June 3, 2025 • 57 mins
Join Warren Werbitt, Jules Van Sant, and Steve Falk in Episode 20 of Printing’s Alive as they explore the power of scholarships in print education. They discuss Canadian Print Scholarships and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) and share personal industry experiences, highlighting strategies to engage youth and dispel misconceptions about print. The conversation delves into HR practices, the impact of modern technology, and the importance of company culture and mentorship. Success stories illustrate the long-term benefits of scholarships, while expert advice emphasizes supporting the next generation. The episode wraps up with insights on student involvement in fundraising and details on scholarship applications.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Hey.
Welcome back to Printing's Alive, the podcastwhere we talk everything print.
Today, we have a really good panel here, guestlist, special guests.
We've got Steve Falk, and we've got Jules VanZant.
Steve from the Canadian Scholarship Trust andJules from the Print Graphics Foundation.
Did I get it right?
(00:30):
Print and Graphics Scholarship Close Yep, closeenough.
Left out the end.
Close enough.
Left out the end, extra word.
So today we are gonna talk about young peoplein print.
How do we get young people in print?
Why do we need young people in print?
Well, that's easy because we are getting old inprint.
Lots of old people, not us on the call, but allthe others we're talking about.
(00:54):
And it's a problem and it doesn't matteractually if you're in Canada, if you're in The
US or if you're in Europe.
So we're gonna talk and hopefully people willlearn from it.
Most importantly for the print owners that arelistening, I really hope you're doing your
share and donating to your local printscholarship.
Whatever you do donate, it helps.
(01:16):
I want you to think about all the mistakes youmake in a year and give a percentage of that
back.
That's doing it the right way.
Right?
Okay?
Well, I mean, you're you're smiling, but I'mbeing serious.
Most of the people don't even know the mistakesgoing on in their shop because someone's
cutting stack of paper the wrong way andgetting tossed in the garbage and they're
taking more paper.
(01:37):
So we're not here to talk about mistakes.
We're here to talk about the young people.
So Jules, why don't you tell us a little bitfirst about the foundation and what you do with
And then Steve, we'll move on to you.
Awesome, so the Print and Graphics ScholarshipFoundation has been around since 1956.
It serves The United States.
(01:57):
So we can't give scholarships to Canadianstudents, which is a bummer because we also
engage with them on other things.
But we've been around, we have about 130endowments right now that we manage.
A lot of those are personal gifts that havebeen given over the decades.
(02:19):
They might be organizations that hadscholarship funds that they can no longer
administer those.
So we help administer those, we invest them, wehelp find students that fit the criteria of how
they would like to see that money used.
So over the years we have grown.
(02:42):
We give about 5 and $50,000 to $600,000 a yearin scholarships to students that are going to
two year, four year, or maybe a tradepart timestudents.
We've done that now for the last three yearsbecause we see the value in supporting those
(03:02):
students that want to go back and get moreeducation.
Maybe they work already and they need somesupport.
As an industry, we need to show them that webelieve in them and that we see the future and
that they can be the future.
So we do that.
The other thing that we do at the scholarshipfoundation is that we started about three years
(03:23):
ago giving grants.
So we give about a hundred thousand dollars ingrants every year to universities, trade
schools, high schools who are teaching whetherthey need equipment, whether they are taking
students to events, to certain training, maybethey bring in some specialists.
(03:45):
So we are very excited and we have had overlike 55 applications for grants this year.
Great.
And so we're getting a hundred thousand dollarsthis year to those educators showing them that
we believe in what they're doing.
So as an industry, we're getting behind them.
(04:08):
And so one of the other things I just wannabring up really fast is that we at PGSF are
also aside from the advocacy we do, the careerguide that we're redeveloping right now, the
directory of schools.
So anyone out there in a region is like, who'steaching graphic communications in high school
(04:28):
at a trade school?
We have a directory and we continue to grow it.
So we invite people to come in and take a lookat it, contribute to it.
You know a program, we don't have it, let's addit.
The more as a community we work together, thebetter all ships will rise, right?
And we attract those people.
But the other thing that we're doing right nowis the PJSF is helping to administer the
(04:51):
graphic communications education association.
So last year we met with them, they're ahundred year organization international and
they were struggling.
And because we've invested in infrastructureand technology to take us into that next
decade, two decades, five decades from now,we're able to take them on and help them grow.
(05:14):
And again, show that the industry believes inthem.
And we're seeing new instructors come intoprograms that were almost going away.
We wanna show them that as a community, theycan network, they can share best practices,
they can work together with vendors and withlocal printing and packaging companies to
(05:36):
really help elevate their students to bringthem into that next generation.
So me, I'm a board member.
I was chair for four years.
I'm currently vice chair.
I also handle PR and marketing for them.
And I do a lot of volunteering with them.
I spend a lot of my time making sure that we'reupfront because that next generation is job one
(06:00):
for me.
Absolutely.
Hey.
Once you get into this industry, it's not soeasy to get out.
Nope.
It's not.
And it's been good to me.
It's been good to my family.
So
Oh, that's great.
Who's got the funny farm there?
Is that are those your animals?
Yes.
Those are mine.
Love it.
(06:20):
Love it.
That's a guard, guys.
Whirl.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Great.
Steve, how about you?
Well, they I I had a career in printing.
It it sort of went through book publishing andthird party logistics and direct mail, and I
earned owned a bunch of high speed inkjetprinters for producing direct mail.
(06:44):
And through that, you know, became embedded andloved the print industry.
You know?
I literally 14 year old sweeping the Scholasticbook warehouse, smelling the dust of paper and
glue and seeing the little books and going,man, I I didn't know it was gonna be my life.
So, you know, as we have a nice nice group, theCanadian print scholarships, who's been working
(07:11):
for decades, and they asked me if I'd like totake on the executive director role.
I've been in it less than a year.
And but I've known about the organization,supported it.
And organization gives out about 85scholarships a year in Canada to students in
the graphics communication business.
(07:32):
We connect with those students, we try to putthem in contact with events that are happening
around their schools.
We try to bring them out to events where theymight meet prospective employers, we try to
show off the brilliant youth that are gettingthese scholarships to the employers, so they
can kind of wake up and go, Oh, that's a placeI should be looking for, for help, you know,
(07:54):
and, we do our best to kind of promote theindustry through we have, you know, the usual
social media that related to work, so it's apretty strong LinkedIn presence, email to our
constituents who are donors and past recipientsand the schools and the schools administrators,
(08:14):
etcetera.
So it's kind of like a communications hub aboutwhat's happening with young people and how the
print industry is adjusting and where that allfits together.
We try to think of ourselves as a little bit ofa hub for that.
So for young people coming into the industry,they can feel comfortable and good about it,
and we feel great about being able to connectthem up with people in the sector.
(08:37):
Cool.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
I've already said why it's crucial so we don'thave to say that again or, you know, remind
everyone how old the industry is, and we needto give our youth an opportunity.
And that means that some people should retiresooner than later so you open up the space for
a youth.
Just do that little plug.
(08:58):
Question, and I guess you could both answer it,but how do young people today perceive the
printing industry and are there misconceptionsthat you regularly need to address?
I'll let you go Jules, take it away.
So I speak a lot at the university level, highschools, and I think it's just best kept
(09:22):
secret, quite frankly.
A lot of the print industry just isn't a knownentity.
You look around and everything is printed.
Don't your grocery store, M and M's areprinted.
I mean, kids don't think about that.
We don't talk about it.
It used to be that print was the medium, right?
Before the age of the internet, we hadnewspapers, we had banners, we had direct mail
(09:48):
and that's how people got their information.
They wrote letters and now the world haschanged and that noun printing is just, it's
not something people wrap their head around.
Once you start to illustrate it, they're like,oh yeah, oh yeah.
But they just have no concept.
(10:09):
So I've heard in the past, oh, people don'tlike it because it's dirty or it's, I don't
hear that.
I just hear that they have no idea.
So that's why it's important that we asorganizations, we host a student day at Prane
United Alliance or at the trade show to be ableto take those students around, to give them
(10:32):
information, let them network and show themthat the industry cares, that they're not just
walking around being shoo shooed, that they'reactually engaged and that they learn what print
really is.
Yeah.
Think what I see in Canada is a lot of timeswhat because you asked the question was sort of
(10:56):
misconceptions.
Right?
Like some ideas of of what so young people comeout of or in high school thinking, well, I'd
like to get some education that ideally wouldlead me to a job.
But I also like to do some of the things that II like or I'm good at in school.
And a lot of times what they associate thatwith is like they're good at design or graphic
(11:17):
design or they're a creative kind of person andthat they can see the link to the print
industry through that.
So they're kind of like creative folks who getin there.
And then they're they're a little bit amazed athow technical and operational it is.
Like, know, it really it doesn't exist unlessyou have creatives at the front end of it.
(11:42):
But the that that's like the pointy top, right,of of everything else that happens.
So I think that's sometimes a misconception.
It takes a bit for for I think students getinto it before they realize that sometimes, but
they stick with it.
