Pacific Printing Industries Association - PPIA and the Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly—GrCI and have partnered in developing a seminar series entitled, “Printlandia—Ink and Beyond.”

Developed through the Cal Poly Brian Dammeier PPIA Endowment for the Graphic Arts, this series of seminars is designed specifically for PPI members and other graphic/visual communication companies located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States including Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Harvey Levenson, Cal Poly Professor Emeritus and Director of the GrCI said, “This seminar series is meant to provide regional firms in the Pacific Northwest with a competitive edge locally, regionally, and nationally in commercial printing, packaging, digital printing and overall business strategic planning in an ever-changing graphic communication world. The seminars are being largely funded by income earned from the Cal Poly PPIA endowment established in honor of the late Brian Dammeier, a prominent Pacific Northwest printer and early PPIA leader.”

“Brian’s hope for this fund was to have the Pacific Northwest, and its significant printing population, be recognized by people as a great place to live as well as to work, “ shared Ray Lawton, Lawton Printing and past PPI Educational Trustee.   “Although the jobs he envisioned in his day are significantly different than today, the purpose and the reasons for living in the Pacific Northwest and the opportunities in the totality of the graphic communication world are still the same. “

Because of the funding, registrants will have the opportunity to attend at well below market price for such industry programs. “This is how,” Levenson continued, “endowments for education also pay dividends to industry.”

The featured seminar dates, titles, and instructors are:

• May 22, “Lean Printing: Pathway to Success,” conducted by Cal Poly professor Kevin Cooper
• August 19, “Opening New Markets through Product Development,” conducted by Cal Poly professor Ken Macro
• November 5, “Growing Your Business with Vertical Niche Marketing,” conducted by industry expert and GrCI Associate Steven Scholl

These one-day seminars will be conducted at the PPI Association/Leadership Development Center in Portland, Oregon. 

Jules VanSant, PPI Association Executive Director, said, “We are excited to partner with the brain trust at Cal Poly to bring cutting edge information into the region we serve. The Printlandia mantra has been about thinking ahead and navigating future business decisions with intelligence and relevant information. We are taking it from an annual conference format to a deeper dive at one-day nuggets to enable a variety of companies and department heads to build strategic planning from. The 2014 topics integrate together to assist in the creation of a roadmap towards continued success.”

“The PPI staff is prepared to assist in making travel arrangements for those coming in from outside the Portland area. We are thrilled to be able to keep the pricing affordable for these important training sessions,” VanSant said.

The seminars will be video recorded for streaming live or on-demand for viewing at Cal Poly; a condition of the endowment is that students have to opportunity to benefit from such industry programs that are funded.

Details and registration information can be found at: www.ppiassociation.org > events