Whether you’ve never heard Daniel Dejan speak, or you count yourself among his army of groupies, I encourage you not to miss his visit with us in Westford this year – our 5th conference and his 5th appearance. Daniel, the North American ETC Print & Creative Manager for Sappi Fine Paper, is famous in the field for his presentations, his knowledge, his design expertise and, it must be said, his exquisite taste.

Also, when it comes to the industry that encompasses print, design, paper and print buying, he knows everyone. (Perhaps a “Stump Daniel” booth would have been a fun addition to our show. Maybe next time.)

On Wednesday, November 3rd, Daniel will deliver the opening keynote, entitled “Life with Print.” For today’s Tip, he answered five questions.

1. Our theme this year is “Modern Marketing: From Design to Print to Pixel.” I settled on this theme to celebrate the evolution of print in business today. How does your topic relate?

Knowing that integrated marketing is the new business model, it defines the fact that communications takes many forms, uses many media and tries to have as many touch points as possible.

My keynote, “Life with Print,” talks about how print has had to evolve to incorporate and embrace many different kinds of communications. Print is the launching point to web sites. Direct mail, with its call to action, invites you to the web. The predominant publishing model now is simply this: if you have it in print, you have to have it in digital versions and vice versa. The synergy is right there.

Logistically, how do we color manage and how do we distribute the information we produce? Publishers see themselves as content providers. They’re not married to print specifically; they are married to the content.

2. What will our attendees learn from your keynote session, keeping in mind we’ll have a mix of print buyers, graphic designers, and marketing communications professionals?

I grew up as a designer, and I’ve been in the industry more than 25 year. I think the biggest challenge to communications is the repurposing of content. As a designer, I create a document initially for print, but I need to be able to envision what it will look like on a monitor. Then I have to be able to know what to strip away so it works on a mobile media – so now I have to have a relationship with someone who can assist me and create an app for a tablet.

So we start with print. We go to HTML. We move to XML and XHTML. It’s the same content, but now it has to be converted to new languages, based on the media. It works both ways. The designer has to think forward to accommodate all of these media. The printer, or content provider, has to work backwards to all of these media, which makes it a challenging but exciting world.

3. Without giving it all away, can you share just a few highlights of what you’ll be covering in your session?

We’ll have lots of data, lot of factoids, lots of anecdotes. I’ll send a PDF of my presentation to your Conference site after the event, so people will be able to download it from there. But as an example of what I’ll share, I’ll be talking about new technology like QR Codes and augmented reality, and the impact of tablets on publishing.

By the way, every two months I update this presentation. I’m a voracious reader – blogs, magazines, web sites, books, you name it – so I’ll take two to three months’ worth of new information and update “Life with Print” several times a year.

I think you’re probably seeing version #17 of this presentation.

4. Is there a chance you can stick around after your session to mingle with attendees during breaks, meals or the cocktail party?

I’ll be there all morning, yes, and early afternoon, as I’ve a second session to deliver, but I’m always available to answer questions by email.

5. Finally, do you have accounts on Twitter, FB or LinkedIn you want to share with our readers – so they can follow you?

Sadly, I don’t have the time for keeping up with contacts on social media. I’m on the road over 200 days a year, much to the chagrin of my family and pets.

But I’m happy to answer questions by email. I’m .

Thanks, Daniel. I can’t wait to hear your keynote. See more details and read Daniel’s bio at www.printbuyersconference.com/schedule.html.

© 2010 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. Your comments are encouraged. You’re free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.