And and and and then I think sometimes what wehave what we find is we we give scholarships to
(12:05):
the top students.
Right?
So these are top performing kids, right, whoare great marks.
They participate in all kinds ofextracurricular things, and then and they get
in I'm not sure that that you know, they'vebeen high performing in clubs and running the
(12:26):
student union and all that.
They get to the print industry ground level,and it feels like a little bit of a slow burn
for them because they've been, like, so activefor years, for, like, five years before.
Like so I I think that's sometimes some of themisconceptions.
So they would like it to be a bit more rock androll.
They would it it and they didn't understandthat most of the industry is is operational,
(12:53):
manufacturing, finance, building relationshipswith customers and sales and all that kind of
stuff.
They they just don't get it.
Well, I think we've done a better job attelling them about that because especially from
the from the sales and relationship side, whichis sort of where I come from, it's just a great
industry.
So when I got involved in print, and I knewnothing about print before I got into print
(13:15):
back in the day.
Most people.
And I'm a sales guy.
And what I liked about print was every singleperson you meet in the world has a need for
print in some way or another, whether they wantto acknowledge it or not.
Right?
Every business, basic stationary, even thoughthat's the stuff that's disappeared, but
(13:38):
packaging, signage is out of control.
I used to deal with some families where theywould spend $6,000 on 400 invitations for a
wedding.
Right?
Husband would go nuts because he wouldn't spendthat much money on print at the office, but he
would then do the invitations for his kid and,you know, make the wife happy.
(13:59):
But there was always something.
The other thing was that I don't think peoplerealize that without our industry, there is no
other industry.
Right.
Without print, you can't work in drugs,pharmaceutical, right?
It could be a marijuana grow up too these days,but packaging, pharmaceutical, food, everything
(14:20):
has an instruction, signage, buildings,emergency exits, construction code, it's
touching us in every way.
And if you wake up in the morning and you lookat your books on your table and you just start
your day, then you're in the bathroom and thepackaging, and then you're in the kitchen, you
haven't even left the house and you've alreadyhad ninety minutes of bombardment by printing.
If you like your comics or you like anymagazine, that's what's out there.
(14:45):
So I think we need I think we as an industry doa really shitty job of promoting our industry.
I don't know if you guys have it in The States,but Steve, we used to have the dairy
association put on commercials on TV to remindyou to drink Who needs to be taught to drink
milk?
Right?
I mean, I thought once that we as an industryshould have our own commercials but our
(15:08):
industry is so cheap they wouldn't make thecommercial, right?
So I'll just tell you one thing that I used todo is we had a vocational school in Montreal
called Rosemount College.
And once or twice a year, I would have, I wasfriendly with the person that worked there, but
I would have the class come to my shop.
And we break them down into three groups, andwe'd I'd have a couple people, including
(15:30):
myself, and give them complete tours of thewhole facility, like right down from Prepress,
walking on the plank of the press while it'srunning so that they could feel the vibration,
showing them a white paper going out and comingout full blown color and some embellishments,
varnishes or whatnot.
When you do that and they get to touch andfeel, then they start looking around them after
(15:53):
and realizing everything.
And then at the end, would give them all aportfolio with all the information that they
have to have on the company and tell them to goback and when they're done to call me.
But I would also say to them, hey, if any ofyour parents buy print, maybe you wanna give
them the portfolio and they can reach out toAlways selling, right?
But what do you see happening around both yourareas?
(16:17):
Are printers bringing in people and doingtours?
How are schools operating?
Like what's the word today?
I do think networking is really important.
Career days, I used to run a trade associationfor the print industry in the Northwest that
covered seven states.
I partnered with a lot of printers in differentplaces to bring in students, get them into a
(16:39):
shop, get them to the community college wherethey might have a congruent program or things
that would be a gateway into print, right?
And start to show them kind of that track.
There are efforts being done but it's stillpretty fragmented and fractured and it's always
(17:01):
been frustrating to me because people wannawork where when they look at who they're
working with it feels like them.
And to your point of people not retiring, we'reexpecting to have young people come in who are
digital natives, who have a very different wayof consuming information and exporting that
(17:25):
information and we're asking people who couldbe three times their age to engage them in a
cube And most of these students don't wanna dothat or the ones in the back, there's just a
communication challenge or they don't look likethem.
So they don't see that pathway for themselves.
(17:47):
Now they don't have somebody ten years older,they have somebody forty years older.
So it's really important that employers havepeople that look more like the ones they wanna
hire and then get engaged at the high schoollevel, get engaged at the community college,
trade school level, engage at the collegelevel.
(18:08):
But then be ready to pay them Because that isthe other problem is that we get a lot of
scholarships to a lot of fantastic studentslike Steve said, high achieving, ready to rock
and roll.
They're put in a cube and they're not paid butthey could get paid in a bunch of other
(18:29):
industries.
So we have a little bit of a problem that waytoo.
So how do we make that up by making it feelmore like a place that they want to land?
Oh I agree.
Just on the pay thing I'm always amazed becauseeveryone will pay when the person says they're
leaving.
(18:50):
Right?
To keep them because they put in this time andthey put in.
Listen, the other thing is, you know,salespeople, owners, you know, you hire a
salesperson and and anyone who comes in andsays that they're bringing a book of business
is lying anyways because customers don't followsalespeople.
But anytime you bring a salesperson into yourcompany, it's twelve to eighteen months before
they're really hitting the mark and moving.
Most owners at six and seven months start toget antsy because they don't see something and
(19:14):
then they chop them before they're just aboutto hit their stride.
And it's really, it amazes me.
Today, people don't work for free.
In the old days in print, if you were in sales,was draw against commission or straight
commission.
And there's still people who wanna operate thatway.
(19:34):
And if an old person owning a print companythinking that way, then just don't offer to
hire anyone because you're just insultingyourself and them, right, by doing that.
What what what do you see going on around hereon our side?
Well, they because you know what?
The big our biggest so back to your Rosemonttechnology still exists.
We just started sponsoring scholarships there.
(19:57):
Ruben Acevedo, I don't know if you know RubenAcevedo, but he's been there for a while.
And the closest, I think, printing place isPDI.
It's not too far away.
So we're trying to hook up
And Jamie runs a wicked operation.
Yeah.
So we're trying to make sure that theyunderstand that we can work back and forth.
And and, you know, that that makes us feelgreat that we've done a job where we can go in
(20:19):
and, like, start with a scholarship, talk tothe team at the school, and go, hey.
Just down the street is Jamie PDI.
And they'll go, Yeah, we know about him.
We've done some stuff.
It's like, Well, let's cook it up a little bit.
Let's make sure that more things happen.
Are you having an open house?
We want to get photographs of you and Jamie'steam and our recipients and put it online.
Like, it's building a, you know, a kind ofcommunity of print success with young people.
(20:46):
Right?
And that's what we try to build.
We're lucky to have I think we're lucky to havesocial media and stuff these days.
A little We don't have to wait for like the twomonth next issue of Canadian Printer to come
out, you know, to be able to promote it.
We can kind of do it instantaneously, and wecan share video and all those things that, you
know, you try to do to try and encourage togive the impression to a young person who's in
(21:12):
school that there's industry out there thatwant to talk to you, want to show you what's
going on and bring you in.
You're right.
You you know, Jules, you're right about the agething and the I'm like, I I feel like one of
the things I wanna do is go around and give HRlessons to so many printers because of lost
(21:33):
opportunities where, you know, young people arecoming in the door and they're treating them
just like they trot.
They treated their employees in the eightiesand it's such a different vibe now.
So, I mean, if any, I'm not an HR expert, but Ican certainly see what works and hasn't worked
for companies over the And I hear from studentswho feel like I got engaged at a company, and
(21:55):
they set me up with a mentor, of, there's lookslike there's a path.
There's some young people in the cubiclesaround me, so we go out for lunch together.
Like, they're whatever.
There's And then there's other ones that don'tdo so well with when they land young people in
their places.
But to your point about like, are they, what'shappening as far as I'm I'm pretty happy with
(22:21):
in in Toronto.
Now the good thing about Toronto is there's alot of printing density, right, in Toronto.
But TMU, we I think we give, you know, nearlyhalf of our scholarships to it's a big school,
right?
I think they have three fifty kids in graphiccommunication management, maybe 400.
They have a careers day, and I think about 40or 50 printers show up at that career day.
(22:44):
They just set up Good.
Little tables, and the printer puts his namethere, and people sign up for an interview, and
they talk to kids.
You know, the vibe this year, I heard, was thatpeople were talking but not hiring.
There's a lot of hesitation.
So some people walked away from that feeling.
I see people, students walked away from thatfeeling a little like, wow, this is a tough
(23:08):
year.
And I think it is, you know, the economy andeverything else that's going on, it's a
different year to graduate.
Especially, you know, that was happening in midFebruary, whatever those career days, right?
They not days when people were holding theirbreath.
But lots of printers out, and lots of themengaging and talking.
And I think that's a positive thing.
(23:28):
Although I'm always surprised at which onesdon't.
