by DPS Magazine Staff
thINK, an independent community of Canon Solutions America production inkjet customers, recently hosted its seventh annual inkjet users conference, thINK Ahead 2021. Due to concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event was held in two waves, October 11 to 13 and October 13 to 15, 2021 at the Boca Raton Resort Beach Club in Boca Raton, FL. The organization also hosted a virtual event on November 4, 2021.
After careful consideration, the thINK board opted for the two-wave approach to keep the total number of people gathered together lower, allowing for open air gatherings and ample distancing.
On the Agenda
thINK Ahead 2021 attendees experienced unique networking and learning opportunities in small groups with deep-dive educational sessions spanning topics like company culture and brand to risk management and mission-critical communications, as well as product and partner demonstrations on-site at the Canon Americas Customer Innovation Center.
The keynote presentation featured economic futurist Andrew Busch. His speech, titled Where do we go from here? Moving from Chaos to Confidence, provided an optimistic outlook for attendees as they prepare their operations for today’s economy.
Highlights from thINK Ahead 2021 included educational sessions, press demonstrations, the Partner Pavilion, engaging events, and the thINK connect mobile application.
Additionally, thINK Ahead attendees witnessed the unveiling of the Canon Americas Customer Innovation Center Print Innovation Wall, a celebration of print projects from the inkjet community.
Along with the executive sponsor, Canon Solutions America; platinum supporters included Domtar, Muller Martini, Pixelle, Solimar Systems, Standard Finishing, and Tecnau; and gold sponsors, BCC, C.P. Bourg, Crawford Technologies, Crown Van Gelder, Finch, InfoSeal, Inkjet Media Solutions, IronSides, MBO, Midland, Mondi, OneVision, Plockmatic Group, PrintReach, Quadient, Racami, Rochester Software Associates, Sylvamo, Trekk, Verso, Videk, and WestRock.
In both waves of the in-person event, as well as the virtual version, attendees were able to connect with the above partners and industry peers.
Success in Person and Online
While it’s unclear what the future of industry events holds, a hybrid approach, such as that taken by the thINK community, seems to be a recipe for success.
Nov2021, DPS Magazine
