Wide variety of users, including printers, publishers, retailers and brand owners, discuss production management of a wide variety of media projects

DALIM SOFTWARE, makers of highly efficient, scalable software solutions for the creation, production and management of cross-media content, announces it held another successful annual US DUO Conference, from April 19-21 at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas. During the event, Rick Darnell, VP, Dalim Network Administrator at Cramer-Krasselt Advertising was named President and David Jorgensen, Pre-Media Workflow Administrator at Creel Printing, was named Vice President of the organization. Steve Daniel, Senior Manager Graphic Services at Valassis was honored as outgoing President.

US DUO is the premier opportunity for DALIM SOFTWARE users, industry influencers and pioneers alike to learn about new technologies as they are being applied in a global context, and to understand how emerging work practices impact media and communication businesses. In addition, US DUO gives attendees the opportunity to learn about industry trends, the company's most recent developments, and business opportunities. The conference attracts graphic arts professionals, brands, retailers, institutions and their respective marketing and communications supply chains from throughout the US.

The meeting opened with a Facts & Trends presentation by Carol Werlé, DALIM SOFTWARE CEO, where he reviewed DALIM SOFTWARE’s evolution from a software developer of a computerized slide transparencies system in the 1980s to a provider of automated production workflow solutions in the 1990s to a company that now serves content owners, such as marketing and media service companies. “We continue to evolve to serve both graphics companies as well as content originators such as brand owners and marketing agencies. We are finding that US DUO attendees utilize the flexibility of our solutions to solve their unique applications—and manage the different forms of media, from print, to online, to video. US DUO provides us valuable feedback for product development,” remarks Carol Werlé. “This was a very rewarding US DUO meeting.”

DALIM SOFTWARE presented new features and enhancements that are due in the near future and insight into product roadmaps. Much of the time was focused on the highlights of ES 5, including helping brand owners with omni-channel marketing, and the need to personalize the brand experience. From a practical perspective, one of the most valued set of sessions were the ‘Tips & Tricks’, presented by Mike Muscato, Blanchard Systems’ Senior Application Specialist and Rafael Ordonhes, DALIM SOFTWARE Technical Support Engineer.

Sponsors at this year's US DUO offered guest presentations. Allen Filson, manager, National Color Advisor Team at Canon Solutions America (CSA) explained how DALIM SOFWARE workflow tools offer file normalization—and preflight and content and intent verification—within CSA’s front-end system. Max Dunn, Silicon Publishing President provided an overview of how Silicon ES Connector for Adobe Creative Cloud enables direct linking from InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator to DALIM ES 5. Rather than creating copies of assets, Connector allows ES 5 to serve as the sole system of record. Following up, DALIM SOFTWARE described how a number of connectors extend the use of DALIM ES 5, including keeping assets in control, linking with CHILI Publish, database publishing, 3D and augmented reality with Augment, and archiving with Archiware P5.

“While US DUO—along with EuroDUO and the Worldwide Technical Meetings—are the most important annual forums for DALIM SOFTWARE users, I would like to extend the reach of our group throughout the year,” comments Darnell. “For example, I am probably the only person who has read the DALIM ES 5 manual completely from the front to back covers. I would like to help DALIM SOFTWARE show users how to get the most out of the manual, by presenting a review or writing a prologue of it, as it is one of the overlooked resources that we users have available to us. DALIM ES is very powerful. I feel strongly that there are ways to train users independently to use the system even better. And, of course, we will continue to delve into creative ways to extend US DUO contents and expand the audience.”