Printing Industries Alliance has announced the addition of six new sponsors; Canon, Heidelberg, Pantone, Man Roland Web Systems, Paper Mart and Advanced Print Technologies, for their program titled “Digital Printing Think Tank,” which will take place on Wednesday, October 28, in Manhattan at Club 101. The event is located at 101 Park Avenue, NY, NY, USA, at 40th Street. They join sponsors Xerox, HP, Ricoh, Konica Minolta, RedTie, Muller Martini, International Paper, Kolbus, Kodak and Vits International for a total of 16 sponsors to date.

The event’s first panel will include a group of large and small printers that cut across the digital printing market. Moderator Mark Michelson, editor of Printing Impressions, will lead the printers in a discussion that will talk about their path to the present and their path for the years ahead. It is predicted that digital printing, which launched in 1993 and is currently more than 20% of all printing, will become 50% of all printing by 2030. Panelists will include Cheryl Kahanec of EarthColor, Glen Boehmer of Sentinel Printing, Kevin Mc Vea of SCI, Ron Sizemore of Influence Graphics, Tim Boucher of b squared, Mark Strickler of Trilon Graphics, Nick Patrissi of Trend Offset Printing and more.

The luncheon speaker will be Jeff Hayzlett, former Kodak CMO, Primetime radio and TV host, business author and keynote speaker. Hayzlett will talk on “Think Big, Act Bigger: The Rewards of Being Relentless.” The first 100 registrants will receive a free autographed copy of his latest book by the same title.

A second panel will be made up of leading marketing executives from digital printing vendors. They will discuss how they provide press owners guidance in marketing digital printing and assistance in growing the market. Digital printing expert Marco Boer of IT-Strategies will moderate the vendors marketing panel. Panelists will include Dave Wigfield of Xerox, Marc Johnson of HP, Gavin Jordan Smith of Konica Minolta, Shawn Lawson of International Paper, Andy Fetherman of Muller Martini and Vahaaj Kahn of Kodak.

A third panel will consist of vendors that support digital in a variety of ways, including Buzz Apostol from Pantone, Andy Fetherman from Muller Martini, Shawn Lawson of International Paper, Bob Nista of RedTie, Jerry Levey of Paper Mart and Kim Markovitch of Vits International.          

The all day event will offer a networking opportunity that will allow participants to compare notes and speak with sponsoring vendors who will distribute literature. The cost for an individual to register for the event is $149, and includes lunch and refreshments. Vendor sponsorships will include two vendor staff tickets and three tickets for their customers or prospects. The vendor sponsorship is $650 for those who are already annual PIA Platinum sponsors and $950 for those vendors who are not annual PIA Platinum sponsors. A low cost conversion to Platinum Sponsorship status will be available. Sponsors will receive recognition through event PR, literature and signage.