Canon hosted 40 customers/prospects in a 2.5 day educational forum in Poing, Germany on May 13-15, 2014. The Drive Change Symposium was held during Océ’s Global Commercial Printing Business Days which is a world-wide event where over 1,000 attended in total this year.

These customer events have always been a high-value vehicle to bring customers and executives together to develop strong partnerships, share information, and solidify Canon’s commitment to doing what’s right and best not only for the customer, but for the community at large. The Drive Change Symposium was no different. The sessions during this event focused on discussions and demonstrations around driving change in the attendees’ businesses and the markets they serve. Meanwhile, Océ’s customer experience center featured exclusive and highly sophisticated real life applications from Océ customers running live on the diverse portfolio being shown. Attendees were impressed by the wide selection of applications apt to raise print volumes on print providers’ production lines.

Additionally, attendees were able to hear about the success of Canon in 2013 and the path for 2014 and beyond from both US and Poing executives. This included updates on the Océ InfiniStream (continuous feed liquid toner press targeting the folding carton market) and Niagara (cut sheet, four color digital inkjet system). Attendees were also one of the first to learn about the newly announced Océ ImageStream 3500 that will launch in the US in early 2015. This new addition to the inkjet portfolio is a continuous feed, high-speed color inkjet press that is capable of printing on standard coated offset papers without a primer being added. The Océ ImageStream 3500 will enable new graphic arts applications and open new markets for Canon’s customers. (Media and Analysts also participated in Océ’s Global Commercial Printing Business Days. You can read a couple of InfoTrends recent blogs about these product updates and new announcements at the following links: http://blog.infotrends.com/?p=15438, http://blog.infotrends.com/?p=15466

Overall, the event was very well received by the customers and prospects who participated. One attendee commented, “It was very informative and it gives you a good idea how you can implement new technology in your facility.” Another stated, “Great opportunity for relevant conversations with peers and Canon  executives alike…a good balance between formal and informal.” Canon looks forward to staying connected with its customers and continuing the conversations on how we can help them drive change through our solutions and services.

Tonya Powers is the Graphic Arts Segment Marketing Manager for Canon, with a focus on marketing strategies across North America in the Commercial and Book print production markets. She brings with her a wealth of industry knowledge that enables her to lead field relevant go-to-market production print strategies and programs for Canon that bring value-add to the production print customer and print industry.

Previous to Canon, Tonya spent several years at Hewlett Packard on the marketing team developing go-to-market strategies within the Graphics Solutions Business for their Wide Format and Digital Press & Inkjet divisions.

Tonya has been in marketing roles identifying and implementing B2B marketing strategies since 1999.