IMDA gets off to a flying start

The 80th IMDA Conference at the Indian Hilton Lakes Resort, Bloomingdale, Illinois, got underway yesterday- 21st May.

Following a successgul golf day the day before, the conference was opened by Janelle Harris, president of the IMDA, at the members’ breakfast.

She remarked that the conference has gone from strength to strength over the years and that this year is certainly no exception.

The morning session saw Kevin Ford, of Miller Coors, open the speaker line up with a presentation on how design plays a key role in the state of the consumer. Design, now more than ever, is very important when it comes to marketing, and more value, he said, is now associated with design.

Ford said: “To get consumers to engage you must ignite their passions, create confidence and elevate their wellbeing.”

Later in the day, motivational speaker Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst, gave a presentation on her role in the capture of Osama Bin Laden.

This translated into how teamwork plays a very important part in any business, in this case metal decorating, and it was interesting to hear how by coming together with colleagues they managed to gather the necessary intelligence to finally find their man.

Later in the day saw the Awards luncheon, in which many in this field were recoignised for outstanding achievement.

2014 Decorators of the Year were Joey Arledge of Rexam USA, Edward Ellison of Crown Cork & Seal, and Jerry Salomonsen of Crown Beverage Packaging.

The Grand Award was taken by Independent Can Co for their can produced for Natura Pet Brands. The lithography was worthy of the award, being incredibly complex for the amount of colours available to them for the design.

Member of the Year was won by Mike Yavorski of Valspar.

After lunch, the technical sessions saw presentations on UV Curing, from Miltec, Innovations in Photopolymer Palte Technology, from Dantex, and also a look at the myths and mysteries of colour control, by ColorMetrix – among many more.

The full review will be available in the next issue of CanTech.