And then also which ones don't show up at othercentres, like why, why they wouldn't be, you
know, there's a print centre in Saskatchewan,Manitoba, Alberta, and BC that all and printers
aren't and their HR departments aren't knockingdown the door to go into those schools in the
(23:53):
way that I thought they should.
Yeah.
You know, when when we talk about young people,I'm always I'm a little amazed.
I mean, I've always stayed close to my kids inthe sense of hearing what they're talking
about, where they're going, and what they'redoing.
But there's a lot of print owners out there whohave kids that if they would just sit and talk
to them or bring them in and ask them somequestions and accept what they're telling them
(24:15):
instead of saying, as long as you live under myroof, you'll do it my way.
And that was always a good line when we wereyounger.
They would find out a little bit more aboutwhat they have to do and how they have to say
it.
I had one gentleman say to me, you know, Ican't keep young people.
What do you think I should do?
And I said, stop talking to them.
Because you go in and you welcome them and youtalk to them and you hear them, but you don't
(24:35):
go back to them.
You let other people do it.
But if you're gonna go and be the first words,then you got the first relationship in.
And if you're the owner, mentor them a little,take them a little, you know, give them a
little bit more space, invite them to a lunch,ask them anything, ask them to come sit, walk
around, maybe pair them up so that they have ashadow or they're a shadow to somebody for a
(25:00):
little while.
You know, when you said not hiring, they're notsure.
Again, our industry is really, you know, yes,we have a tight industry.
Yes, a lot of companies, low margin, but wedon't have the option of hiring when we need
that person.
I learned the hard way that like you gotta besmart and if a right person comes along, you
gotta take the chance, make that investment.
(25:22):
Yeah.
And bring them in because never mind print inlife, nothing ever goes the way you want it to
go, when you want it to go.
I'll share this little tip because it youreminded me of it when I was but when I was
starting to get some young people coming in, Iwould do is I'd sit I'd set the schedule up of,
like, onboarding stuff.
But one of the things I thought thought theyreally enjoyed is, like, I set them up for
(25:46):
lunch with other people in the industry.
Mhmm.
Right?
Love it.
So it's, like, for two months, once every twoweeks.
So I call up, hey, Bob.
Would you have lunch with this 25 year oldgraduate?
They're just starting with us.
Like, just just meet him.
They want community.
Oh, sure, Steve.
You know, whatever, you know, I'm I'm buyinglunch.
(26:06):
It's okay.
But like this and and it worked out really wellbecause they gave me all kinds of people and
different kind of a graphic designer or a printowner or whatever, you know, Canada Post
person, whatever, you know.
Yeah.
Take them to a You could you could letsalespeople grab them grab them and not every
day, but take them with to visit a client.
(26:28):
Let the client see that you're investing inhiring young people and you're bringing them to
meet them so that they could understand whatgoes on.
So you gotta win win, right?
Because the customer's now thrilled that you'remaking an effort, right?
With young people.
The person you're bringing is thrilled becauseyou're taking them somewhere and it's not in
the building, it's out of the building.
(26:49):
And then there's just more engagement becauseotherwise if you just put somebody in a place
and all they're doing is working in a silo andthere's not anyone around, that's not so good
either anymore.
There's another thing think we to do that wedon't do is we don't promote our technology at
all.
(27:10):
Okay?
Multimillion dollar presses are like a videogame now.
Bunch of buttons, screens at the front of thepress.
The folders have 200 presets for fold.
Ink is all in the prepress if you're learningall that technology.
There's no more playing with the ink trays.
Like, we've advanced a 80 degrees from where wewere.
(27:32):
And there and when I say when sometimes youhear people say dirty, printing is or was a
dirty industry.
If your parents were in print and they workedin a plant, you would come home with like
construction ink under your fingernails thatyou couldn't get out so easily.
People are dressed in white suits now in somecompanies in Germany working in the press
rooms, right?
(27:52):
Inks are coming in canisters.
You show people, you know, I said it before,how you make it and what you make it.
Take them to the process.
You know what, I spoke at Ryerson a bunch ofyears ago to a graduating class and oh my God,
there was nothing more exciting than talking tothem and getting all that young energy.
(28:15):
And then the questions they ask.
I mean, at our stage, people don't ask manyquestions, they barely talk.
So we need some of those young people.
Tell me about a person who each of you may havelike, know, did the scholarship for that really
turned out successful and grateful for whatthey're doing.
(28:37):
Oh yeah, we, PGSF, we have a few board membersactually who are in their their thirties who
have been scholarship recipients who.
No way.
Oh, yeah.
We are.
Oh, I love that.
Oh, yeah.
I love Our
board is completely.
I want
to talk to them.
(28:57):
Well, they would love to talk to you.
They are, and they're in the industry workingat one's at a book manufacturer, one's at a
large commercial shop.
Another one is an entrepreneur and supportingthe industry.
Another one works for an OEM.
And so all of these different people, youngerpeople are like, they see the value and so they
(29:22):
help us to make sure that we're presentingforward to the next generation for them.
Because it's really important.
The buyers that you were just talking aboutalso wanna look at your company and say, do you
feel like me?
Am I gonna look at you and say, yeah, you'veinvested in technology because you have the
(29:44):
right people in there running it, in thereselling it.
And oftentimes if you don't take people tolunch, if you don't take some of those new
hires out, they're as good as a sales rep or anemail and it's not as sticky.
So it also helps drive demand to bring in thoseyounger people and get them in front of those
(30:06):
clients.
So for us as a foundation, it was reallyimportant to me when I was helping to usher and
re nurture this board to make sure it lookedlike who we're serving, not the ones who have
been in the industry for forty years.
No, exactly.
And by the way, the buyers are becoming youngeras Yes.
(30:33):
The buyers don't, not all, but a good partdon't have the same knowledge of print, right?
So you almost wanna bring younger people in sothat they could have the conversation and
relate and maybe they'll talk about other stuffand they get back to print.
But they'll be with their own peers.
I've spoken with salespeople where I've gone tocheck out their LinkedIn and it's not even
(30:57):
filled in, right?
Like a salesperson has been with the company,it's not filled in.
And I'd say to them, well, number one, afterCOVID, you should be filling it in because at
COVID, all learned about LinkedIn and thebenefits.
I said, more I asked him, said, moreimportantly, I said, what do you do when you
find a customer?
He goes, what do you mean?
I said, well, you go check out their LinkedInpage, you go check out the website, you try to
(31:21):
figure out who it is that you're gonna dealwith and if you wanna deal with them, and if
you've given you the right impression, image ofwhat they do.
I said, well, you know, when your potentialcustomer goes to your LinkedIn, they think
you're a nobody because you got no experience.
You haven't posted anything.
Your email's not there and your phone number'snot there.
You're making them chase you.
Guys like, well, I don't think it works likethat.
(31:42):
I said, buddy, you just told me what you dowith your customers.
Right?
It is funny the different I mean, there's stillpeople who are are lagging on that social media
side of LinkedIn.
But they certainly
think But that's where the young people couldhelp.
To be customer relationship building, and notjust young people.
I mean, lots of people are spending a fewminutes every day on LinkedIn seeing what's
(32:05):
going on.
And the minute they see somebody's name on anemail list or podcast or anything, they're just
checking them on LinkedIn to see, like, who isthis person?
What's their credentials?
You're right on it.
One up with the younger people that you coulddo, you bring them in and you ask, you know,
you could ask them, hey.
If you guys could post on our social media oryour own about the company.
(32:26):
Yep.
That's what they do great.
Yeah.
You don't have to pay an agency to do it foryou.
You could have a little group in your companybecause you don't need that's, you know, that
much stuff for your TikTok and and whatnot.
And that's that's like it's a side hustle forthem because you're engaging with them and
you're asking them to help you promote yourbrand.
So again, you're giving them room and freedomto move.
(32:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
And opportunity.
Back to
your point about
Sorry, first.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Was just No.
Let's fight.
Somebody go.
They to the to your point about the the thebuyers, we did a survey.
We went and looked at the LinkedIn profiles ofeverybody we gave scholarships to for ten years
(33:12):
from our biggest school.
So we were in and then we had we were able totrack down more than 50% 60% of the students.
They all have LinkedIn profiles.
So we see so then we, like, are they working inthe industry?
Which we found a decent percentage were I can'tremember the exact number, but let's call it
ten years later, there's 25% of them are stillin the printing industry, but some of them are
(33:34):
buyers.
So they don't show up at Joe's Printing andPaper.
They show up at the TD Bank, Canada's biggestbank or whatever, and they're buying print.
They're in the design and print.
You know
Love it.
What a a a contributor or a donor to a printscholarship would say, well, they're not
working for me.
Well, they are kind of working for you becausethey're buying your stuff from the, you know,
(33:58):
from the so if you're creating in the printindustry, graph communication business, good
buyers, that's cool too, right?
Because you don't just need people to work yourpresses, work your sales team, and and
marketing.
You need buyers in the end.
We need creative people and agencies.
We need buyers.
Right?
Understand it and, like, have you know, writegood specs and can understand they should come
(34:21):
for a tour of your plant because you have somenew technology that will help them change the
way they're doing things and do it better.
