Inside Stream Solutions: Mitchell Jordan's take

Record numbers attended this year's Stream conference. Print 21 journalist, Mitchell Jordan, was there and has all the news on what went on.

186 suppliers made their way to the Gold Coast for the two-day event. Of this number, twenty were first-time attendees that had recently joined Stream.

One newcomer, Brendan Howes, production supervisor at Midway Print Group, said that he was impressed with the conference. "It's a nice informal event where you get to see a lot of old and familiar faces. There's also a lot of relevant content being delivered," he said.

Seeing red over colour management
Colour management and sustainability once again featured heavily at the conference. Dave Mann and Ian Bain of DES spoke on the former, while Angela Nicholls, Visy Industries and Sean Silver, ANZ talked on their respective company's approach to sustainability.

Attention please! CEO, Andrew Price, (right) gives his address on Friday's Strategy Day.

If there was some repetition of themes in these presentations then it is only because they are both pertinent issues said Geoff Brennan, manager of strategic solutions. "The environment and colour are very important to our customers and to us," he said. "We need to keep refreshing our knowledge on these things."

Brennan said that since last year's conference, the response to ISO certification and colour management was less-than-enthusiastic. "Only a handful of suppliers really embraced colour management and moved forward," he said. "I don't understand why a lot of suppliers think that it's acceptable to get close enough to the result."

A lengthy presentation on workplace safety left some feeling numb and meant that the scheduled time for 'Questions from the floor' was scrapped, but this did not dampen the overall mood. One attendee remarked that: "For me, the information is not as important as the chance to see and talk with Andrew Price, Greg Higgins and the rest of the Stream team."

Many speakers touched on the tough times facing printers locally but GASAA's Garry Knespal took a more optimistic view of the situation.

"We are all still here, and that to me is a positive indicator," he said. "We have adapted to change and everyone in this room has survived the turmoil of the industry and I, like Andrew [Price], am positive of the future."

Richard Simms gives the audience a workout.

There was still plenty of time for fun and frivolity. During Friday's Strategy Day, audiences were harassed by the flamboyant health and fitness advocate (or was it a clown?), Richard Simms, who took Christian Siriano's definition of "fierce" to new levels, while Saturday's Conference saw every inch of the hall filled with the sounds of music ... or at least drums, under the guise of 'Team (Stream?) work'.

Swimming up stream and beyond
Last year, CEO, Andrew Price, declared 2007's conference the "best ever". He believes that 2008's event has developed even further. "We have improved on last year," he said. "We didn't change the formula and built on it instead and I think we will keep that formula for next year."

Price also announced that this would be the last year Stream gathered at the Gold Coast. "This is our fifth year here [in the Gold Coast," he said. "We want to keep it fresh."

He added that Darwin or Perth are possible locations for next year's conference.

More! More! Crowds bang the bongo drums at Saturday's conference.

A longer account of the conference will be published in the October issue of Print 21 magazine.