From the Editor: Two Decades of IPMA
As I was preparing my presentation for last month's In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference, I realized this would be my 20th time attending the event. I guess I'm officially one of the old-timers now.
Much has changed over the course of those 20 conferences. Most of the managers I knew in my early days have moved on, replaced by a new group of regulars. Attendance has dwindled a bit too. At my first conference (Nashville, 1995) more than 660 managers were on hand; this year, 130 made the trip to Milwaukee—though this is an increase over attendance figures from a few years ago.
Despite the changing faces, one thing that's always been the same at IPMA conferences is the friendliness and openness of the managers. Even when I was a wide-eyed rookie all those years ago, I never felt like an outsider, and the casual conversations I've had with managers in between sessions have inspired a number of articles in this magazine over the years.
Feeling nostalgic, I glanced back at the article I wrote about my debut 1995 conference. I was struck by how many of the trends and topics discussed then are still with us today: outsourcing threats, the need for self-promotion, personalization, insourcing—all of them were covered back then, too. Yet while print-on-demand was the status quo challenger in the '90s, today's managers are busy trying to incorporate Web-to-print, social media, e-books, augmented reality, lean manufacturing and more—all of which were detailed in sessions this year.
It was encouraging to see a number of managers at the conference who hadn't attended in years (or ever), such as Fairfax County, Mary Kay Inc., University of Alaska, Iowa Bankers Association, Georgia Perimeter College, Palm Beach County and Missouri State University, to name a few. Plus, several state government managers attended for the first time, following IPMA's merger with the National Government Publishing Association. (I took a photo at dinner one night of the state printers from Colorado, Montana, Tennessee, Oregon, Wisconsin and California all sitting together.) It was great to chat with so many in-plants in one place.
Those unable to make it to Milwaukee last month will be pleased to learn they'll have other opportunities to socialize with fellow managers in the fall, when IPMA brings back the regional meetings it introduced last year. In September and October, 13 in-plants across the country will hold one-day meetings, open to all in-plants. (See the full list in the sidebar on page 25.) Plus—as you probably saw already on page 8—both IPG and IPMA will host catered in-plant meetings during Graph Expo, giving you yet another great reason to attend the Chicago show. I look forward to chatting with managers at all of these events, which will be here before we know it.