Workshops at Mind's Eye-Suggestions and recommendation for future events

[GKitson]

The initial Greaves on Garments workshop at Mind's Eye was an amazing success.  Richard has committed to additional events and I have been contacted by several industry professionals regarding utilizing the format for additional education workshops.

I NEED YOUR HELP, suggestions have been made about workshop topics and pairings but they have been very generalized.  Comments such as printing on darks, seps, pricing, Standard Operating Polices, adding additional decoration techniques, etc have all been suggested.

In order to deliver the best in education I need to know more specific information about what aspects of art, where your sep problems are, pricing challenges, Specific human relation challenges the SOP's deal with and so forth, and so forth, and so forth, you get the picture.

I do not envision this being a beginner anything, target demographic will be fine tuning your procedures, integrating new management staff into your shop, best practices of all sorts that make you more productive and PROFITable.

If you have information/questions that you choose to not share on an open board please e-mail me at greg@mindseyeg.com.

I will try to answer questions as they come up so start firing away.

~Kitson

[Gilligan]

I do not envision this being a beginner anything...

That's all I ask... almost any topic is a great topic... 2 days would be best since it's quite the trek for us.  Just to Cleveland it's over $300 a plane ticket (x2 for us) and if we were to try and fly into Fort Wayne we are at $550+ and I think that is only if we drive 2 hours away to fly there!  So either I need to car pool from a near by major city or I'll be coughing up some serious dough!

[jvanick]

I like the not being a beginner anything as well, having a bunch of professionals in the room really set the bar high and made it extremely enjoyable for me.

as far as topics go...

I feel something like seps, a deep dive on sim process (ie, why and when do you put certain colors in a certain order, how do you optimize your art/output for the best looking prints, etc), which could also be combined with printing on darks (especially those yellows and neons that like a REALLY opaque, bright underbase), of course, a lot of what I learned last night might make some of the printing on darks knowledge less needed , but i digress...

some time on management techniques for best efficiency (I really liked the cooked breakfast idea, we're still a bit small for that, but really helps you understand how to get the most out of the first few jobs in the morning, and identify those late-comers FAR earlier in the process).

I totally agree on the 2 days tho... friday/saturday was perfect for me and my schedule... being able to not lose 2 workdays is really helpful.

one suggestion might be to have a bit more of a schedule/outline to keep us on track better next time...  but that being said, I really got a lot out of the fact that we were very stream of consciousness and were able to go down the rabbit hole and back up and onto a new related topic.

[TCT]

I have been contacted by several industry professionals

If you mean vendors or sales people, I think that has the potential to become a slippery slope. If I'm paying for travel, lodging and taking time away from work to hear a sales pitch all of a sudden it becomes much less desirable. Now, if that vendor was to comp lodging or such that would be different. Maybe buy everyone lunch(I think Greg could recommend a good place or 5!) and provide samples and literature at that time. A sales person taking our pitching is for a hour we can get anywhere....

The Greaves on Garments that just happened I enjoyed very much. I can't think of one product or brand that was "pushed". It was VERY neutral, heck Richard even called a ink company's bluff.

That being said, I think one thing that could be a good topic would be "Efficient Scheduling". We do our best to fill our day for production, but it seems like it is almost a learned art to fill the day properly. It is nice when you can get ahead or even cut out early maybe. For us though, we really only have 2 people that can somewhat gauge how to line the day up. A new person, good luck!

[TCT]

Two other ideas-

Reducing Costs
From putting all your eggs in one vendors basket, to the best place to position fans.... We just replaced probably close to 1/3 of our florescent 48" tubes with retrofit LED bulbs and think I will do another 1/3 very shortly.


Getting The Most Out Of The Industry
There are perks and freebies out there that companies get. From free or HEAVILY reduced equipment/products to leveraging shipping companies. A lot has to do with purchase volume, but sometimes it is just asking the right questions to the right people.

[jvanick]

I second Alex's idea... that would be huge for us.

[T Shirt Farmer]

Greg,
I see and read lots of stuff on saving money on supplies, quick press set ups and ROI on equipment. It is my belief there is just as much of not more money to be made by focusing on items rarely touched on here.

Customer retention
Maximizing sales from existing customers
How to shorten the sales cycle
How to charge more than the guy down the street
Vendor relationships
How the contract customer perceives and values the decorator
How to spend adverting money wisely
Up Selling - Benefit statements - referrals

I know the core group is craving technical info but growth of the business is equally dependent on sales... understanding these topics and involving production staff in how they relate to them pays huge dividends.

[hoogie]

I'm all about the profits and savings an scheduling an possible programs that help, Chew on it for a bit Greg, an whatever you plan on doing, Count me in! The Friday Saturday combo worked perfect for me.