High-Powered Digital Print Sales Coaches to Top Speaker Roster at PODi’s AppForum

Rochester, NY — October 29, 2009 — PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative, announced today that the industry’s top sales coaching experts will assemble for its eighth annual AppForum, January 25 – 27, 2010 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. The roster includes Kate Dunn, President of DIG; Caslon CEO, Rab Govil; Peter Winters of The Winters Group, Mike Chiricuzio from ASU’s Print and Imaging Lab and Thought Transformation’s Linda Bishop. Their focus will be on interacting with attendees and helping print service providers move beyond selling print to selling more profitable solutions.

“For any service provider looking to boost sales this conference is a do-not-miss,” explains Dave Erlandson, GM for Caslon & PODi. “To have this caliber of sales firepower together in one venue – it’s the kind of top-notch sales training you can’t find anywhere else.” The three day conference features a full day Strategic Solutions Sales (S3) Training Pre-conference Intensive plus a dedicated Track for Sales & Business Strategies, featuring an outstanding line-up of new sales-oriented sessions.

The S3 Training Intensive, one of the conference’s perennial favorites, is again being presented by Kate Dunn, President of Digital Innovations Group (DIG) and Mike Chiricuzio from Arizona State University. “The S3 training was worth the price of admission many times over,” says 2009 attendee, Troy Bullock, VP of Business Development at Tabs Direct. “Kate helped us use the S3 techniques to effectively turn the corner from a ‘how much to print’ conversation to ‘how can we help you achieve your sales and marketing goals?’” explains Greg Gray, President of Allegra Knoxville. Ms. Dunn is also heading the Sales & Business Strategies Track.

Thought leader Rab Govil, President of PODi and CEO of Caslon, will reprise and update his Intensive on Relevant Direct Marketing. He’ll explore the challenges marketers face and give the audience the knowledge they need to improve sales to this audience. Says last year attendee, Joe Giovino, VP Sales Development for Platinum Direct, ”Rab is always a great provider of key industry trends as well as the strategies to deal with them.”

Noted sales guru and President of The Winters Group, Peter Winters will be sharing insights into the vital problem of connecting with CMOs in order to become a trusted marketing services partner. Mr. Winters will give attendees actionable strategies and proven techniques.

Linda Bishop, President of Thought Transformation, was herself a top performing sales executive. She knows first hand the dos and don’ts of selling solutions. She will help attendees understand and master using case studies.

To Register for the 2010 AppForum, visit www.podi.org/2010AFRegistration
The PODi AppForum is produced by Caslon, a PODi Affiliate. For more information on the 2010 AppForum visit PODi’s website. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. AppForum sponsors include: Gold Sponsor – Canon, Pageflex & Xerox; Silver Sponsors – DocuLynx, HP, Online Print Solutions & USADATA; Bronze Sponsor - MindFireInc. The AppForum is also supported by Media Sponsors, CANVAS magazine, In-Plant Graphics, Printing Impressions, and WhatTheyThink.

# # #

About the PODi AppForum
The annual three-day PODi AppForum is the only industry conference dedicated exclusively to digital printing applications, with a truly independent, vendor-neutral, unbiased agenda. All of PODi’s extensive research, resources, industry contacts, and expertise come together once a year to make the AppForum the cornerstone of what’s new and what’s next in digital print.
Print service providers and marketing experts learn the latest trends in one-to-one and relevant marketing, new profitable applications, and sales strategies. Thought-provoking sessions tackle productivity, operations, and print on demand technology. The diverse audience of printing and marketing professionals, end users, technology experts and others make the AppForum a dynamic networking opportunity. The intimate, low-key vendor hall encourages meaningful one-to-one communications, while showcasing the latest digital technology and professional services.

About PODi
PODi (www.podi.org) is a vendor neutral industry initiative with hundreds of member companies, including Executive Board members EFI, Pitney Bowes and Xerox. The organization’s goal is to drive demand for marketing applications powered by digital print & help members build successful digital print businesses. Membership in PODi is open to companies and organizations involved in digital printing.

About Caslon
Caslon (www.caslon.net) helps companies leverage rapidly advancing digital technologies, especially digital printing. Since 1998, Caslon has been the international Affiliate of PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative. Caslon provides top-level services for the PODi organization, including managing the online case study database, the annual PODi AppForum, Find a Service Provider and the S3 Council.