So I just I just bring it up.
I think some of what the scholarships are doingare feeding the the buyer side, which we kind
of forget.
Right?
Like, because we keep thinking we want themworking in our plant.
You want anybody who loves print anywhere nearyou, on any side of you.
(34:44):
Right?
We need we need to bring the people in andeducate them because we need them to understand
print.
So even if they're not in print wherever theyare, they could talk about it with their teams,
with their companies.
They might be able to educate other people.
Like we're creating little educators, right?
They'll go out and they'll educate other peoplein the company as to why we in the world of
(35:04):
print, we think we know it all, right?
And we don't really know anything becauseeverything's just kind of changing all the
time.
I mean, when my kids used to come into theshop, they were blown away because no one ever,
I'm just looking around what I have here, whichis probably not much, but when you go get
something and it's printed packaging or yourcosmetics or the foiling, or even my Don Julio
(35:27):
comes in a box I spend more time looking at thebox than holding the bottle because it's really
cool.
And oh my God, the best thing ever when youtalk about educating.
So I always talk about print at home.
I'm always talking embellishments.
I'm talking whatever.
You never think your kids are listening to you.
Right?
And then one day my daughter's with her husbandat the pharmacy and they, and I have it on my
(35:49):
YouTube and they're going in the pack in thefood section or they're buying, I don't know,
whatever they're buying food.
And my daughter just takes out the phone.
She makes a video and says, you know, my dadalways talks about embellishment and I just
picked up this packaging with theseembellishments.
I don't even know if it's good, but it surelooks good with the embellishments and we're
mini whisperers And she posted it and I waslike, nothing ever made me smile, they killed
(36:17):
me because it was so great.
And it just made me think, you know what?
They do listen to us.
They do They
need
to use our voice, right?
I speak to a lot of classes.
Like I said, I chair the Cal Poly advisoryboard for graphic communications.
So I get to engage with professionals andstudents, career days, all of that.
(36:38):
And they need to see our passion.
They need to see that we believe in thisindustry for them to go, yeah, I think I'd like
to be in that.
For them to ask their friends, consider this asa career path, right?
Talk to their younger siblings, go back totheir schools and talk about it.
Know, this is a viral thing.
(36:59):
Social media is being social.
Sometimes, you know, I think COVID taught usthat we need each other.
And so this is a time for us to be viral justlike your daughter and, you know, shot it from
the shot it from the rooftops.
I think it's great.
Oh, it's all listen, when I go in, I don't evenknow.
I don't know wine that well, but when I go in,I pick my wine based on the label.
(37:22):
Oh, right.
I think they're best label printers are rightnear Wine Country in Ontario.
You know?
Exactly.
That is that is that
that They have 15 different embellishmentssince that's the word of the day, all lined up
on that web.
They just, like, depending if you want gold,silver, emboss this, and, you know, raised
that, punched this.
(37:42):
Yeah.
And and and sorry.
We know all that embellishment stuff works.
Right?
Like, when people are going in, the thestatistics that show you when people see
something or pick it up or touch it.
Look at all the kid trading cards, like thePokemon stuff, all out of control.
They all relate.
Yeah.
I mean, I've I've a deck of cards all embossed,everything done, and I mean, Grateful Dead, you
(38:03):
know?
But even they're doing fancy cards and, know,effects.
So I think it's a whole new world out there.
For the stuff that we've come out with lately,it's right up their alley doing some of the
stuff.
The digital, the direct mail, right?
It's perfect,
the kids love apparel, all of those thingsbring to mind what the technology can do no
(38:31):
matter the medium and it's a huge thing and youdon't need to print more than one.
You can print 10,000, you can do 100,000 butyou only have to do one to begin with.
So just making accessibility is again it's kindof a gateway.
Oh I can I can do one off of my design and thenall of a sudden they're like oh hey I could
(38:53):
start to print my own?
Know it's it's it's pretty exciting.
Think it's I mean it's such an entrepreneurialindustry and I think that by giving
scholarships, by doing career days, bynetworking, we show them that we believe in the
future and it gets them a little riled up andmaybe they'll start doing a little bit on their
(39:16):
own.
It's pretty exciting.
If nobody shows anybody anything, where'sanybody going and what's anybody gonna do?
We all we all are where we are because somebodytook us, somebody showed us and it could be the
work thing, could be my fishing thing, could bemusic, could be everybody's introducing
somebody.
Listen, when we brought into the world, wedon't know anything.
(39:39):
Think about it.
Every single thing, somebody's showing us.
So we have to continue.
I would like for every owner to commit tobringing in one student for two weeks or four
weeks a year and pay them because they have allthese stages and all these things you can go in
and do and not pay, but you always pay someonewhen they come in if you wanna make them feel
(40:00):
respected.
Don't take advantage of them, but have themcome in, have them ride by a couple people in
the shop doing different things.
Ask them when they come in what they like, ifthey have any interest.
Some people like playing with machines andparts.
I never got dirty in my entire print careerjust because I didn't like the back.
Lots of paper cuts though.
But if you ask them, you're in another betterposition.
(40:24):
Right?
Some don't even know what they like untilthey've done
it.
Yes.
It's not everyone's but when we brought instudents, because there was a in York Region,
North to Northern Toronto, there was a good coop program in some of the schools.
So you would get these kids knocking on thedoor, Hey, can I do three months?
Maybe it was even six months.
(40:45):
You got to know them over.
So one of the things I would do is, by the way,you're gonna take notes and you're gonna do
stuff, but at your what you're gonna do isproduce a video for us about working here.
And so at the end, you know, sort of our threequarters of the way through, they were like,
Hi, I'm, you know, so and so I'm here at suchand such printing and ink.
(41:09):
I didn't know anything about it.
When I came, I'm gonna walk you through theplant or, like, whatever the thing was.
And we got some really kind of, like, you know,high school quality fun videos.
And I I track some of these kids, you know, andthey're, like, super achievers now.
Right?
They're just like doing great, but it's it'ssome of them have, you know, I don't think any
(41:32):
of them have stayed in the print industry.
That was their high school co op.
But it it we used that, you know, the Lovideo.
It was good for staff morale, because theycould see some young person like working here,
and then it was good for like promotion andstuff because we'd put it on our website, we'd
put it on our LinkedIn and stuff.
Here's somebody who spent six months here andit didn't kill them.
(41:57):
Listen, I think companies could ask some of theyoungins in the company to do some scripted
videos for the company to promote the companyand their offering or the hiring of people,
right?
And that's a great way to show other youngpeople that there's already young people in
rather than meeting the guy with gray hair.
(42:18):
By the way, I wish I had gray hair as opposedto no hair, But I think there's so many little
ways that you can use them.
And then again, if you do that, I think thepeople, the young people you're asking to do
that, you're making them feel important.
We all know a job is not just about the money,although it's very important these days,
especially thanks to the tariffs and yourpresident.
(42:39):
Okay, I won't go politics in the podcast.
But no, but it's important to let the kids dowhat they have to do and feel empowered, right?
Because I think today kids wanna be moreempowered than we did as kids.
I don't think we knew what the word empoweredmeant back then.
Yeah, no, they want to be able to, here's whatyou need to get done, here's the end game,
(43:04):
here's the tools and then let them do it,right?
But also be engaged and show them.
I think it's really important that you makethem feel welcome.
And one other thing I wanted to say is when youtalked about high school, trade schools, career
days, also bring get your younger people totake samples and go to the high school.
(43:29):
Go to the trade school.
I've done that.
Look at visual communication programs.
Look at graphic communications, graphic design.
Get them excited about that screen becomingsomething else and how it intersects with
photography, how it intersects with UX UI, howit intersects with fabric and signage and
(43:53):
Pokemon cards.
I mean they just, again, they don't know whatthey don't know but if you can get the
educators to get excited then you're reallystarting to create community.
Sorry about my dogs.
Yeah.
That's okay.
Dog dogs are dogs.
Right?
It's so let me let me ask you a questionbecause you speak with the teachers.
(44:15):
Are the teachers that are teaching our kidsabout print and industry excited?
Or are they like some of the teachers that Ihad where I wanted to jump out the window and
drop out of school?
Most of them are excited.
Think especially the younger ones.
We have some graduates that were PGSFscholarships that are now teaching at Ferris
(44:36):
and down at Wisconsin Stout.
In The US.
These are women in their 30s who went toschool, worked in the industry are now
instructors.
We need to show them we're supporting them andthey need to be able to go to their department
(44:56):
chairs, to be able to go to their universitiesand schools and say, I need this equipment.
I need this software.
I need this kind of support so that I can showthe students pathways.
So it kind of, there's a lot of part of thecircular economy that us as an industry needs
(45:17):
to make sure that we're plugging into andsupporting.
But it's different.
The ones I've worked with, the ones at CalPoly, for example, they love print.
They do, they teach other things because thestudents aren't all in on
that.
But
they love the print part and they're verypassionate about teaching them.
(45:39):
Cool.
And I mean, we we mentioned before, like, theone ups.
