What everyone was talking about at the Print Mastermind Summit
Despite a room filled with potential competitors conversations were open and honest
I recently headed out of our Bristol office and off to the big smoke for the Print Mastermind Summit at the glamorous Howden HQ (I thought our KC Media office was boujee!). Rather than the traditional conference format packed with presentations (and I’m not knocking this format), printers, suppliers, resellers, and other industry professionals came together to dive deep into the challenges, opportunities and realities facing print businesses today.
Attendees had the freedom to move between tables focused on different topics, choosing the topics they wanted to discuss, and people seemed genuinely willing to contribute, ask questions and share experiences, which was quite impressive to me as the room was technically filled with competitors. People were discussing workflows, operational challenges, technology investments, and their recent highs and lows. Something that stood out straight away was the quality of the discussions and the openness of participants, helped along by Colin’s handy coaching questions.
Discussions were guided by Colin’s business coaching expertise
AI, automation and the importance of collaboration
One of the biggest themes throughout the day was, unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence and automation. AI continues to dominate conversations across almost every industry, but scheduling, workflow management and front-end administration came up repeatedly as areas where printers see the greatest need for AI. The consensus seemed to be that AI's biggest value for print production is in removing those small, manual and time consuming tasks.
Customer support was another area where AI is being utilised with chatbots and automated customer service tools helping businesses to answer routine enquiries and provide faster responses without adding pressure onto, often lean, teams.
Another topic that came up was around customers increasingly wanting support beyond the printed product itself and are asking for branding, content creation, social media and wider marketing support in addition to their print. On one hand, this creates additional ways for print businesses to add value and strengthen client relationships. On the other, it can be tempting to say yes to requests that sit outside your core expertise and risk damaging those important relationships by underdelivering.
A key point raised here was the importance of knowing where your strengths lie and being willing to introduce trusted specialists when required. Rather than trying to become experts in everything, outsourcing to those skilled in certain areas can be a surefire way to remain competitive. Funnily enough, as I looked around the room I couldn’t help but notice that it was filled with printers from all corners of the industry perfectly positioned to support each other with these requests.
The real value of community - live in action!
My biggest personal takeaway was the value of community. This event was a gold star example of what community looks like in practice and is a testament to the fantastic print community Colin has built. People were willing to share knowledge, challenge ideas, and offer advice, and the discussion tables encouraged this with conversations feeling natural rather than forced. These conversations then continued over lunch and into the networking afterwards. It was quite literally the opposite of ‘death by Powerpoint’, and I have no doubt attendees left with many valuable nuggets of information and inspiration to mull over and apply to their businesses.
The day ended with a visit to the impressive Howden terrace complete with iconic London views