All politics is local, goes a saying that applies with equal truth to the work of the printing industry’s regional trade associations.

Not every state- or city-based printing trade group is a regional affiliate of Printing Industries of America (PIA), but the 22 that are represent most of the printing companies that participate in trade associations in the U.S. As localized organizations, they see, hear, and feel everything their member companies do as they cope with business conditions and market forces in the territories that give the groups their grass-roots identities.

For this series of articles on the state of the printing industry’s trade associations, we asked the executive directors of three PIA regional affiliates to discuss how they bring local insight to the universal challenges of trade association management. We also asked them how they have changed their management strategies in light of shifting perceptions about the role of and need for trade associations today.