April 13, 2004 -- The Program Committee and Board of Directors is pleased to announce the full agenda and resulting benefits for the 2004 Annual Association for Graphic Arts Training (AGAT) Conference, the industry’s premier event for trainers. The conference theme for the year is, “Enhancing Performance Through Training.” This year’s conference will take place September 19 – 22, 2004 at the Radisson Hotel, Pewaukee, Wisconsin (Milwaukee). For seventeen years, AGAT has invited training, human resource development, operations, performance improvement, human resources, educators, graphic arts students, manufacturers and suppliers together to improve the capabilities of the industry’s workforce. In addition to AGAT’s on-going purpose of workforce development and collaboration, attendees receive tremendous benefit, for their attendance: - Annual membership to AGAT! - Access to training and performance expertise at their fingertips! - Learn from the masters, as well as sharing their own success stories! - Shorten program development & design with access to industry experts! - Develop professional relationships & networks that last for a lifetime! - Trainers gain the attention of their management team with training results! Conference attendees will hear case studies from several of the most successful training & performance members, on such topics as: Kaizen – Removing Waste From the Process; Adaptive Communication; Using Web-X for Training; Training Management; Print Process Training for CSR’s; Working Non-Traditional Hours; and National Skills Certifications. AGAT is very pleased to showcase Kathy Leck, Executive Vice President, Lake Forest Corporate Education, as the 2004 keynote presenter. Ms. Leck will speak to the theme of this year’s conference, “Enhancing Performance Through Training.” Lake Forest Corporate Education works to advance those business management competencies which are critical to the immediate implementation of strategic initiatives, serving clients like Allstate Insurance Company, Brunswick Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company, Quaker Oats Company, Quebecor World, Inc, and many others. AGAT is pleased to have several sponsors that continue to support the development of our industry workforce, including overall conference sponsor, Heidelberg. Heidelberg is a leading solutions provider for the print media industry. Headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany, the company manufactures sheetfed, digital and web press systems, as well as pre-press and post-press components. Complementing their product and service line are the software and consumables for all printing applications. This is the second year that Heidelberg has offered AGAT its support as the major conference sponsorship. Of special note, given the generous conference sponsorship of Heidelberg, AGAT has several $250.00 educator and trainer scholarships available to industry personnel. For more information, contact Abe Giesbrecht, AGAT Board Member at 204.324.6401, extension 216, or e-mail him at [email protected]. For additional information and an on-line application, go to the Association for Graphic Arts Training (AGAT) website: www.agatweb.org.