Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Printing Industries of America announced today the exciting lineup of keynote speakers for the 2018 President's Conference to be held March 4-6, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. The 2018 President's Conference is co-hosted along with the Specialty Graphics Imaging Association. Attendees will hear from Futurist Ken Rutkowski, Strategic Growth Implementation Specialist and Author Pete Hayes, and the dynamic duo of David Fenske and Dave Hoffer.

"This year's President’s Conference has truly visionary keynote speakers that will bring inspiration to print industry leaders of today and tomorrow. They will discuss how to anticipate trends, get ahead of the competition, and continually grow business," said Adriane Harrison, President's Conference program manager. "We set out to find speakers who would add a fresh, new perspective for our attendees. Who better to spark ideas and embody our theme of Innovations in Change than thought leaders, business strategists and futurists?" 

Keynotes are as follows: 
 
Future Trends in Printing, Business, and Media
Ken Rutkowski, Business Rockstars
The greatest challenge for the printing industry is not just keeping its current customers happy, but anticipating the needs of its future consumer base. Every printer in the future, whether they know it or not, will be a software company. Not only will the entire operating environment become software-defined and virtual, software will shape the way the enterprise defines its very identity. The key for future success is predicting the program code for the customers by taking cues from other businesses that have re-programed themselves. Elon Musk has taken two stagnant businesses, space & automotive, and turned them upside-down by turning them to a software mindset.

The Growth Gears: How Operationally-Oriented Companies Become Market Leaders
Pete Hayes, Chief Outsiders
Often the best run companies have the hardest time growing. This is because the skills needed to run an efficient business are different than the skills needed to significantly grow a business. This keynote will help operationally excellent companies who struggle with growth approach marketing with a logical, linear Growth Gear model.

Design Thinking in the Graphic Communications Industry
David Fenske, Fenske Media and Dave Hoffer, McKinsey New Ventures
We keep hearing we need to rapidly change to meet market needs. That's easy to say, but how do you do it? We suggest you consider employing the process of Design Thinking—a systematic way to solve problems and rapidly implement solutions and at the same time reduce your level of risk. The core of design thinking is ideating (brainstorming) how to solve customers' problems discovered through an empathetic investigative process. This is followed by prototyping and testing the solutions. Design Thinking is already used effectively to cope with the rapid rate of disruption caused by digitization in communications, education, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and many other industries. Much of Design Thinking is common sense, and many good sales reps and sales and marketing managers use aspects of the concept day in and day out. its great potential is when it is all put together as a process that will result in more sales, higher proifts, and more satisfied customers.
 
In addition to the opportunity to network and learn from industry peers, we also will be honoring Best Workplaces in the Americas (BWA) winners during a luncheon presentation. The BWA and the new Safety Shield program are open to any U.S. or Canadian printer and graphic communications company or supplier to the industry. Winners exemplify print industry excellence in human relations and safety.

For more information about the 2018 President's Conference, please visit www.presidentsconference.com.