I mean, kid young the young ins are buying Nikeonline and designing their own shoes.
Right?
T shirts and whatnot.
So they're some of them, if not half of themare probably already doing stuff without even
knowing it, right?
They're all pretty computer savvy, like turningtheir fingers, doing shortcuts and all that
(46:03):
other stuff where I'm still doing one finger ata time.
But I think we have to give them a little bitmore credit in general than we give them.
A %.
Oh, I just think So youth in general.
So, you know, people are in the industrywondering what's going on with the youth these
days.
(46:24):
We meet just the best.
Oh my goodness.
They just shock you how engaged they are.
They're ready to take on the world, smartpeople, great marks, all kinds of
extracurricular stuff.
They do sports.
They do this and that.
I mean, you get those people into yourbusiness, keep them interested and engaged,
(46:46):
think good things will happen.
And actually saying that, I just thought ofsomething else.
Aside from the young people, for the ownerslistening, most important is the culture of
your company.
If you do not have a good culture, if you donot have a place that is, I'll say fun and not
so stressful and demanding and I mean, we'reall deadline driven, but you don't have to say
(47:10):
it every day, then you're not gonna find peoplebecause people today are looking for a place
where they could feel comfortable.
No one stays for thirty years like ourgrandparents did or maybe some of us, but it,
you know, you have to do that.
I mean, we used to have disco bowling every sooften and we even went to play paintball once
and actually I was the only guy dressed inorange and I was the moving target.
(47:33):
But if it was gonna keep 65 people happy, I wasready to take a few hits for the team.
Right?
Like, where else do you get to shoot at yourboss?
I think that it's really important.
Culture is so important.
I've talked to a couple of graduates andthey're like, yeah, as long as the culture is
really good, I can put up with the buildingthat feels 30 years old.
(47:55):
So that's another thing.
If you're spending all this money on technologyand you're advanced and yet it looks like you
haven't done anything to your offices in twentyfive years, that doesn't really sell the
message that your advanced technology in printproduction and quality.
(48:16):
And so I invite employers to also consider whatthey look like from the outside in for that
next gen.
Listen.
You all do they all most do large format.
If you don't do large format, you know someonewho does.
That's right.
Have a designer help you out and and graphicyour walls.
(48:37):
I mean, I remember we had one wall 70 feet longin a hallway.
I had a friend going to Africa, a photographerfriend, and I said, do me a favor.
I need a picture that's gonna go on this wall.
70 feet long.
And he, 70 feet.
And he took a picture, however he did it,sliced it together, wide angle, the whole
thing.
I had giraffes and elephants and a wholeAfrican safari that when you walk down the
(48:59):
hall, can't do anything but look and notice andgo, oh, or wow, or, and it changes it.
That we were doing it before people were doingit today.
And then when customers would come in,
right?
It was giving them ideas and the truth is we'realways selling.
So I went from putting it on my wall toconvincing people coming in that they could add
(49:20):
brightness and energy to their office if theywould put some themes up and graphics on the
wall.
And I think what I've seen is people usetimelines.
So if you're really wanting to tell yourhistory story, which is wonderful multi
generational how you've advanced use that 70foot wall show it with graphics tell your story
(49:43):
to where you are now instead of it feeling likeI have awards from twenty years ago from the
Craftsman Club on my walls still, which I'veseen plenty of shops that did not.
Be proud.
It's making you cry, isn't it?
Because we know it exists out there.
It I was just at a printer.
(50:04):
I was just at a printer in their showroom ortheir boardroom.
They had catalogs on the shelf from 2019, notone, but four.
And I looked at them and I'm like, are youkidding me?
Does anyone come through here?
I said like, you need to have something that'supdated.
Right?
And it's like, you gotta I said, put somebodyin charge of it.
(50:27):
Put a young person in charge.
Yeah.
Just for a moment.
Give them the opportunity to make it the waythey wanna see it.
Yeah.
Right?
You go into, I've been into places where insmaller shops where they still have half the
box of envelopes piled up one by one by theside press, because nobody's gonna throw out
the envelope that they can never use againbecause it's dry and whatnot.
There's so many things out there that I think,you know, we, there's so many opportunities for
(50:52):
these kids.
It's wow.
So before we, before we head out, and I willsay this, I do wanna get on with students,
graduates, teachers from both your places.
I would even offer up if anybody wanted me, I'dbe happy to go in any of the schools and do a
session and talk and or promote what we do.
(51:16):
So that's on the table.
Perfect.
So before we head out, remarks on anything youwanna say.
You wanna go first, Steve?
Okay.
Somebody go first.
Well, I'll just say if there's Canadianprinting companies watching this and they
(51:41):
aren't engaged with us or a local organizationthat's supporting youth coming into the
industry, they should take the opportunitybecause this is the future of your company.
There are people studying this stuff in most ofthe provinces of Canada.
So get engaged, take the next step, pick up thephone and pick up the email and connect with
(52:07):
one of these organisations and take advantageof resorts, these young people who are ready to
change your company and build it for thefuture.
And if you don't call Steve, I'm calling you.
So I think you're better off calling Steve.
Jules?
Yeah.
So, you know, we had over a thousandapplications for this scholarship season and.
(52:33):
Wow.
We will probably impact with our renewalsprobably 170 students because it costs so much
to go to school.
So we want to make sure they have enough.
My call to action is we've invested in a lot oftechnology ourselves so that we can reach those
(52:53):
high schools, those trade schools, help tocreate more feeder for that, maybe aside from
the scholarship work we do.
But also the more that we can help withdonations, with monies that are sitting there,
They can't give scholarships.
They don't get enough applications.
They're doing it very rudimentary and analog.
(53:15):
We have made it so that this is a very slicksystem.
We can reach more and more students.
We can get more and more community built.
And I invite anybody who feels as though thisis important to talk to us.
And we're just here to elevate the industry.
There isn't any other skin in the game other tomake every individual company, which makes our
(53:40):
industry better.
And we're pretty bullish on the future.
So I invite people to donate, to get involved,help us, help them.
Love it.
I just had a genius idea.
Okay?
We get together a bunch of students and theones that are good and we work with them and we
(54:03):
have them call the owners on behalf of thisfoundation or the scholarship trust and tell
them why we're calling.
I wanna hear an owner refuse some kid who'scalling to ask for money for printing school.
We sent them around with thank you notes at thelatest print show, handwritten thank you So,
students who received receipt, they'd go to thefeed you know, Fuji booth.
(54:26):
Hey, can I talk to Bob?
Well, Bob's not here.
Well, here, listen.
And we just wanted to thank everyone at thebooth.
Good they were good ambassadors.
The young people are good ambassadors.
Yep.
The other thing is when owners before yourespond to some of these kids, think about what
you would be telling your kid if your kid camehome and said they just spoke to a guy who blew
(54:51):
them off, right?
They're good at what they do.
And just imagine that if your kid came home andsaid, Hey dad, Jack over at this printing
company just told me I'm blah, blah, blah,blah.
Because I'm sure the advice that the fatherwill give the child is not exactly the same
that he would say when he was sitting on theother side.
(55:14):
So I just always like to look at both sides andto think.
That's not a bad idea.
We might we might take up that idea because wethere's certainly lots of prospective donors
and supporters.
I'll come to the training.
Excellent.
Wow.
So first of all, I thank both of you.
I will say so far of all the podcasts I've doneon printing alive, this might rank up there as
(55:38):
one of the most important because it is aboutthe kids.
Without the kids, we're not gonna have a futurein this industry, period.
So I ask all owners if you're listening, doyour part, don't make me call you unless you
want me to say hi.
Guys, girls, we're gonna get some other peopleto come on and let's keep this regular so that
(55:59):
we remind people all the time about the youthand that we need people.
Wow, super exciting.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Really appreciate this Make
sure you get become part of it.
Learn more for sure.
When I post this on LinkedIn, I will put bothof your
Hashtag or whatever there.
(56:19):
No, I'm gonna tag you both so they can connect.
People connect right with you.
Owners connect, reach out.
Kids connect, reach out.
And then they can go direct.
So to everybody who's listening and I know youall made it to the end of this podcast being
that it's so important.
We all thank you for taking the time to listen.
(56:40):
If anybody has any ideas about any topics, feelfree to call me.
If you have something you wanna say that youwanna be on with me, my pleasure.
Other than that, I'm just gonna say goodbye.
Warren Werbitt, I love print and I love youguys too.
So thanks for joining.
Love print too.
Hey.
Welcome back to Printing's Alive, the podcastwhere we talk everything print.
Today, we have a really good panel here, guestlist, special guests.
We've got Steve Falk, and we've got Jules VanZant.
Steve from the Canadian Scholarship Trust andJules from the Print Graphics Foundation.
Did I get it right?
(00:30):
Print and Graphics Scholarship Close Yep, closeenough.
Left out the end.
Close enough.
Left out the end, extra word.
So today we are gonna talk about young peoplein print.
How do we get young people in print?
Why do we need young people in print?
Well, that's easy because we are getting old inprint.
Lots of old people, not us on the call, but allthe others we're talking about.
