The fall is around the corner and so is Graph Expo. This year I’m very excited to be attending the teacher’s conference at the show. The show provides us with a great opportunity to meet and learn from our peers. My peers happen to be teachers — who are yours? How and where will you meet them? My suggestion is to attend the seminars. I’m always surprised when companies organize and spend resources on attending the show, but stop short of some extra funds to really learn and possibly collaborate with like-minded people. I would venture to say that you would generate more ideas by attending at least some of the 50 seminars offered. Perhaps start with the lunch sessions? You have to eat anyway. Secondly, I always notice that those companies that do attend the sessions tend to go in small groups. While it’s nice to have companionship, and it’s likely that you and your colleague have similar interests, if you are willing to invest in learning, invest broadly. Get your people to attend different sessions and report back. That would be the best bang for your buck.
September was definitely a month of learning. We hosted Printing Survivor II, a speaker series which focused on how to be innovative as a printer. The event had a highly optimistic and collaborative environment. There were definitely a lot of engaging take-aways.
I also had the opportunity to travel a bit further, to Ljubljana, Slovenia for the iarigai conference. This is an association that delivers worldwide research in many facets of printing including: materials testing, process improvement and even extensions to print such as mobile media. R&D departments were definitely present and benefitted from all the great research. A side benefit was that Ljubljana was an absolutely stunning city, full of great food, wonderful people and delicious wine for 1 Euro per glass!
So get out there and learn! Try to find out where your peers learn and join them. You are bound to reap benefits and have some fun as well!
