A Letter from the President

Johanna Leovey

It was an overcast morning on September 14th in Redondo Beach when the first APALA Board of Directors retreat took place. A Sunday morning, no less, when we all came together to lay out the plans for the upcoming year. For the past seven years, Eva Quan and her Program Committee undertook the Herculean task of planning and executing the agenda for each meeting. This year we sought to come to her aid. In a process of listening to each other's ideas, gripes, and suggestions we developed the meeting agendas for the entire year.

So mark your calendars for these engaging events. Extreme Roundtable will be returning this month. Check out the topics that will be discussed for this round robin game on the next page. And due to popular demand, there will be more time at each table. For November, get on your best bowling finery and watch either Woody Harrelson's Kingpin or the Coen Brother's Big Labowski to put yourself into the spirit for our annual Turkey Bowl mixer at Lucky Strike in Hollywood.

On December 2nd, pull out that holiday sweater you were too embarrassed to return and join the festivities at Social Hollywood for the APALA Holiday Party. This will be a great event to sit down and spend some face time with all those people you've only communicated via email or mobile over the past few months.

On January 20th, we plan to go through the features on the new APALA web site and discuss integrated marketing. To continue the theme of living and working in the digital world, in February get it from the horse's mouth on Digital Printing Devices. We plan to have manufacturer's representatives discuss their product's capabilities. This should be a highly technical presentation for those who want to know the difference between an IGen3, DocuColor or HP Indigo.

Every spring, nature bombards our senses with new vibrant colors. But what is happening with color in printing? Find out in March when we will have Pantone in to discuss their new color system Goe.  Bring along an art director or designer to get the back-story on how they came up with 2,058 new colors.

On April 14th, the annual Client Vendor Showcase this year will be a joint venture between PIASC, APAOC and the APALA. The events will start out with the PIASC’s annual awards luncheon then followed by seminars for print professionals, designers and account executives for most of the afternoon. That evening, the vendor showcase will open to all attendees and vendors. This year's venue will be held at the Westin Bonaventure. For more details turn to page 3 of this month’s Press Sheet.

Think about this. In 1987 there where 830,000 employees in the printing industry nationwide. In July of 2008 that number slipped under 600,000. While the printing/pre-press industry has lost 230,000 jobs, creative content management has gained 250,000 jobs in that time. This includes ad agencies, magazine and book publishing. What does this mean for you? On May 19th we will try and grapple with The Future of Print Production. Come see what the experts think the future has in store for you.

Hopefully, this year of programs will educate, enlighten and infuse you with excitement about your industry and your future. Think of an APALA meeting as a Thought Exchange- a place where you can trade your thoughts with those of others.

All the best,

Johanna