January 24, 2003 -- The newly broadened program for VUE/POINT Conference 2003 builds on the conference's traditional appeal to technology users while adding powerful new value for business strategists and marketing specialists as well. Leaders from both the business and technology side of a company can customize their own conference programs at VUE/POINT to fill their two and a half days with the knowledge and new ideas that interest them most. VUE/POINT Conference will be held March 31-April 2 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Long recognized as America's leading prepress technology conference, the 2003 edition of VUE/POINT has built a program to serve the entire industry and all its specialists. Technology implementation and business success go hand-in-hand, but don't always have the same focus. Both groups of attendees may wish to launch their VUE/POINT experience at the opening general session, 'Prospering in Tough Times." After that, multiple attendees from the same company can split up and follow their own personal routes to a successful conference. For the technology planner, the program could include: Monday morning - "PDF as an Internal File Format." Monday afternoon - "Color Management: How to Make it Work," and "Using your Proofer Beyond Proofing." Monday evening - Roundtable: "Plate Technology Free-for-All." Tuesday morning - "Variable Data Printing: Where's the Beef?" and "Why Do I Have So Many Proofers?" Tuesday afternoon - "Printers are from Mars, Designers are from Venus," and New Screening Technologies: Can They Really Differentiate You in the Pressroom?" Tuesday evening - Roundtable: "JDF/CIP4/CIM Free for All." Wednesday morning - "How Real is CIM?" The company's business and marketing strategist can pursue his or her own agenda with these sessions: Monday morning - "Short, Shorter, Shortest: Dealing with Shrinking Run Lengths and Turnarounds." Monday afternoon - "Assessing Your Business: What are the Metrics?" and "Web-Enabling Your Business." Tuesday morning - "Beyond Just Selling Print: A Look at Business Development," and "Value-Add Applications: Getting Beyond the Hype." Tuesday afternoon - "Getting into Fulfillment: What Do You Need to Know?" and "Opportunities in Packaging." Wednesday morning - "How to Work with Customers Using PDF." The two leading sectors will come together again at the closing general session to see how technology and marketing add up to success, in "The Six-Month Horizon: Long Term Planning in the 21st Century." In addition, on all three mornings of the conference, attendees can select from a variety of breakfast roundtable discussions hosted by leading vendors. Luncheons on Monday and Tuesday offer an opportunity for networking and informal discussions. "It has always been common for companies to send more than one representative to VUE/POINT, in order not to miss out on the value of concurrent sessions," noted Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) President Regis J. Delmontagne. "For 2003, this strategy is even more important because we've enhanced the VUE/POINT program to meet the needs of a wider range of company leaders." A key to VUE/POINT's value is that the conference avoids the usual "teacher-student" model for its workshops in favor of highly interactive (and often contentious!) sessions in which attendees express their opinions freely and learn from each other, as well as from the seminar leaders. Previous attendees of the Conference can receive an added bonus if they spread the word and register a colleague who has never attended. Prior attendees will receive a rebate of $199 for each first-time attendee they register at the full rate for the 2003 event. More information about VUE/POINT can be found by visiting the conference web site, www.vue-point.com.