September 28th 2011. Every news channel on TV and radio was talking about the impact of heavy rains causing floods, power interruption and traffic jams in Manila.

Amidst all this chaos, Don Corleone (Godfather) was donning his black suit with classic black glasses, Marilyn Monroe was slipping into her white dress and 97 other superstars of the 1960s were getting dressed to leave their house--they were on a mission that evening. No, the mission was not to save the world from aliens, it was something considered even more important in the printing fraternity of the Philippines- it was their 3rd General meeting being hosted by Copylandia at Shangri-La Edsa, an evening dedicated to the theme “From Flower Power to Digital Power”.

While these superstars were braving the harsh weather to reach Shangri-La, Team Copylandia, owing to the old habit of pursuing excellence, was actively working to ensure that each attendee left with a memorable experience. Miss World Philippines Miss Photogenic Samantha Purvor was the Emcee for the evening along with Peter Kawsek (PPTF Trustee). The two kept the guests entertained with their wit and charm. There was plenty of entertainment, what with a modern ballet performance by the young award-winning ballerina Ms. Chesca T. Guico and her troupe of homegrown performers from Copylandia. Then, there were the famous Bloomfields who regaled everyone with the best of Beatles and rock and roll music.

But it was a mix of education and entertainment that made the evening special. In an enlightening talk, Atty. Bernadette Juarez, EVP of Copylandia, who is a certified teacher of the Art of Living Foundation, taught the printers some easy ways to beat the stress and remain happy and healthy, while keeping their businesses running smoothly. Mrs. Juarez discussed the important benefits of the ‘Sudarshan Kriya’ breathing technique with the help of an informative and amusing audiovisual presentation showing how stress could impact health, and how some simple breathing techniques could undo its harmful effects.

Then, there was Alex Tham, who Copylandia specially flew in from Singapore, to give a presentation on using Fiery Software. This was followed by a talk by Amit Sharma on the ‘Convergence of Offset and Digital’, designed to help the printers transition to the New Age technology.

To top all these was a raffle with fabulous prizes like copiers, printers, shredders, laminators and display boards, with everyone winning a raffle prize and going home with big, big smiles. And then, everyone decided to shake a leg to Bloomfields.

For those who missed the event here is a quick rundown:

The highlight of the evening was the launching of the Develop Ineo+8000, a production printer that can print offset/photographic quality prints on papers from 64gsm to 350gsm at 80 pages per minute. It can also do personalized prints using VDP capabilities and gives a guarantee of consistent print from the first to the 10,000thcopy. The printers were also made to experience the magic of Ineo 1200 which can print, collate, staple a book of 240 pages in less than 2 minutes.

Also on show was the entire range of Riso duplicators with the RZ970 printing at 10,000 prints per hour, matching the speed of an offset press, at offset print quality of 600 x 600 dpi, but a minimal prepress cost of only P22/job.

There were many sharp intakes of breath and loud “wows” when the guests witnessed the Riso ComColor running at 150 full-color prints in one minute, at the cost of as low as P0.50/ print. Unlike ordinary inkjet printers, the ComColor didn’t smudge even if water was poured on the print.

Develop was the main attraction, followed by Riso, and other finishing products to support digital printing such as Horizon binders, collators and folding machines, GBC laminators, and EBA cutters. Printers were able to have a good look at each machine’s capabilities, carefully demonstrated by the Copylandia staff.

Coinciding with the POD Show was the 3rd PPTF (Phil. Printing Technical Foundation) General Membership Meeting.

Copylandia pulled out all the stops to ensure that the night would be a memorable one for the PPTF officials and members. And finally, Don Carleone and Marilyn Monroe won the awards for the best-dressed guests.

It was a memorable night indeed as guests danced the night away, raising a toast to the good old days of flower power.