(00:54):
And it's a problem and it doesn't matteractually if you're in Canada, if you're in The
US or if you're in Europe.
So we're gonna talk and hopefully people willlearn from it.
Most importantly for the print owners that arelistening, I really hope you're doing your
share and donating to your local printscholarship.
Whatever you do donate, it helps.
(01:16):
I want you to think about all the mistakes youmake in a year and give a percentage of that
back.
That's doing it the right way.
Right?
Okay?
Well, I mean, you're you're smiling, but I'mbeing serious.
Most of the people don't even know the mistakesgoing on in their shop because someone's
cutting stack of paper the wrong way andgetting tossed in the garbage and they're
taking more paper.
(01:37):
So we're not here to talk about mistakes.
We're here to talk about the young people.
So Jules, why don't you tell us a little bitfirst about the foundation and what you do with
And then Steve, we'll move on to you.
Awesome, so the Print and Graphics ScholarshipFoundation has been around since 1956.
It serves The United States.
(01:57):
So we can't give scholarships to Canadianstudents, which is a bummer because we also
engage with them on other things.
But we've been around, we have about 130endowments right now that we manage.
A lot of those are personal gifts that havebeen given over the decades.
(02:19):
They might be organizations that hadscholarship funds that they can no longer
administer those.
So we help administer those, we invest them, wehelp find students that fit the criteria of how
they would like to see that money used.
So over the years we have grown.
(02:42):
We give about 5 and $50,000 to $600,000 a yearin scholarships to students that are going to
two year, four year, or maybe a tradepart timestudents.
We've done that now for the last three yearsbecause we see the value in supporting those
(03:02):
students that want to go back and get moreeducation.
Maybe they work already and they need somesupport.
As an industry, we need to show them that webelieve in them and that we see the future and
that they can be the future.
So we do that.
The other thing that we do at the scholarshipfoundation is that we started about three years
(03:23):
ago giving grants.
So we give about a hundred thousand dollars ingrants every year to universities, trade
schools, high schools who are teaching whetherthey need equipment, whether they are taking
students to events, to certain training, maybethey bring in some specialists.
(03:45):
So we are very excited and we have had overlike 55 applications for grants this year.
Great.
And so we're getting a hundred thousand dollarsthis year to those educators showing them that
we believe in what they're doing.
So as an industry, we're getting behind them.
(04:08):
And so one of the other things I just wannabring up really fast is that we at PGSF are
also aside from the advocacy we do, the careerguide that we're redeveloping right now, the
directory of schools.
So anyone out there in a region is like, who'steaching graphic communications in high school
(04:28):
at a trade school?
We have a directory and we continue to grow it.
So we invite people to come in and take a lookat it, contribute to it.
You know a program, we don't have it, let's addit.
The more as a community we work together, thebetter all ships will rise, right?
And we attract those people.
But the other thing that we're doing right nowis the PJSF is helping to administer the
(04:51):
graphic communications education association.
So last year we met with them, they're ahundred year organization international and
they were struggling.
And because we've invested in infrastructureand technology to take us into that next
decade, two decades, five decades from now,we're able to take them on and help them grow.
(05:14):
And again, show that the industry believes inthem.
And we're seeing new instructors come intoprograms that were almost going away.
We wanna show them that as a community, theycan network, they can share best practices,
they can work together with vendors and withlocal printing and packaging companies to
(05:36):
really help elevate their students to bringthem into that next generation.
So me, I'm a board member.
I was chair for four years.
I'm currently vice chair.
I also handle PR and marketing for them.
And I do a lot of volunteering with them.
I spend a lot of my time making sure that we'reupfront because that next generation is job one
(06:00):
for me.
Absolutely.
Hey.
Once you get into this industry, it's not soeasy to get out.
Nope.
It's not.
And it's been good to me.
It's been good to my family.
So
Oh, that's great.
Who's got the funny farm there?
Is that are those your animals?
Yes.
Those are mine.
Love it.
(06:20):
Love it.
That's a guard, guys.
Whirl.
Sorry.
Yeah.
Great.
Steve, how about you?
Well, they I I had a career in printing.
It it sort of went through book publishing andthird party logistics and direct mail, and I
earned owned a bunch of high speed inkjetprinters for producing direct mail.
(06:44):
And through that, you know, became embedded andloved the print industry.
You know?
I literally 14 year old sweeping the Scholasticbook warehouse, smelling the dust of paper and
glue and seeing the little books and going,man, I I didn't know it was gonna be my life.
So, you know, as we have a nice nice group, theCanadian print scholarships, who's been working
(07:11):
for decades, and they asked me if I'd like totake on the executive director role.
I've been in it less than a year.
And but I've known about the organization,supported it.
And organization gives out about 85scholarships a year in Canada to students in
the graphics communication business.
(07:32):
We connect with those students, we try to putthem in contact with events that are happening
around their schools.
We try to bring them out to events where theymight meet prospective employers, we try to
show off the brilliant youth that are gettingthese scholarships to the employers, so they
can kind of wake up and go, Oh, that's a placeI should be looking for, for help, you know,
(07:54):
and, we do our best to kind of promote theindustry through we have, you know, the usual
social media that related to work, so it's apretty strong LinkedIn presence, email to our
constituents who are donors and past recipientsand the schools and the schools administrators,
(08:14):
etcetera.
So it's kind of like a communications hub aboutwhat's happening with young people and how the
print industry is adjusting and where that allfits together.
We try to think of ourselves as a little bit ofa hub for that.
So for young people coming into the industry,they can feel comfortable and good about it,
and we feel great about being able to connectthem up with people in the sector.
(08:37):
Cool.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
I've already said why it's crucial so we don'thave to say that again or, you know, remind
everyone how old the industry is, and we needto give our youth an opportunity.
And that means that some people should retiresooner than later so you open up the space for
a youth.
Just do that little plug.
(08:58):
Question, and I guess you could both answer it,but how do young people today perceive the
printing industry and are there misconceptionsthat you regularly need to address?
I'll let you go Jules, take it away.
So I speak a lot at the university level, highschools, and I think it's just best kept
(09:22):
secret, quite frankly.
A lot of the print industry just isn't a knownentity.
You look around and everything is printed.
Don't your grocery store, M and M's areprinted.
I mean, kids don't think about that.
We don't talk about it.
It used to be that print was the medium, right?
Before the age of the internet, we hadnewspapers, we had banners, we had direct mail
(09:48):
and that's how people got their information.
They wrote letters and now the world haschanged and that noun printing is just, it's
not something people wrap their head around.
Once you start to illustrate it, they're like,oh yeah, oh yeah.
But they just have no concept.
(10:09):
So I've heard in the past, oh, people don'tlike it because it's dirty or it's, I don't
hear that.
I just hear that they have no idea.
So that's why it's important that we asorganizations, we host a student day at Prane
United Alliance or at the trade show to be ableto take those students around, to give them
(10:32):
information, let them network and show themthat the industry cares, that they're not just
walking around being shoo shooed, that they'reactually engaged and that they learn what print
really is.
Yeah.
Think what I see in Canada is a lot of timeswhat because you asked the question was sort of
(10:56):
misconceptions.
Right?
Like some ideas of of what so young people comeout of or in high school thinking, well, I'd
like to get some education that ideally wouldlead me to a job.
But I also like to do some of the things that II like or I'm good at in school.
And a lot of times what they associate thatwith is like they're good at design or graphic
(11:17):
design or they're a creative kind of person andthat they can see the link to the print
industry through that.
So they're kind of like creative folks who getin there.
And then they're they're a little bit amazed athow technical and operational it is.
Like, know, it really it doesn't exist unlessyou have creatives at the front end of it.
(11:42):
But the that that's like the pointy top, right,of of everything else that happens.
So I think that's sometimes a misconception.
It takes a bit for for I think students getinto it before they realize that sometimes, but
they stick with it.
And and and and then I think sometimes what wehave what we find is we we give scholarships to
(12:05):
the top students.
Right?
So these are top performing kids, right, whoare great marks.
They participate in all kinds ofextracurricular things, and then and they get
in I'm not sure that that you know, they'vebeen high performing in clubs and running the
(12:26):
student union and all that.
They get to the print industry ground level,and it feels like a little bit of a slow burn
for them because they've been, like, so activefor years, for, like, five years before.
Like so I I think that's sometimes some of themisconceptions.
So they would like it to be a bit more rock androll.
They would it it and they didn't understandthat most of the industry is is operational,
(12:53):
manufacturing, finance, building relationshipswith customers and sales and all that kind of
stuff.
They they just don't get it.
Well, I think we've done a better job attelling them about that because especially from
the from the sales and relationship side, whichis sort of where I come from, it's just a great
industry.
So when I got involved in print, and I knewnothing about print before I got into print
(13:15):
back in the day.
Most people.
And I'm a sales guy.
And what I liked about print was every singleperson you meet in the world has a need for
print in some way or another, whether they wantto acknowledge it or not.
Right?
Every business, basic stationary, even thoughthat's the stuff that's disappeared, but
(13:38):
packaging, signage is out of control.
