Comments on: ON DEMAND 2009 http://thedigitalnirvana.com/2009/04/on-demand-2009/ Transpromo, Short-Run Book Publishing, Inkjet and other Printing Industry Issues Mon, 21 May 2012 14:35:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gary Ampulski http://thedigitalnirvana.com/2009/04/on-demand-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-1097 Gary Ampulski Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:35:13 +0000 http://thedigitalnirvana.com/?p=494#comment-1097 I was one of many that considered taking a pass on this year's conference. Old habits die hard I guess so I decided to attend for fear that I would miss out on the latest market research and business developments. In the words of Dickens I saw it as the "Best of Times and Worst of Times". The conference had some poorly executed or missing elements from years past that didn't go by unnoticed. The audio support for the break-out sessions was not well implemented and in some cases were even annoying. A number of presenters even unplugged the sound system which will probably present a problem for the folks offering audio recordings of the presentations. The usual rating/feed-back forms on the sessions were not available and the Keynotes seemed more self-serving than usual. I like the people of Philadelphia but as a venue, the convention center was not as good as prior locations. If you didn't have a car, cabs were the only available source of transportation to/from convention center to hotel. Traffic was terrible due to all the construction. For the most part, the session presentations were very good. While many topics were old, the material was fresh with good content and solid case studies. Even Pesko's presentation seemed more meaty and relevant than years past. With the exception of one session that was really a waste to time and money, I felt the content was presented by experienced and creditable people. This was especially true for the MSP track. To me the sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday were the highlight of the conference. If this is a tipping point, I hope future conferences have even more user experience and discussions on lessoned learned and less supplier promotion on why they're so good. I was one of many that considered taking a pass on this year’s conference. Old habits die hard I guess so I decided to attend for fear that I would miss out on the latest market research and business developments. In the words of Dickens I saw it as the “Best of Times and Worst of Times”.

The conference had some poorly executed or missing elements from years past that didn’t go by unnoticed. The audio support for the break-out sessions was not well implemented and in some cases were even annoying. A number of presenters even unplugged the sound system which will probably present a problem for the folks offering audio recordings of the presentations. The usual rating/feed-back forms on the sessions were not available and the Keynotes seemed more self-serving than usual. I like the people of Philadelphia but as a venue, the convention center was not as good as prior locations. If you didn’t have a car, cabs were the only available source of transportation to/from convention center to hotel. Traffic was terrible due to all the construction.

For the most part, the session presentations were very good. While many topics were old, the material was fresh with good content and solid case studies. Even Pesko’s presentation seemed more meaty and relevant than years past. With the exception of one session that was really a waste to time and money, I felt the content was presented by experienced and creditable people. This was especially true for the MSP track. To me the sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday were the highlight of the conference.

If this is a tipping point, I hope future conferences have even more user experience and discussions on lessoned learned and less supplier promotion on why they’re so good.

]]> By: Michael J http://thedigitalnirvana.com/2009/04/on-demand-2009/comment-page-1/#comment-1092 Michael J Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:09:37 +0000 http://thedigitalnirvana.com/?p=494#comment-1092 My impression is that the tipping point happened a couple of years ago and it's still taking a bit to filter down. The way I think about is that the print industry is redefining itself into manufacturers and VARs. The manufacturers are focused on lean manufacturing which means very efficient boxes and very efficient ways to get data streams into those boxes and finished products out the door. When digital goes mainstream the notion of "digital" printing v "offset" printing is going away. We're all jut Printers again. Meanwhile, VAR's are customer facing. They integrate the best manufacturing capabilities to offer appropriate solutions to the people on their customer lists. I think it would be neat if instead of organizing the show by vendors, OD could have a pavilion with different equipment from all the vendors in one place. With all in life time fixsed and variable cost posted on each box and the best applications for that box. Similarly it would be cool to have a workflow pavillion. With all the vendor offerings in one place so that PSP-as-manufacturer and PSP-as_Var could easily do compare and contrast. My impression is that the tipping point happened a couple of years ago and it’s still taking a bit to filter down. The way I think about is that the print industry is redefining itself into manufacturers and VARs. The manufacturers are focused on lean manufacturing which means very efficient boxes and very efficient ways to get data streams into those boxes and finished products out the door. When digital goes mainstream the notion of “digital” printing v “offset” printing is going away. We’re all jut Printers again.

Meanwhile, VAR’s are customer facing. They integrate the best manufacturing capabilities to offer appropriate solutions to the people on their customer lists.

I think it would be neat if instead of organizing the show by vendors, OD could have a pavilion with different equipment from all the vendors in one place. With all in life time fixsed and variable cost posted on each box and the best applications for that box.

Similarly it would be cool to have a workflow pavillion. With all the vendor offerings in one place so that PSP-as-manufacturer and PSP-as_Var could easily do compare and contrast.

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