The
Compass Winter 2000
The Compass || Spring
2000 |
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BREAKFAST MEETINGS OFFER MEMBERS NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
At the GOA meeting in Miami Beach, 43 were expected for breakfast but the room was filled to capacity when over 60 showed up. Mike Fichera, Publisher of Dealer Communicator, led off the session with his thoughts and a wel-come to new NAGASA Member Services Director, Greg DuRoss. As part of his effort to meet the members and learn about their needs, DuRoss also represent-ed NAGASA at the Sunbelt Graphics breakfast roundtable held in Atlanta on March 10th. He was joined by Pat Leavitt, Vice President of Dealer Communicator. The focus of the breakfast program pre-sentations this year is the Internet. DuRoss presented highlights of the NAGASA FlashStudy “Internet Opportunities: Linking Customers, Dealers and Manufacturers." Dealer cus-tomers, such as printers, in each city are invited to talk about the ways in which they are presently using the Internet, or plan to use the Internet in the near future, both in dealings with their customers and suppliers. In Miami Beach, Ted Stitzer, with the National Association For Printing Leadership, presented information from an NAPL study on Internet usage. While attending the GOA show, DuRoss visited with over 30 companies, representing members, prospects, business part-ners and other industry trade associations. Of par-ticular interest to mem-bers was a meeting with Gene Alaura, OLEC Corporation, and Co-Chair of NAGASA’s Trade Show Committee, and Chris Price, General Manager of the GOA show. Discussions focused on ways that GOA and NAGASA could collaborate to assist members in having a better show experience. The possibility of a NAGASA-sponsored space similar to the International Pavilion, which NAGASA co-spon-sored this year, was explored. This could include a lounge area where members could rest and enjoy a beverage, meeting rooms to provide privacy for client meet-ings, translation services, and perhaps other business services. Additional items on the table for discussion were cluster-ing members around the NAGASA space, and priority treatment for services during move-in. Over a period of years, a byproduct of these efforts might be new NAGASA members plus additional exhibitors at future GOA shows. Additional discussions with GOA are planned. As for the GOA show itself, feedback from the NAGASA Trade Show Assessment and from comments heard at the show, exhibitors for the most part were saying that visitors were meeting or exceeding expectations. Some exhibitors said they felt the crowds were down, probably due to the impact of DRUPA later this year. In several instances, exhibitors commented they were pleased with the quality of prospective customers. According to Price of GOA, there had been some uncertainty as to what to expect, this being a DRUPA year. However, this 25th anniversary show, sponsored by the Printing Association of Florida, reported a four percent increase in attendance, with an estimated 100 new exhibit booths. Price attributed the perception of smaller crowds to an expanded show floor that allowed visitors to spread out more. Under the direction of the NAGASA Trade Show Committee, an impartial member survey was conducted following the GOA show. The compiled results have been posted on NAGASA’s web page for access by show management as well as past and potential exhibitors. Additional breakfast meetings are scheduled at the Gutenberg show in Long Beach on April 28th and at Graph Expo in Chicago on September 25th. NAGASA members interested in having a breakfast meeting in their city or who have sugges-tions on how NAGASA can be helpful to them at trade shows, should contact the NAGASA office at 202-328-8441. |
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