As I write this Tip, it’s too soon to say with certainty that our print & media conference last week was a grand slam, but it felt that way. Unsolicited feedback I received within two days include these comments:

“I was impressed by the quality of the discussions and presentations. I truly believe you take the right direction by providing awareness and educational issues to your group… You don't just assume everyone understands these important topics and are diligent about bringing the best people with insightful presentations. Yours is as good as any conference I have seen.” – Gerry Gerlach, IDEAlliance

“Thanks for a great time at the conference. This was the best one yet; the content was spot on for timeliness (You can quote me on that!)! How are you going to top this one next year!!!!!”

– Diane Dragoff, United Way Massachusetts Bay

“Margie, I wanted to say thank you for providing me with the opportunity to attend your conference. I learned a great deal from the speakers and did some networking that it was extremely advantageous for me to attend…  You put on a great conference with excellent speakers and I hope to participate again next year.”

- Diana Reid, Print Production Professional

We’re currently collecting feedback from all attendees and sponsors. Hopefully, most of the comments will be positive. We pay attention regardless. We had 116 registered attendees this year, not including sponsors and speakers. Not too shabby.

Back to today’s Print Tip. I took notes at several sessions, for I sensed that what I’d hear would be significant to print buyers, printers and marketers everywhere.

Remember, our Conference theme was “Modern Marketing: From Design to Print to Pixels.” It reflected my excitement over the growing opportunities for all of us in communications. In addition to print, we can make an impact in newer, digital media.

Certain comments from keynoter Daniel Dejan of Sappi Fine Paper, as well as Andrew Davis from Tippingpoint Labs, made a lasting impression. I had to share them with you.

If you don’t know Daniel, you don’t know what you’re missing. His was the perfect opening keynote for our event. He constantly updates his presentations with the most current data available. No one can touch his speaking skills. He has a profound knowledge of design, print, paper and communications trends. This explains why I invite him back year after year. There are lots of subject matter experts in our field, but great speakers? Very, very hard to find.

From Daniel Dejan’s keynote, entitled “Life with Print”:

Social media is an absolute ingredient in the integrated marketing cocktail.

Facebook has 500 million members, making it the third-largest       country in the world.

Four Square has 400 million users, making it the fourth-largest country in the world.

YouTube has 100 billion posts. This replaced TV commercials.

Facebook is about who you know. Twitter is about what you know. It is a network of sharing information.

Together, Facebook and Twitter are the voice of the customer.

Our marketplace today is media agnostic. People don’t care where they get their news.

Printers can become media hubs. One should be able to give printers their content “package” along with instructions on which channels to prepare it for.

Print is about content, not ink on paper.

Later that same day, Drew Davis spoke about “Reinventing Print: The Gutenberg Paradox.” Drew is a real find for this industry. He is younger than most of us. He is one heck of a dynamic presenter. Drew uses Prezi. It puts the rest of us boring PowerPointers to shame. He is passionate about print for someone whose business is about creating digital content strategies. Here’s a few comments from Drew:

Stop cannibalizing print.

Differentiate the product for and on every platform.

We need to evolve what we print – but print as a medium works!

The evolution of content is what print does.

Reading the entire New York Times Sunday magazine takes 94 minutes of engagement.

There is no known cure for addictive content.

Daniel and Drew were just two of the 15 speakers we had. A common theme was not only the evolution of print and printing, but also one simple concept: content. “Content” was on everyone’s lips.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share more of what I learned and heard at our 5^th show. If you were there and want to toss in your two cents, please feel free. Just drop me an email at .

© 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.