8th Annual PrintMedia Expo Explores the Workflow of the Future

A little snow didn't stop them. Several inches fell on the streets of Manhattan, where the eighth annual PrintMedia Conference & Expo was held March 15-17. And, still, publishing executives made the trek from as far as Germany, and exhibitors hailed from every corner of the United States, Canada and even India.

On two floors of exhibit space at the Hilton New York, more than 130 top companies showcased everything from prepress solutions to new printing technologies, innovative paper products, CD and DVD manufacturing and packaging, and workflow management solutions. Many new products targeted the publisher seeking to move into a cross-media platform with XML-based solutions and data-conversion applications.

Industry experts presented 30-some how-to sessions to conference attendees on a variety of topics, including the newest developments in digital printing, avoiding production pitfalls, color proofing, and many other topics geared at helping the publishing professional be more efficient, improve production and keep pace with a constantly changing industry.

One highlight of the show for many was the "Digital Realities Tour," a joint effort between Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications (DDAP) and Specifications for Web Offset Publications (SWOP). The tour included a step-by-step exploration of the PDF/X workflow process and its benefits, from writing and editing to preflighting and color proofing. Presenters like Erik Cullins, associate director of digital development at Time Inc., talked about their migration to PDF/X-1a, Job Definition Format (JDF) standards, and the effect of both on production workflows. A 'Hands-on!' area of the "Digital Realities Tour" enabled attendees to track a digital ad from design stages to print.

Two Glimpses into the Future

While publishers soaked up information about new products and technological advances in printing from exhibitors and sessions, they also gained some insightful perspectives on the publishing industry from two of the most well-known names in the field today: Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers, and John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster Inc.