Eastern Reprographics Association - 1st convention review post

I’m taking a break from today’s ERRA (Eastern Regional Reprographics Association) convention in order to write this article, which expect to be one of several articles I will post about the short 3-day convention I’m attending, here in Hilton Head Island, S.C. At this point, we’ve finished the first two days of the convention; tomorrow will be the last day.

For an overall comment, I’d like to say that ….. , so far, this convention, which was sparsely attended, was one of the more interesting conventions I’ve attended….. and I think that’s “saying something,” inasmuch as I’ve been involved in the reprographics industry for 40+ years. If you did not set aside the time to attend this convention, you missed out!

David Brownell did an excellent job putting together this convention, and his convention-associate, Dennis Dillon, did an excellent job putting together the “education” program. A “round of applause” to both of them.

I mentioned that the convention was sparsely attended. Only 17 reprographics companies registered to attend the convention, and at least one reprographics company (and perhaps more) did not make it to the convention, due to the after-effects of the ugly snowstorm in the northeastern U.S., which cut power to thousands of homes and businesses.

Reprographics companies who were registered to attend included:

A1 Blueprint – Atlanta, GA

AIR Graphics – Boston, MA

ARC -

-ARC Eastern, Columbia, MD

-ARC Eastern, Richmond, VA

-ARC Eastern, Philadelphia, PA

Bay Area Blueprint – Pensacola, FL

Capitol Imaging – Little Rock, AR

Charleston Blueprint – Charleston, SC

FLM Reprographics – Fairfield, NJ

Hackworth Reprographics – Chesapeake, VA

Jiffy Reprographics – Clearwater, FL

Lynn Imaging – Lexington, KY

New England Blueprint – Springfield, MA

Plan & Print Systems – Syracuse, NY

Print-O-Stat – York, PA

Reprodux Copy Centers – Toronto, CA

RPG Digital – Laurel, MD

Starr Image Products – Butler, PA

TuscaBlue – Tuscaloosa, AL

About the sparse attendance, Bob Roperti, President of Jiffy and current President of the IRGA, remarked that, in past years at just “SRA” (Southeastern Regional Reprographics Association, the association now merged into the Eastern Regional *ERA”), upwards of 200 reprographics companies would attend conventions. When you consider that the Eastern Repro Association is now combined with the Southeastern Repro Association, the fact that only 17 reprographics companies registered for this year’s convention …. is incredible (if not abysmal.) Is the sparse attendance a reflection of “reprographer apathy”, a reflection of “economic times”, or maybe both?

Reviews of “education” sessions, which have taken place, so far, will appear in separate subsequent posts on Repro 101.

Just to mention them:

Suri, Chairman & CEO of ARC, gave a presentation of ARC’s current strategy. There’s an old saying, “worth the price of admission.” As to Suri’s presentation, that’s an understatement. Suri’s presentation was, without question, one of the best presentations I’ve ever heard anyone in the reprographics industry give at an industry event.

Joanne Underwood, Senior Account Executive with Monster Color (Monster is owned by Lynn Imaging, Kentucky), gave a presentation titled, “How Did We Get Here”, which was a story about Lynn’s development of its Monster Color business. It was a thoroughly interesting story, and anyone who attended this presentation and who is interested in further developing their large-format color business, or interested in adding large-format color to their business offerings, will go home with “actionable” information.