The 2014 Single Width Users Group conference and awards will be held in Darwin on May 23-25, featuring international speakers, and awards ceremony, and more than $30,000 in prizes.
Fairfax printing and distribution group director, and Swug president, Bob Lockley says there will be three keynote speakers from industry leading firms, including a surprise motivational speaker.
The other two will be a representative from German media company Axel Springer, speaking about trends in the European newspaper environment, and a speaker from Dubai discussing the integration of digital newspaper printing equipment into a conventional printing facility.
Lockley says other topics of discussion and presentation include a review of plant safety, a long series on engineering issues, and new ideas for cost savings and advertising in the newspaper industry.
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Nominations for the annual Swug newspaper awards, the winners of which will be announced at the conference, are open until May 2 for the categories of Best overall print quality (single width), best coldset commercial publication (single width), best overall print quality (double width), best newspaper on enhanced stock over 50gsm (single and double width), Apprentice of the Year, and the leadership travel scholarship.
Lockley says the apprentice and travel scholarship awards "provide a great opportunity for our apprentices and future leaders to broaden their horizons and learn more about the industry they work in".
He says this is the first time the conference has been held in Darwin and encouraged delegates from Asia to make the trip since the NT city is closer to many Asian capitals than much of Australia.
“It would be great to see delegates from our Asian neighbours attend the conference and I’m sure they would find it beneficial to meet, network and talk with their Australian industry colleagues,” Lockley says.
The conference will be hosted by News Corp Australia at their Darwin plant, which prints the Northern Territory News, The Sunday Territorian, the Northern Territory Business Review, and weekly community newspaper the Darwin Sun, using a single-width KBA Comet pressline installed in 2012, Agfa CTP prepress equipment and Ferag EasySert inserting equipment in its mailroom.
Lockley says: “This is a very modern pressroom running the latest single width technology. It is an excellent demonstration of how our industry continues to evolve and develop.”
Conference packages cost $330 for users and $396 for suppliers, which doesn’t include accommodation or travel. Registration closes on April 30 and forms are available from the Swug website.
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