In-plant Events

Sunday is the opening day of the 2009 In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference, in Rochester, N.Y. This will be the year's largest gathering of in-plant managers. Despite the recession, organizers report very good registration levels.

Though Sunday afternoon will feature roundtable discussions on pricing and Print MIS, the event will really get started that evening at the welcome reception. On Monday, attendees will be bused to Xerox headquarters for the keynote presentation by Eric Armour, president of global business and strategic planning for Xerox. This will be followed by a tour of the facility and then four concurrent sessions.

It is imperative that we develop the people on our teams. HR experts make a distinction between training (improving people's skills in their current job) and development (improving skills for future roles). Both training and development are essential and can be interrelated. We train and develop our people though a two-step process: Education (Learning what to do). Application (Doing what you learned). What follows are 15 specific tools we can use to train and develop our people.

The Central Pennsylvania chapter of the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) held a technology day recently at Penn State’s Multimedia and Print Center. Hosted by Xerox, the event brought 12 in-plant representatives together for a day of conversation and education.

DESPITE THE cancellation of the ACUP conference, ACUP lived on this year in a Webinar that attracted more than 100 in-plant managers from around the world. IPG partnered with the Association of College and University Printers to bring about the event, held on what would have been the last day of the ACUP conference. Three of the speakers who were scheduled to talk at ACUP gave their presentations online. Then, to replicate some of the free-flowing shop talk that is ACUP's hallmark, three past ACUP hosts held a lively roundtable discussion about the latest developments in their shops.

Though their conference was cancelled, more than 100 university in-plant managers from all across North America got together anyway on Wednesday for a webinar. Hosted by IPG, in partnership with the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP), the 90-minute webinar was a big success. It took place on what would have been the last day of the ACUP conference, cancelled this year due to economy-related travel bans.

The cancellation of the Association of College and University Printers (ACUP) conference due to institutional travel bans saddened many higher-ed in-plant managers. But now, thanks to a special ACUP webinar, in-plants around the globe can still experience some of the educational sessions that had been planned for the conference.

Through a partnership with In-Plant Graphics, some of the very speakers scheduled to speak at ACUP will be participating in the ACUP webinar just 12 days from today. Co-hosted by ACUP President Richard Griffin and In-Plant Graphics Editor Bob Neubauer, the 90-minute webinar will include presentations by three university in-plant managers, plus a lively roundtable discussion by three past ACUP hosts.

The recent On Demand Conference brought in-plants from far and near to Philadelphia. A new video on IPG's website will give you a glimpse of what the show was like.

It covers some of the new digital printing and binding equipment unveiled at the show as well as the presentations given by in-plant managers. If you couldn't make it to the show, check out the video to see what you missed.

Dozens of in-plant managers came to Philadelphia recently for the On Demand Conference. Here's a brief glimpse of what they saw there.

In just 10 days the On Demand Conference & Expo will kick off in Philadelphia. This year's event focuses on in-plants like never before, with nearly a dozen sessions covering topics of special interest to in-plant managers. Here's a quick list, in the order they take place:

If you were planning to attend the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association's conference in June but haven't gotten around to registering yet, you have just over a week to do it and save $300. The group extended its early bird discount to March 15.

This year's event, to be held in Rochester, N.Y., is set to be a big one, with seven keynote, 28 sessions, a two-day vendor fair, tours of Kodak and Xerox facilities and an awards banquet.