Alexandria, Va., May 3, 2004 —Alexandria, VA (April 30, 2004) – The Web Offset Association held its 52nd annual conference in Chicago during April. This highly successful event featured a program of industry luminaries in general sessions and seminars as well as the presentation of the Harry Quadracci VISION Award, the Coldset Awards to winners of the juried competition and the newest members of the Web Offset Society. Over 700 people turned out to welcome Sen. John Glenn, as he delivered an outstanding address as the conference keynote. Attendees had access to a first-ever Resource Center, where experts on a variety of industry topics were available for consultations. And all attendees will receive a CD that captures all the valuable information from the conference – all the sessions, speaker notes and handouts. In his wide-ranging address, Sen. Glenn touched on many topics. After treating the audience to stories from an insider’s perspective about his world famous trip in space, he discussed the value of the space program. Much of the research has had many applications, particularly in the field of medicine. He also addressed educational issues: the embarrassing state of K-12 education as compared to other countries and expressed his disappointment in the caliber of teaching as a result of those teaching outside their major fields. The Senator, who served four terms, lamented the decline in participation in elections. He ended his talk with exhortation for the group to vote, providing a provocative thought: each vote is technically two when only 50% of the population participate in this important event. The conference then turned to industry issues with other speakers. Stephanie Streeter, President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Banta Corporation delivered the Printers’ Keynote. She captured the attention of the audience with her comments on the financial direction of printing companies. Streeter talked about the importance of customer education and relayed the dramatic efforts that Banta is demonstrating in this area. Others covered topics specific to areas of print. John Potter, the Postmaster General and CEO of the US Postal Service, gave a very compelling overview of the ways that printers can work with the USPS as a partner for to increase the volume of print. And two prominent speakers from the advertising world - Saatchi & Saatchi’s, Eve Asbury and Joe Duncan of Leo Burnett – offered valuable insights on printers’ customers. Asbury discussed the creative and showed off some challenging projects with pictures of the finished product while Duncan focused primarily on the printer and how to work better with the agency. The message was to “get creative” and demonstrate “printer innovation” in ideas and finances. Both Asbury and Duncan said that reducing supplier lists was for more than reducing prices: they are looking for “idea partners.” Next year’s Web Offset Conference is May 1-4, 2005 at the brand new Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine, TX, just outside the Dallas-Ft.Worth metroplex.