Clemson GC Students Attend 2015 Color Conference

December 15, 2015

Written by Dalton Anderson

What do students, faculty, color scientists, and large companies within the print and graphics industry have in common? Well each year, they all grab a few cups of coffee, load up their suitcases, and make their way to the Color Conference hosted by the Printing Industries of America, or PIA for short. The 2015 Color Conference was held on December 5-8th, in Phoenix, Arizona, where just a month later the Clemson Tiger football team would be playing their National Championship game; so needless to say the Clemson buzz was very much alive.

My friend and colleague, Jordan Gilbert and I were fortunate enough to be the two undergraduate students that were invited to attend the 2015 Color Conference, along with the company of our professor, Mrs. Edlein. Upon arrival Jordan and I picked up on a few key things; he and I were the only students in attendance, most of the attendees were older men, and we were among some of the greatest minds in the industry, true color scientists. We even happened to overhear someone say, “This isn’t the kind of event I would bring students to.” Whoever it was seemed to believe the concepts covered in the many workshops would be too far over our heads for us to comprehend. We didn’t let that discourage us, but we did keep the thought in mind.

The PIA promotes a wide variety of companies, from companies like Fujifilm to RICOH; and with 27 big name sponsors, there was no shortage of valuable cutting edge industry information being shared. Depending on your interests, you could choose which workshop path you wished to follow. Jordan and I chose to follow the “Design” path and were given the opportunity to meet and connect with some amazing people who worked for places like Adobe and Canon. Some of the presentations were extremely informational and easy for us to understand, but due to the nature of the conference and those attending, many presentations left us feeling in the dark.

Thinking back to what we had overheard someone say at the beginning of the conference, Jordan and I realized that maybe they were right and the information being presented was a little much for us to grasp. Then we realized that the information being shared wasn’t the main purpose for us being there. The information was for the companies and industry partners, our golden ticket and purpose for us being there was to network and build meaningful connections with representatives from those companies. This serves two grand purposes, it makes Clemson’s Graphic Communications presence more known to those in the industry, and it helps students like Jordan and me make lasting relationships that will benefit not only us, but the industry as a whole in the future.

There was a lot of talk about the upcoming generation, or “Millennials,” and how unprepared we are to enter the industry, stating things like, “Millennials don’t understand the importance of process and color control.” This gave Jordan and myself the perfect opportunity to meet with people and really explain how great the GC program at Clemson is. We were able to prove to some of the older generation that there are programs out there, like the Clemson GC program, which are teaching the upcoming generations the right values and necessary information, and not just design techniques.

Overall, the trip was a success and I am glad to have had the opportunity to go. I do wish that there were some sort of incentive for more students to go, such as an introduction to the industry meeting where students from different schools could connect with each other and industry professionals. The opportunities to get some face time were great but speaking to some of the most brilliant minds in the industry can be quite intimidating. I would love to see more student interest in future meetings, and I hope to attend the conference again in the future! For more information on the conference please visit the 2015 Color Conference webpage.