WhatTheyThink to Become Hosting Organization for TAGA
Press release from the issuing company
Technical Association of the Graphic Arts becomes part of the WhatTheyThink family, a non-profit organization serving the printing and publishing industries
WhatTheyThink, the leading global media organization serving the printing and publishing industries, and PRINTING United Alliance, the most comprehensive member-based printing and graphic arts association in North America, today announced that WhatTheyThink has become the new hosting organization for the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA) in a transfer from PRINTING United Alliance, which inherited TAGA when it merged with Printing Industries of America (PIA) in 2020.
TAGA is an all-volunteer printing industry organization with its own board and an annual conference that brings together technologists, researchers, scientists and students. It also supports student chapters in most of the well-known universities with print-centric programs. Students in these chapters conduct projects and produce papers each year for presentation at the annual conference.
In 2025, WhatTheyThink will manage this conference, newly renamed the TAGA NextGen Conference, together with TAGA volunteers. This includes managing the call for papers, helping to build out the agenda, coordinating all conference logistics and marketing, including on-site management during the event. The conference is scheduled for 25 to 27 March 2025 at the Embassy Suites in Boulder, CO.
“We are excited to be taking on this important industry organization,” said Adam Dewitz, WhatTheyThink’s Chief Technology Officer. “We will be looking at opportunities to expand the reach and focus of the organization, especially as related to opportunities for students who are the future of our industry. For example, a student job fair is one of the additions to the conference that we will implement at the 2025 event, giving students the opportunity to interact with potential employers and to increase their interest in an industry career.”
“We are proud to have supported the work that TAGA has done under the PRINTING United Alliance umbrella and the contributions that it has made to the graphic arts industry during this time,” said Ford Bowers, CEO, PRINTING United Alliance. “We wish the group the very best of luck as they embark on this new chapter and look forward to continuing to support the organization moving forward."
“TAGA has continued to evolve over the years since it was founded in the late 1940’s,” said Mark Bohan, TAGA Immediate Past President and Director of Color Solutions at Konica Minolta. “In the move to becoming part of the WhatTheyThink family, we will be increasing our focus on the next generation of leaders coming into our industry, something we have been working on for the last couple of years. Students are core to what we do, and we are working with WhatTheyThink to increase student participation even more. We’re looking forward to implementing some of that as we develop our 2025 conference.”
For more information about TAGA and the TAGA conference, visit taga.org.
About WhatTheyThink
WhatTheyThink, a non-profit organization, is the global printing industry's go-to information source with print, digital, and in-person offerings, including WhatTheyThink.com, WhatTheyThink Email Newsletters, the WhatTheyThink magazine, and the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA). Our mission is to inform, educate, and inspire the industry. We provide cogent news and analysis about trends, technologies, operations, and events in all the markets that comprise today's printing and sign industries including commercial, in-plant, mailing, finishing, sign, display, textile, industrial, finishing, labels, packaging, marketing technology, software and workflow.
About TAGA
The Technical Association of the Graphic Arts is an international community of industry professionals and academics dedicated to scientific research and technological innovation in the diverse field of graphic communications. The Annual Technical Conference provides authors one of the premier platforms for communication, publication, and outreach in the graphic communications industry. During the event, industry leaders, innovators, researchers, scientists, and end users can evaluate the latest R&D and learn how it can impact their own activities and business.
TAGA also supports the formation of TAGA Student Chapters that reinforce classroom and experiential learning. In addition to the learning that occurs during chapter meetings, the design and production of a research journal for the TAGA chapter competition, which takes place at the annual TAGA conference, develops industry-specific skills, along with skills in project management, technical writing, interpersonal communications, and in some cases, fundraising. Student participation in TAGA is an important part of the conference and the organization, helping to encourage the development of future industry leaders.
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Discussion
By HARVEY LEVENSON on Sep 30, 2024
The year was 1984.
I was on the board of directors of TAGA and we met to discuss how to increase TAGA membership. Founded in 1949, TAGA reached its apex in the 1970s with about 2000 members. However, membership was decreasing, likely due to graphic arts research shifting from research organizations to proprietary corporate research.
The question was: How do we reverse decreasing TAGA membership? I offered four words: “Open membership to students.” The lights went on. The rest is history.
I became the first TAGA student chapter chair. At the time I was Department Head of Graphic Communication at Cal Poly where we formed the first TAGA student chapter. The student chapter idea was also supported by TAGA board member Professor Bob Chung of RIT, where the second chapter was formed. Other schools quickly followed. The cornerstone of the chapters became the student chapter journals, presented as part of a competition at the annual TAGA conferences. This demonstrated the students’ understanding of research and technology, and highlighted schools as the source of the future industry leaders.
The comments of Adam Dewitz and Mark Bohan struck an emotional cord in their expressions of how students are now the focus and core of the TAGA organization. This instills confidence that our industry’s future leadership is being well prepared via TAGA.
In am gratified to having been part of the start of the student chapters. Thank you PRINTING United Alliance for including TAGA in the PIA merger, and thank you WhatTheyThink for now overseeing this group and the newly renamed TAGA NextGen Conference.
- Discussion is closed -