I used to deal with some families where theywould spend $6,000 on 400 invitations for a
wedding.
Right?
Husband would go nuts because he wouldn't spendthat much money on print at the office, but he
would then do the invitations for his kid and,you know, make the wife happy.
(13:59):
But there was always something.
The other thing was that I don't think peoplerealize that without our industry, there is no
other industry.
Right.
Without print, you can't work in drugs,pharmaceutical, right?
It could be a marijuana grow up too these days,but packaging, pharmaceutical, food, everything
(14:20):
has an instruction, signage, buildings,emergency exits, construction code, it's
touching us in every way.
And if you wake up in the morning and you lookat your books on your table and you just start
your day, then you're in the bathroom and thepackaging, and then you're in the kitchen, you
haven't even left the house and you've alreadyhad ninety minutes of bombardment by printing.
If you like your comics or you like anymagazine, that's what's out there.
(14:45):
So I think we need I think we as an industry doa really shitty job of promoting our industry.
I don't know if you guys have it in The States,but Steve, we used to have the dairy
association put on commercials on TV to remindyou to drink Who needs to be taught to drink
milk?
Right?
I mean, I thought once that we as an industryshould have our own commercials but our
(15:08):
industry is so cheap they wouldn't make thecommercial, right?
So I'll just tell you one thing that I used todo is we had a vocational school in Montreal
called Rosemount College.
And once or twice a year, I would have, I wasfriendly with the person that worked there, but
I would have the class come to my shop.
And we break them down into three groups, andwe'd I'd have a couple people, including
(15:30):
myself, and give them complete tours of thewhole facility, like right down from Prepress,
walking on the plank of the press while it'srunning so that they could feel the vibration,
showing them a white paper going out and comingout full blown color and some embellishments,
varnishes or whatnot.
When you do that and they get to touch andfeel, then they start looking around them after
(15:53):
and realizing everything.
And then at the end, would give them all aportfolio with all the information that they
have to have on the company and tell them to goback and when they're done to call me.
But I would also say to them, hey, if any ofyour parents buy print, maybe you wanna give
them the portfolio and they can reach out toAlways selling, right?
But what do you see happening around both yourareas?
(16:17):
Are printers bringing in people and doingtours?
How are schools operating?
Like what's the word today?
I do think networking is really important.
Career days, I used to run a trade associationfor the print industry in the Northwest that
covered seven states.
I partnered with a lot of printers in differentplaces to bring in students, get them into a
(16:39):
shop, get them to the community college wherethey might have a congruent program or things
that would be a gateway into print, right?
And start to show them kind of that track.
There are efforts being done but it's stillpretty fragmented and fractured and it's always
(17:01):
been frustrating to me because people wannawork where when they look at who they're
working with it feels like them.
And to your point of people not retiring, we'reexpecting to have young people come in who are
digital natives, who have a very different wayof consuming information and exporting that
(17:25):
information and we're asking people who couldbe three times their age to engage them in a
cube And most of these students don't wanna dothat or the ones in the back, there's just a
communication challenge or they don't look likethem.
So they don't see that pathway for themselves.
(17:47):
Now they don't have somebody ten years older,they have somebody forty years older.
So it's really important that employers havepeople that look more like the ones they wanna
hire and then get engaged at the high schoollevel, get engaged at the community college,
trade school level, engage at the collegelevel.
(18:08):
But then be ready to pay them Because that isthe other problem is that we get a lot of
scholarships to a lot of fantastic studentslike Steve said, high achieving, ready to rock
and roll.
They're put in a cube and they're not paid butthey could get paid in a bunch of other
(18:29):
industries.
So we have a little bit of a problem that waytoo.
So how do we make that up by making it feelmore like a place that they want to land?
Oh I agree.
Just on the pay thing I'm always amazed becauseeveryone will pay when the person says they're
leaving.
(18:50):
Right?
To keep them because they put in this time andthey put in.
Listen, the other thing is, you know,salespeople, owners, you know, you hire a
salesperson and and anyone who comes in andsays that they're bringing a book of business
is lying anyways because customers don't followsalespeople.
But anytime you bring a salesperson into yourcompany, it's twelve to eighteen months before
they're really hitting the mark and moving.
Most owners at six and seven months start toget antsy because they don't see something and
(19:14):
then they chop them before they're just aboutto hit their stride.
And it's really, it amazes me.
Today, people don't work for free.
In the old days in print, if you were in sales,was draw against commission or straight
commission.
And there's still people who wanna operate thatway.
(19:34):
And if an old person owning a print companythinking that way, then just don't offer to
hire anyone because you're just insultingyourself and them, right, by doing that.
What what what do you see going on around hereon our side?
Well, they because you know what?
The big our biggest so back to your Rosemonttechnology still exists.
We just started sponsoring scholarships there.
(19:57):
Ruben Acevedo, I don't know if you know RubenAcevedo, but he's been there for a while.
And the closest, I think, printing place isPDI.
It's not too far away.
So we're trying to hook up
And Jamie runs a wicked operation.
Yeah.
So we're trying to make sure that theyunderstand that we can work back and forth.
And and, you know, that that makes us feelgreat that we've done a job where we can go in
(20:19):
and, like, start with a scholarship, talk tothe team at the school, and go, hey.
Just down the street is Jamie PDI.
And they'll go, Yeah, we know about him.
We've done some stuff.
It's like, Well, let's cook it up a little bit.
Let's make sure that more things happen.
Are you having an open house?
We want to get photographs of you and Jamie'steam and our recipients and put it online.
Like, it's building a, you know, a kind ofcommunity of print success with young people.
(20:46):
Right?
And that's what we try to build.
We're lucky to have I think we're lucky to havesocial media and stuff these days.
A little We don't have to wait for like the twomonth next issue of Canadian Printer to come
out, you know, to be able to promote it.
We can kind of do it instantaneously, and wecan share video and all those things that, you
know, you try to do to try and encourage togive the impression to a young person who's in
(21:12):
school that there's industry out there thatwant to talk to you, want to show you what's
going on and bring you in.
You're right.
You you know, Jules, you're right about the agething and the I'm like, I I feel like one of
the things I wanna do is go around and give HRlessons to so many printers because of lost
(21:33):
opportunities where, you know, young people arecoming in the door and they're treating them
just like they trot.
They treated their employees in the eightiesand it's such a different vibe now.
So, I mean, if any, I'm not an HR expert, but Ican certainly see what works and hasn't worked
for companies over the And I hear from studentswho feel like I got engaged at a company, and
(21:55):
they set me up with a mentor, of, there's lookslike there's a path.
There's some young people in the cubiclesaround me, so we go out for lunch together.
Like, they're whatever.
There's And then there's other ones that don'tdo so well with when they land young people in
their places.
But to your point about like, are they, what'shappening as far as I'm I'm pretty happy with
(22:21):
in in Toronto.
Now the good thing about Toronto is there's alot of printing density, right, in Toronto.
But TMU, we I think we give, you know, nearlyhalf of our scholarships to it's a big school,
right?
I think they have three fifty kids in graphiccommunication management, maybe 400.
They have a careers day, and I think about 40or 50 printers show up at that career day.
(22:44):
They just set up Good.
Little tables, and the printer puts his namethere, and people sign up for an interview, and
they talk to kids.
You know, the vibe this year, I heard, was thatpeople were talking but not hiring.
There's a lot of hesitation.
So some people walked away from that feeling.
I see people, students walked away from thatfeeling a little like, wow, this is a tough
(23:08):
year.
And I think it is, you know, the economy andeverything else that's going on, it's a
different year to graduate.
Especially, you know, that was happening in midFebruary, whatever those career days, right?
They not days when people were holding theirbreath.
But lots of printers out, and lots of themengaging and talking.
And I think that's a positive thing.
(23:28):
Although I'm always surprised at which onesdon't.
And then also which ones don't show up at othercentres, like why, why they wouldn't be, you
know, there's a print centre in Saskatchewan,Manitoba, Alberta, and BC that all and printers
aren't and their HR departments aren't knockingdown the door to go into those schools in the
(23:53):
way that I thought they should.
Yeah.
You know, when when we talk about young people,I'm always I'm a little amazed.
I mean, I've always stayed close to my kids inthe sense of hearing what they're talking
about, where they're going, and what they'redoing.
But there's a lot of print owners out there whohave kids that if they would just sit and talk
to them or bring them in and ask them somequestions and accept what they're telling them
(24:15):
instead of saying, as long as you live under myroof, you'll do it my way.
And that was always a good line when we wereyounger.
They would find out a little bit more aboutwhat they have to do and how they have to say
it.
I had one gentleman say to me, you know, Ican't keep young people.
What do you think I should do?
And I said, stop talking to them.
Because you go in and you welcome them and youtalk to them and you hear them, but you don't
(24:35):
go back to them.
You let other people do it.
But if you're gonna go and be the first words,then you got the first relationship in.
And if you're the owner, mentor them a little,take them a little, you know, give them a
little bit more space, invite them to a lunch,ask them anything, ask them to come sit, walk
around, maybe pair them up so that they have ashadow or they're a shadow to somebody for a
(25:00):
little while.
