Despite economy-related cutbacks, more than 100 in-plant managers flocked to Rochester, N.Y., last week to attend the 50th In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference. It featured not only educational sessions and a two-day vendor fair, but visits to the nearby facilities  of both Xerox and Kodak.

If there was one recurring theme in the sessions it was this: In tough economic times, in-plants must be more proactive than ever about finding and creating new business opportunities.

Several notable industry figures gave presentations, including NAPL's Howie Fenton, InfoTrends' Barb Pello and RIT's Frank Romano, who caught everyone's attention when he remarked "I still think that nothing ever beats an in-plant in terms of cost."

At the conference, the IPMA board noted that the association is doing well financially and has increased membership by more than 200 in the past year. It was also revealed that next year's IPMA conference will take place in Albuquerque, N.M., from June 6-10.

A full report on all the excellent sessions at the conference will appear in the July issue of IPG.

The identity of the In-Print Best of Show winner was a big surprise to everyone at the IPMA conference last week. Attendees got to watch a video showing the judges selecting the winner. The victory was an upset for the winning in-plant, which beat out several past Best of Show winners to claim the prize.

To find out who won, and feel the suspense that all IPMA attendees felt as they watched the judges narrow it down, watch our video at www.ipgonline.com/#videoplayer.

Also new on the IPG site is a video showing the highlights of last year's IPMA conference in Tunica, Miss. (Better late than never.)

It was a moment that brought tears to many eyes and a standing ovation from the entire crowd at last week's IPMA conference.

Each year, the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association holds a 50/50 raffle, with the proceeds going to its Brahney scholarship fund. This year, after the sudden death of long-time member Lora Geionety, the group decided to donate the money to Ms. Geionety's children. This move spurred active ticket sales that surpassed the goal.

By the time the drawing was held to see who would win half of the proceeds, about $2,000 had been collected. The holder of the winning ticket was a first-time attendee, Joe Ferrora from Excellus Blue Cross & Blue Shield, in Rochester. He strode onto the stage to claim his prize, but rather than accept the handful of cash offered to him, he asked the association to donate all of it to the family of Ms. Geionety, a woman he never met.

It was a show of class that made everyone in the room proud and reflected the generosity that Lora Geionety always showed others.

Two university in-plants were honored for their accomplishments last week at the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference in Rochester, NY. Washington State University received IPMA's Management Award, and the University of Oklahoma earned Mail Center of the Year and In-House Promotional Excellence awards.

As the Management Award winner, Washington State University demonstrated excellent management skills throughout 2008. The in-plant made significant advancements in technology, processes and green initiatives. It earned FSC certification, retooled its prepress workflow, and expanded its Web development efforts, to name just a few accomplishments. The award was presented to the entire University Publishing team, honoring the knowledge, experience, and work ethic each individual has contributed.

The University of Oklahoma earned two national awards—Mail Center of the Year and In-House Promotional Excellence—for weeks and months of planning, organizing, and maintaining a consistent visibility among various targeted audiences. While reducing their budget and assets, The University of Oklahoma was able to increase business, re-organize delivery routes and purchase value-added equipment to assist in their increased business.
IPG congratulates these in-plants for their accomplishments.

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) has been honored with two Hermes Creative Awards from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. GPO’s 2008 Annual Report won a Platinum Award, the highest honor in the annual report category. A team is tasked with reporting GPO’s financial statements and creating a theme around an agency initiative for the annual report. For 2008, the team highlighted ways employees are practicing sustainable environmental stewardship in written and video formats.

The Public Relations Plan for the launch of GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) won a Gold Award in the Public Relations Plan category. FDsys is a system that gives the public a one-stop site to authentic, published Government information. The system is a major agency initiative and has been under development for five years. The launch of the system was covered by national, Capitol Hill and local media outlets.

More than 3,700 corporations, government agencies, advertising agencies, public relations firms and design shops competed in this international competition. Coca-Cola, The Walt Disney Company, Burger King and NASA are some of the other companies and agencies who received awards. A Hermes Creative Award went to those who have displayed a high standard of excellence in the concept of writing and design of traditional and emerging media.

Roughly 50 trade journalists, consultants and analysts converged on Chicago's Sheraton Hotel & Towers Tuesday and Wednesday for PRINT 09 Media Days, a preshow glimpse of the technologies that will be on exhibit at PRINT 09. The Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), which manages the event, was among 14 exhibitors that provided presentations in advance of PRINT 09, which kicks off Sept. 11 at McCormick Place and runs through Sept. 16.

The participating exhibitors were Kodak, Presstek, Ricoh, EFI, The Print Council, MGI, Dims!, GASC, Xerox, Henkel, Riso, Lake Image Systems, Konica Minolta and manroland. Among the new products to be unveiled at PRINT 09 were a new digital offset press with an integrated aqueous coater from Presstek, Riso's ComColor series of full-color ink-jet printer/MFPs, and Kodak's new NexPress SE3600 Digital Production Color Press, printing 120 ppm.

Specialty packaging and printing paper producer Fraser Papers has sought out bankruptcy protection in the United States and Canada. Fraser and its subsidiaries have initiated a court-supervised restructuring under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada and will be seek similar relief under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Fraser will continue its routine business operations.

Generally speaking, Chapter 15 helps sort out bankruptcy cases that involve parties (debtors, assets, claimants, etc.) from more than one country. Fraser is based in Toronto.