GPO 2009 Open House (Somewhat) Live

LIVE UPDATES

8:30 am

In my efforts to live tweet this event, I had to resort to updating this blog. Government isn’t quite sold on the live tweet/updates argument, but I’ll do my best to keep you updated via blogs over the next few hours. I just got the call to come set up our table. We’ve got great lanyards, collateral, give-a-ways, and a cool poster to display the work of our internal Design Studio.

I’m taking up pens, catalogs, “Open House blasts”, marketing sheets, business cards…oh, and myself. Did I forget anything?

Probably.

Chime in later…..

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8:53 am

Forgot the sign-in sheets! Gotta run downstairs and back in 7 minutes.

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9:00 am

The doors were flooded with customers from all agencies. We host the annual event in Harding Hall, our largest open area in this monstrous building. It offers great architechture, classic craftsmanship, and plenty of room.

Visitors want to know all about our training opportunities, services, products, and people. It’s nice to put a face with a name also. That’s value to any customer. I’ve talked with people from Coast Guard, Census, Geological Survey, Navy, IRS and more. I’ve even met a few GovLoop users. I hope you all find us on here.

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9:30 am

The Public Printer of the United States gives a brief keynote address about new products and services, including learning opportunities. We’re moving on up! My training coordinator has come up to help me man (or woMAN) the table. A lot of great customers have come by to grab items, steal pens, and learn about our offerings.

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10:00 am

GPO SPA (Simplified Purchase Agreement) begins. Several people crowd the Carl Hayden Room, one of GPO’s oldest and most unique meeting rooms. The SPA training is a brief overview of the process of completing the SPA process. It was given by Momodu Jalloh, Agency Publishing Specialist. Several interested visitors flock to crowd the room for this FREE event.

Priceless!

The Institute’s student intern and training coordinator have taken over. They know if better than anyone, so I’ll let them handle it for a while. That way, I can snap some photos of the customers.

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11:15 am

PLUG, PLUG, PLUG

The Institute receives a plug about our training opp’s to federal agencies. So many people didn’t know what we do! We provide training on best practices on cross-media publishing: including WEB DEVELOPMENT, IMAGE MANIPULATION, CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT, GRAPHIC DESIGN, PAGE LAYOUT, and more. I just spoke with a key member of the Senate. She didn’t know either. We need to grow our marketing campaigns.

The FREE raffles are conducted. A Senate Art Book and original photos of President Obama are given away. The FREE training course raffle winner was just announced. The winner was BRENDA RANDALL of EPA.

Congrats Brenda! We’ll see you soon.

The GPO Plant Tour began. Several people line up to see our process of creating those wonderful item that all agencies wish to have. From pens to posters, GPO customers are constantly amazed at the things our creative professionals come up with. The presses are such a sight! And the marbling process is our most famous point of every tour. If you haven’t seen it, contact your National Account Manager today to set up a tour for your group.

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11:30

I’m back. Taking a few shots of visitors, customer interaction, GPO awards and other highlights from the event. National Account Managers talk to customers about how they can help streamline the process. FDSys representatives discuss the project, the system and the learning curve. GPO’s Green Initiatives booth is right next to ours. We do so much with sustainability! Green products and printing (and learning) is permeating this agency.

The krispy kremes have made their way around! Run, duck, hide….

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Noon

We talk to the last few customers, and begin to break down the table. We’ve got a great new poster to exhibit in our training suite. And several new customers to contact for advice, recommendations, training requests, and more.

To the customers who didn’t know we were on GovLoop, now you know. Stay connected with us. To all who were able to come out, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Next year, let’s expand to a full blown conference …. with live updates.