Sewickley, PA, June 1, 2006 -- Steve Forbes kicked off the Web Offset Association (WOA) 54th Annual Management and Technical Conference in Orlando with optimistic words for printers. Forbes relayed that he sees printing as a dominate force in the media mix for marketing communicators. He addressed the challenges of the printing world from various perspectives. The Conference provided participants with opportunities to discover new and exciting techniques in sales, business interaction, training, technology and many other practical and applicable tips. It showcased the best selling authors of Freakonomics Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner. The 600 attendees also saluted Tom Quadracci of Quad Graphics as the recipient of the Harry V. Quadracci VISION Award recipient. New for the first time, the H. Howard Flint II Pressroom Manager of the Year Award was earned by Phil Archer of Von Hoffman. Archer designated the $2,000 scholarship to be awarded to Central Missouri State University, through PGSF for an outstanding student in graphic communications. Other speakers were Jeffrey Jacobson of Kodak, Bob Danzig of Hearst Corporation and many more. Ed Gleason of Burgess Industries remarked that “I must say that I have never seen a group of people work so hard at making a function run as smoothly as you did. Great job! I am looking forward to next year's conference.” Especially popular was the Predictive Maintenance session and the new tracks sessions in Continuous Improvement and Business Integration. “It was a great conference, the speakers were great and I really enjoyed my stay!” said Tim Shrader of Color Web Printers. For the first time Printing Industry Financial Executives (PIFE) co-located their conference with the WOA conference taking advantage of some of the general session speakers while maintaining sessions focusing on PIFE issues. This year's Web Offset Print Competition had 580 entries; best in show went to Hennegan Company. Printing professionals marveled at not only the set up of the conference, but the great opportunities for networking. Many conference attendees are excited to learn about next year's conference at the Sheraton Centre Toronto, Canada, April 29–May 2. “If this year's conference is any indication, Toronto will be a printer's goldmine of information,” said Ralph Pontillo Chairman, WOA Board of Directors and Vice President, Transcontinental Printing Inc. For more information regarding our next conference, the print competition or to sign up for the WOA newsletter, please contact Teresa Rees at 412-259-1804 or email [email protected].