Even before the latest economic downturn, there has been concern in many parts of the industry as to whether or not we are making the best use of our limited resources. We've been hearing rumors that something is afoot in the Association world on this topic, so we reached out to Joe Truncale, CEO of NAPL, to get the inside scoop. He said, "We do recognize what is taking place in the industry; you would have to be blind not to. The structural change we were already undergoing is being accelerated by this economic situation, and vendors, manufacturers and our members are all looking for help. NAPL has a long history of anticipating significant developments, changes in the business climate and trends which shape our industry’s future, and we plan to take an active role in seeking a more collaborative and less competitive means of working together."

NAPL is starting strategic discussions internally this summer, and Truncale expects that the various associations will begin working together on this issue after Print 09 concludes. "Right now, everyone is focused on making the show a success in addition to the work we do day in and day out," he added. "We believe there are opportunities here, and we can't afford to ignore them. At the very least, in the short term anyway, our expectation is that we will arrive at a more cooperative way of working. That will be a benefit to all of the constituencies of our respective organizations."

According to Truncale, although NAPL is doing well and is a year ahead of growth targets established three years ago, the resources available to these organizations are much different than in the past. Areas of cooperation and collaboration could include such things as combining resources for events, meetings, seminars and conferences; programs to attract young people to careers in the industry and support our education institutions; as well as larger issues that go beyond the resources of any one organization to tackle, including postal concerns, do not mail initiatives and understanding and anticipating how emerging generations want to deal with communications and information. "The challenges are numerous and significant," he says, "in an indistry that is already being challenged. We will be actively seeking and promoting collaboration and cooperation, and we look forward to working with all interested industry groups to determine what future changes are needed to best serve our members, clients and all industry stakeholders."

Here's your chance to weigh in. How do you think things should be structured to make the best use of our limited resources? Where should these groups focus if they are going to collaborate on key issues? Let's get a conversation going so they have our input as they start working through what are likely to be some very challenging conversations.