Earlier this week I attended two days of meetings focused around graphic communications industry specifications, standards and best practices.
There is nothing glamorous about this work. Almost 30 of us crammed into a small conference room. Not at a fancy hotel but graciously offered at no cost by Kodak (one of the member companies of the organization). Additional members joined in via Webex and a conference call. For two days competitors, customers, trading partners all put those hats down to do what’s best for the community as a whole.
In retrospect it’s rewarding work. Our graphic communications industry (the printing and pre-press parts of it) have been hit hard by the economy and the radical shift in the way people communicate and get their news. As a group we discussed and worked on ways to help make the people and companies in the trenches lives a little easier.
I went looking for a way to help and give back to an industry that has been so good to me. I found it by offering my social media expertise to the organization. As much as I may know about color, several of the people in that room have forgotten more about it than I will ever know. It’s beholden on all of us to find what we can offer to the community and give freely. I’ve written about “give to get” before and if you’re here you get that concept.
Everybody in the room contributed over the two days. Perspectives, ideas, and comments came from all quarters. As a result our industry is a little better today than it was on Monday. The lesson is to show up somewhere you normally don’t go and see if you can make a difference.
Where can you make a difference? Head over there and give it a shot then stop back and let us know how it turned out.