Three PIA affiliates will be presenting Changing Profit Centers Seminar - how to complement traditional offset with digital and variable data printing in January. Printing Industries of Arizona will be presenting on March 8th at the NECA Building in Phoenix; Printing Industry of Illinois/Indiana will be presenting on March 10th at the Chicago/O’Hare Four Points Sheraton; and Printing Industries of the South will be presenting on March 15th at their headquarters building in Nashville. The seminars’ primary message is how to intelligently and strategically introduce digital printing and an array of potential new services into a traditional offset environment. The morning session will include the best practices and trends in digital print and concentrate on marketing digital printing. It will also include an inter-active brainstorming exercises in which attendees actually develop new-to-the-world VDP projects. The afternoon session will concentrate on selling digital and VDP and include “designing for digital. Many a printer recognizes that the digital wave is upon them but don’t quite know how to take advantage of the new print technologies. This is especially true if they are struggling under the burden of capital equipment debt. Changing Profit Centers is designed to give them insight as to how to successfully cope with this dilemma. The concept of “marketing services providers” will be discussed including the results of the TrendWatch Graphic Arts report on the key attributes required to be a successful digital services provider. Also discussed will be how to sell digital printing and variable data printing, and the knowledge required by sales reps. Jim Olsen, President, Imagination, Ink. a marketing firm specializing in variable data printing and electronic communications for one-to-one marketing is the seminar facilitator. After decades of running printing, publishing and trade association organizations, Olsen is keenly aware of the price pressures on printing services. He sees adding value added services as the opportunity to break away from commodity pricing and begin pricing on value to the customer and not on the traditional per-piece basis. One of the primary topics is using partnering as a way of entering the digital print arena in a prudent and successful manner. Olsen, editor of this year’s edition of the PrintOnDemand Initiative Best Practices is an evangelist of variable data printing and one-to-one communications to the corporate marketing community. In addition, he will share his practical experience of actually selling and producing VDP projects. Attendees will learn: •Best practices and trends in digital print. •The advantage of becoming part of a customer’s marketing team. •How to “morph” from traditional offset to digital printing.’ •How to develop new-to-the-world solutions for digital print. •The attributes of a successful digital printer. •How to “design for digital”. •The knowledge requirements of a sales rep. •The steps for implementing a successful customer VDP campaign. Attendees in the afternoon session will participate in a live brainstorming exercise in which they will develop new and unique uses of variable data printing themselves. A live case study! Imagination, Ink. is sending to all the members the six associations a four-page variable data promotion brochure designed as a newsletter with a unique use of variable data. The headline of the first article states, “ is Only 19 miles away from a Pot of Gold!” Another article is headed “Driving to the Pot of Gold Will Only Take 34 minutes!” The use of a “pot of gold” refers to one’s ability to use value added pricing for value added services. This, along with using personalized messages and versioned text makes the seminar promotion brochure a case study exemplifying the effective use of variable data printing. Of special interest will be the topic of how Jim Olsen and Richard Romano of RichText worked through the production of the seminar promotion brochure. To register for the Phoenix seminar just call Kathy Butcher at 602-265-8259. To register for the Chicago seminar call Maria Silva at 312-704-5000 x3117. To register for the Nashville seminar just call Amy Dawson at 615-366-1094. Corporate sponsors: DocuGlobal http://www.docuglobal.com/ Domtar www.domtar.com I-Way/Cohesion www.cohesion.com Kodak Graphic Communications www.kodak.com/nolimits Printable www.printable.com Oce www.oceusa.com Information sponsor: http://www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com/ Marketing sponsor: www.ondemandjournal.com Design sponsor: http://www.richtext.com/ Software sponsor: http://www.premediasystems.com/