February 20, 2003 -- "Diversification" has been characterized as a "magic bullet" for survival and profitability in the printing and publishing industry today. But it doesn't just happen, and even when a printer successfully adds new capabilities and resources, profits don't automatically follow. Industry managers can collect some valuable insights and guidance on diversifying successfully by attending the 2003 VUE/POINT Conference. VUE/POINT Conference, coming to Washington, DC on March 31-April 2, has expanded its scope beyond issues of practical technology implementation to embrace the business challenges of diversification. The conference now seeks to serve the entire industry more effectively and to help attendees strengthen the linkage between technology and profitability. VUE/POINT Conference 2003 will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Full details and online registration are available at www.vue-point.com. "There's a big difference between diversifying and diversifying profitably," noted Andrew D. Paparozzi, chief economist at the National Association for Printing Leadership. A growing number of printers expect to derive revenue from new value-added services in the near future, NAPL surveys show. By 2004, printers surveyed expect an average of nearly 20 percent of their revenues to come from new services, double the figure recorded in 1999. For this new value-add to become reality, printers must deal with all the complexities of diversification: Deciding which new services to add, communicating these new capabilities to clients, hiring and training staff, pricing, and learning new sales skills. VUE/POINT Conference, long recognized as the foremost prepublishing and digital technology users' forum in the graphic communications industry, will help participants come to grips with all of these new challenges. Several sessions on the VUE/POINT agenda will target diversification topics directly. Specifically, they are: Prospering in Tough Times, the opening session, in which several principals of growing print businesses will share their experiences, including the role of diversification in promoting growth. Beyond Just Selling Print-A Look at Business Development, featuring successful sales and marketing techniques that people have employed to get their companies out of the "print as a commodity" rut. Value-Add Applications-Getting Beyond the Hype will bring together a diverse panel to discuss asset management, remote proofing, cross media publishing/content on demand, kitting and fulfillment, and other potential new revenue sources. Getting into Fulfillment-What Do You Need to Know? From new equipment needs to coping with postal regulations, this session covers all aspects of providing an increasingly "in demand" service to customers. Opportunities in Packaging offers a look at one of the most frequently cited growth avenues for printers, stressing what new expertise and capabilities may be needed and what can be done with existing resources. The Six-Month Horizon-Long Term Planning in the 21st Century explores how managers today are handling capital investments and planning for the future. "VUE/POINT Conference's unique strength and value to our industry have always derived from its emphasis on real technology users sharing their actual experiences with the new technologies so widely publicized in recent years," noted Regis J. Delmontagne, president of the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), VUE/POINT Conference's producer. "With so much discussion today about the necessity to diversify into new services and product areas, it's clear that this is an area in which VUE/POINT Conference's 'Sharing Solutions for Success' approach can benefit attendees," Delmontagne adds. A key to VUE/POINT Conference's value is that it avoids the usual "teacher-student" model for its workshops in favor of highly interactive sessions in which attendees express their opinions freely and learn from each other as well as from the session moderators. More information about VUE/POINT can be found by visiting www.vue-point.com