plant managers and directors who came to celebrate the retirement of Executive Director Mike Loyd, who was honored during Tuesday night's award ceremony.
IPMA 2026 attendees at a session
About 130 in-plant managers from around the country spent the week networking, learning, laughing, and reconnecting with peers. The energy was high all week at the Hyatt Regency Greenville, where attendees — including 30 first-timers — filled sessions, visited vendors, took part in roundtable discussions, and swapped ideas.
IPI Editor Bob Neubauer kicked off the conference.
The conference opened Sunday with a roundtable for state government printers and several afternoon user group meetings before attendees gathered for the opening reception.
On Monday morning, IPI Editor Bob Neubauer kicked off the conference with the opening keynote presentation. Filled with data from a recent IPI survey, his session detailed growth opportunities, challenges facing in-plants, best practices, and ways in-plants can use AI to improve their operations. (Download that data and other in-plant research free here.)
Kristen Hampton talks with a Ricoh representative about the Ricoh C7500 in the vendor fair.
Motivational speaker and comedian Julie Birch followed with an energetic and humorous presentation peppered with personal stories designed to get attendees to think differently about the stressors in their lives. She urged them to change their perception of stressful situations and redefine them as non stressful.
IPMA 2026 attendees at a session.
"How we navigate stress is all about mindset," Birch said.
From there, attendees headed into a busy vendor fair, where 55 vendors showcased displays, equipment, software, and services. More companies than usual had equipment on the floor, like the Ricoh Pro C7500 and Sharp BP-90C80 digital color presses, the Mimaki UJ3304-160 wide-format printer, and in the Ricoh booth the Logojet UVx40R Plus SE direct to object printer, to name just a few.
The day continued with regional roundtable discussions and educational sessions covering production inkjet, software, and postal issues. Consultant Howie Fenton detailed the metrics in-plants should be collecting and how they can use AI to analyze them.
Dr. Nathanial Hearne
Tuesday began with a session by Joanne Gore on how in-plants can better market their services by framing their value through the lens of their leadership, focusing on the outcomes they can bring (e.g., saving money, protecting the brand, security of data, etc.). She was followed by motivational speaker Dr. Nathanial Hearne, who kept the audience riveted with his life story of growing up poor, with low self esteem, and how a teacher and a coach saw his potential and influenced him to try harder. His point was that all of us should focus on leaving a legacy that will ripple through eternity by transferring our skills to others.
The IPMA 2026 vendor fair
"That's what this life is about," he said, "what you can do for someone else."
Tuesday continued with more opportunities to visit vendors, network with other in-plants, and attend sessions on topics such as promotional products, address quality, future proofing your in-plant, and the responsibilities of leaders.
Tuesday night’s awards ceremony honored dozens of in-plants that won In-Print and IPMA awards. Mike Loyd was also recognized for his years of service as he prepares to retire at the end of the year. After a humorous and emotional look back on his career by Neubauer and Konica Minolta's Debra Payne, IPMA President John Cruser presented Loyd with IPMA's Lifetime Achievement Award. He is only the second recipient in IPMA's long history. Then Loyd took to the stage to reflect on his career and his legacy in the industry.
Mike Loyd was honored for his dedication to the in-plant industry.
The highlight of the evening was the unveiling of the In-Print 2026 Best of Division and Best of Show award winners. Watch the videos of those winners being revealed here.
IPMA 2026
Wednesday offered a full day of educational sessions along with an interactive "Shop Talk Live" session during which members shared problems they are facing and got suggestions from their peers. The day wrapped up with a party at Greenville's Group Therapy pub and playground where attendees enjoyed mini golf, bowling, darts, and axe throwing.
Watch for our full conference report in the days ahead.
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 200 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.