Partnering and Networking offer valuable resources to help enter new markets, explore new opportunities and outpace the competition

Lexington, Kentucky USA -- WhatTheyThink today announced that nearly 200 industry professionals registered to attend a free printing industry educational webinar. Partnering & Networking to Build Your Business, led by industry expert Barbara A. Pellow, Group Director of Production Services for research firm InfoTrends.  Sponsored by HP, the event was held on November 11th.

The free archive of the session is available at the webinar archive page.

“Our panelists are all very successful business executives that have taken advantage of partnering and networking opportunities to enhance their businesses,” said Pellow.  “They were very generous in sharing tips and hints about how to find partners and peer groups as well as how they are using their own technology and others such as social media to promote and grow their businesses.”

Pellow was joined by

• Warren Werbitt, Fisherman and Founder, Pazazz.com.  You may remember Warren from his famous YouTube video which has had nearly 200,000 views. Warren Werbitt is the Founder and CEO of Pazazz. At the age of 25 Warren started Pazazz, a full-service independent printer based in Montreal. Pazazz is a solution provider delivering a one-stop-shop offering that is unique in the printing industry. Pazazz Printing, Pazazz Digital, Pazazz Labels and Pazazz Large Format ensure high quality print solutions to an ever-growing number of clients. In August 2009 Warren was inducted into the NAPL Soderstrom Society, an honours organization that recognizes the contributions of industry leaders, including printing firm owners, equipment manufacturers, consultants and educators
• Larry Vaughn, President, Ideal Printers, Inc..  Larry Vaughn has been in the graphic arts industry since 1978. Twenty-two years ago, Larry founded Ideal Printers, Inc. in Houston, TX. What started out with one small press and two employees has grown into the fifth largest printing company in Houston. Ideal Printers now handles a multitude of print and marketing needs including commercial print, design, digital print, large format print, bindery, kitting, vehicle wrapping, and distribution. Larry served two years on the HP Digital Printing Advisory Council as one of the original board members and is slated to become the Dscoop Chairman of the Board in 2010.
• David Smith, Director of Business Development, Williams Visual Solutions.  A solutions development professional with over 25 years of experience in marketing communications, agency management and commercial print operations leadership. David Smith is Director of Business Development at Williams Visual Solutions, a Marketing Services and Logistics Provider located in Chattanooga, TN and is focused on the growth of integrated marketing programs and dynamic solutions based web services portals. Formerly, as Senior Manager of Digital Print and Business Development for Aflac subsidiary Communicorp Inc., David supervised the development of digital printing infrastructure, including web-to-print, variable data printing and fulfillment, and operations automation.

“This is a session that our listeners will want to view if they were not able to attend,” said Randy Davidson, President, WhatTheyThink. “All of the panelists had extremely valuable contributions, especially on using social media to promote their business and they identified a number of resources available to others who want to do the same. Many of these ideas are probably new to some of our listeners and we hope this session sparked some new planning ideas. We appreciate the fact that HP is sponsoring this important session, allowing us to make it available at no charge.”

About HP

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all customers. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies. Featuring next-generation digital printing technologies that enable the professional printing of postage stamps to building wraps, and everything in between, HP Graphic Arts solutions include digital presses, wide and super wide-format printers, and custom inkjet solutions. Couple HP’s progressive portfolio with it's reputation for innovation, global responsibility and an industry-leading commitment to helping customers capture business success and you have a company that’s equipped to help you achieve profitable growth and thrive. www.hp.com/go/graphic-arts

About WhatTheyThink.com

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events as well as providing content through a syndication program, which delivers content directly to related websites.

About Barbara Pellow

Barbara Pellow recently assumed responsibility for the development and delivery of two new services at InfoTrends specifically focused on the evolution of the Graphic Communications Market – The Business Development Service and Custom Communications Service. Pellow has served in a number of roles including the Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. In the role of Chief Marketing Officer, Pellow was responsible for all marketing activities for the division, including marketing communications, public relations, marketing intelligence and advertising strategy. She was an active participant in developing business strategy and helping define the group’s go-to-market organizational structure.

Prior to joining Kodak, Pellow was the Gannett chair in integrated publishing sciences in Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) School of Printing Management and Sciences (SPMS). She has also held senior marketing roles at IKON Office Solutions, InfoTrends, Xerox and IBM.

Pellow can be reached at [email protected].