Every year, the School of Graphic Communications Management (GCM) at Ryerson University hosts its Colloquium & Expo that attracts hundreds of printing professionals and students from across the Greater Toronto Area to discuss current trends and developments in the printing and graphic arts industry. The annual event is an evening featuring keynote speakers, a panel discussion and a networking reception that provides students with excellent opportunities to interact with different company reps, expand their knowledge, and discuss new technologies. This year’s theme was Passion, Purpose and Production in the Graphic Arts. Graduating students exhibited both their final business plan projects and their theses research projects during the evening.
The 2019 Colloquium and Expo was hosted under the same roof – at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (formerly Maple Leaf Gardens) in the Alumni Lounge, located at 50 Carlton Street in downtown Toronto, from 4 pm to 8 pm, Wednesday, April 3rd. The GCM Expo took place from 4pm to 6 pm, followed by the GCM Colloquium Program from 6 pm to 8 pm. Food and beverages were served throughout the evening.
This year the event was expanded even further for a second time, becoming the Colloquium + Expo, opening its doors to even more students and members of the printing and graphic communications industry. During the first half of the event, graduates were given an opportunity to present their business plans and theses projects to prospective employers and fellow students. This allowed them to expand their professional network and foster meaningful business relationships.
Later in the evening, industry guest speakers presented their Passion, Purpose and Production knowledge within their respective segments of the graphic arts industry, sharing their insights and experience with attending guests. Speakers included Teresa Bayley and Laura Dubcovsky, Senior Producers at Zulu Alpha Kilo, and Nathan Crawford, Operations Director at TC Transcontinental. Following the presentations, a panel discussion opened up the floor to anyone with questions.
“Our GCM Colloquium and Business Plan Expo events have been there for a long time. However, this is the second year that we’ve merged both events into one big night,” said Reem El Asaleh, Associate Professor at Ryerson’s School of Graphic Communications Management.
“What was new this year is that we provided an opportunity to our graduate students, who conducted a thesis project as part of their new GCM curriculum, to present their research findings at the same event – thus the event became the GCM Colloquium and Expo. As one of the faculty advisors of the GCM Colloquium Committee, I’m very proud to see the outcome of the hard work of both the Colloquium Committee, who consisted of GCM students from different years, and the 4th-year students’ business plans and theses projects. I’d also like to thank Nikita Kuzmin, our second faculty advisor on the committee, for assuming my duties during my sabbatical this winter term. His help was sincerely appreciated.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: A very special and genuine “thank you” to Reem, Nikita and to all the volunteer students for their hard work and numerous contributions that made this event so successful. As always, it was extremely well organized. Thanks also to Hana Tanasijevic, Ethan Lowe and Ally Mackenzie for their amazing photographs.