You know, when you said not hiring, they're notsure.
Again, our industry is really, you know, yes,we have a tight industry.
Yes, a lot of companies, low margin, but wedon't have the option of hiring when we need
that person.
I learned the hard way that like you gotta besmart and if a right person comes along, you
gotta take the chance, make that investment.
(25:22):
Yeah.
And bring them in because never mind print inlife, nothing ever goes the way you want it to
go, when you want it to go.
I'll share this little tip because it youreminded me of it when I was but when I was
starting to get some young people coming in, Iwould do is I'd sit I'd set the schedule up of,
like, onboarding stuff.
But one of the things I thought thought theyreally enjoyed is, like, I set them up for
(25:46):
lunch with other people in the industry.
Mhmm.
Right?
Love it.
So it's, like, for two months, once every twoweeks.
So I call up, hey, Bob.
Would you have lunch with this 25 year oldgraduate?
They're just starting with us.
Like, just just meet him.
They want community.
Oh, sure, Steve.
You know, whatever, you know, I'm I'm buyinglunch.
(26:06):
It's okay.
But like this and and it worked out really wellbecause they gave me all kinds of people and
different kind of a graphic designer or a printowner or whatever, you know, Canada Post
person, whatever, you know.
Yeah.
Take them to a You could you could letsalespeople grab them grab them and not every
day, but take them with to visit a client.
(26:28):
Let the client see that you're investing inhiring young people and you're bringing them to
meet them so that they could understand whatgoes on.
So you gotta win win, right?
Because the customer's now thrilled that you'remaking an effort, right?
With young people.
The person you're bringing is thrilled becauseyou're taking them somewhere and it's not in
the building, it's out of the building.
(26:49):
And then there's just more engagement becauseotherwise if you just put somebody in a place
and all they're doing is working in a silo andthere's not anyone around, that's not so good
either anymore.
There's another thing think we to do that wedon't do is we don't promote our technology at
all.
(27:10):
Okay?
Multimillion dollar presses are like a videogame now.
Bunch of buttons, screens at the front of thepress.
The folders have 200 presets for fold.
Ink is all in the prepress if you're learningall that technology.
There's no more playing with the ink trays.
Like, we've advanced a 80 degrees from where wewere.
(27:32):
And there and when I say when sometimes youhear people say dirty, printing is or was a
dirty industry.
If your parents were in print and they workedin a plant, you would come home with like
construction ink under your fingernails thatyou couldn't get out so easily.
People are dressed in white suits now in somecompanies in Germany working in the press
rooms, right?
(27:52):
Inks are coming in canisters.
You show people, you know, I said it before,how you make it and what you make it.
Take them to the process.
You know what, I spoke at Ryerson a bunch ofyears ago to a graduating class and oh my God,
there was nothing more exciting than talking tothem and getting all that young energy.
(28:15):
And then the questions they ask.
I mean, at our stage, people don't ask manyquestions, they barely talk.
So we need some of those young people.
Tell me about a person who each of you may havelike, know, did the scholarship for that really
turned out successful and grateful for whatthey're doing.
(28:37):
Oh yeah, we, PGSF, we have a few board membersactually who are in their their thirties who
have been scholarship recipients who.
No way.
Oh, yeah.
We are.
Oh, I love that.
Oh, yeah.
I love Our
board is completely.
I want
to talk to them.
(28:57):
Well, they would love to talk to you.
They are, and they're in the industry workingat one's at a book manufacturer, one's at a
large commercial shop.
Another one is an entrepreneur and supportingthe industry.
Another one works for an OEM.
And so all of these different people, youngerpeople are like, they see the value and so they
(29:22):
help us to make sure that we're presentingforward to the next generation for them.
Because it's really important.
The buyers that you were just talking aboutalso wanna look at your company and say, do you
feel like me?
Am I gonna look at you and say, yeah, you'veinvested in technology because you have the
(29:44):
right people in there running it, in thereselling it.
And oftentimes if you don't take people tolunch, if you don't take some of those new
hires out, they're as good as a sales rep or anemail and it's not as sticky.
So it also helps drive demand to bring in thoseyounger people and get them in front of those
(30:06):
clients.
So for us as a foundation, it was reallyimportant to me when I was helping to usher and
re nurture this board to make sure it lookedlike who we're serving, not the ones who have
been in the industry for forty years.
No, exactly.
And by the way, the buyers are becoming youngeras Yes.
(30:33):
The buyers don't, not all, but a good partdon't have the same knowledge of print, right?
So you almost wanna bring younger people in sothat they could have the conversation and
relate and maybe they'll talk about other stuffand they get back to print.
But they'll be with their own peers.
I've spoken with salespeople where I've gone tocheck out their LinkedIn and it's not even
(30:57):
filled in, right?
Like a salesperson has been with the company,it's not filled in.
And I'd say to them, well, number one, afterCOVID, you should be filling it in because at
COVID, all learned about LinkedIn and thebenefits.
I said, more I asked him, said, moreimportantly, I said, what do you do when you
find a customer?
He goes, what do you mean?
I said, well, you go check out their LinkedInpage, you go check out the website, you try to
(31:21):
figure out who it is that you're gonna dealwith and if you wanna deal with them, and if
you've given you the right impression, image ofwhat they do.
I said, well, you know, when your potentialcustomer goes to your LinkedIn, they think
you're a nobody because you got no experience.
You haven't posted anything.
Your email's not there and your phone number'snot there.
You're making them chase you.
Guys like, well, I don't think it works likethat.
(31:42):
I said, buddy, you just told me what you dowith your customers.
Right?
It is funny the different I mean, there's stillpeople who are are lagging on that social media
side of LinkedIn.
But they certainly
think But that's where the young people couldhelp.
To be customer relationship building, and notjust young people.
I mean, lots of people are spending a fewminutes every day on LinkedIn seeing what's
(32:05):
going on.
And the minute they see somebody's name on anemail list or podcast or anything, they're just
checking them on LinkedIn to see, like, who isthis person?
What's their credentials?
You're right on it.
One up with the younger people that you coulddo, you bring them in and you ask, you know,
you could ask them, hey.
If you guys could post on our social media oryour own about the company.
(32:26):
Yep.
That's what they do great.
Yeah.
You don't have to pay an agency to do it foryou.
You could have a little group in your companybecause you don't need that's, you know, that
much stuff for your TikTok and and whatnot.
And that's that's like it's a side hustle forthem because you're engaging with them and
you're asking them to help you promote yourbrand.
So again, you're giving them room and freedomto move.
(32:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
And opportunity.
Back to
your point about
Sorry, first.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
Was just No.
Let's fight.
Somebody go.
They to the to your point about the the thebuyers, we did a survey.
We went and looked at the LinkedIn profiles ofeverybody we gave scholarships to for ten years
(33:12):
from our biggest school.
So we were in and then we had we were able totrack down more than 50% 60% of the students.
They all have LinkedIn profiles.
So we see so then we, like, are they working inthe industry?
Which we found a decent percentage were I can'tremember the exact number, but let's call it
ten years later, there's 25% of them are stillin the printing industry, but some of them are
(33:34):
buyers.
So they don't show up at Joe's Printing andPaper.
They show up at the TD Bank, Canada's biggestbank or whatever, and they're buying print.
They're in the design and print.
You know
Love it.
What a a a contributor or a donor to a printscholarship would say, well, they're not
working for me.
Well, they are kind of working for you becausethey're buying your stuff from the, you know,
(33:58):
from the so if you're creating in the printindustry, graph communication business, good
buyers, that's cool too, right?
Because you don't just need people to work yourpresses, work your sales team, and and
marketing.
You need buyers in the end.
We need creative people and agencies.
We need buyers.
Right?
Understand it and, like, have you know, writegood specs and can understand they should come
(34:21):
for a tour of your plant because you have somenew technology that will help them change the
way they're doing things and do it better.
So I just I just bring it up.
I think some of what the scholarships are doingare feeding the the buyer side, which we kind
of forget.
Right?
Like, because we keep thinking we want themworking in our plant.
You want anybody who loves print anywhere nearyou, on any side of you.
(34:44):
Right?
We need we need to bring the people in andeducate them because we need them to understand
print.
So even if they're not in print wherever theyare, they could talk about it with their teams,
with their companies.
They might be able to educate other people.
Like we're creating little educators, right?
They'll go out and they'll educate other peoplein the company as to why we in the world of
(35:04):
print, we think we know it all, right?
And we don't really know anything becauseeverything's just kind of changing all the
time.
I mean, when my kids used to come into theshop, they were blown away because no one ever,
I'm just looking around what I have here, whichis probably not much, but when you go get
something and it's printed packaging or yourcosmetics or the foiling, or even my Don Julio
(35:27):
comes in a box I spend more time looking at thebox than holding the bottle because it's really
cool.
And oh my God, the best thing ever when youtalk about educating.
So I always talk about print at home.
I'm always talking embellishments.
I'm talking whatever.
You never think your kids are listening to you.
Right?
And then one day my daughter's with her husbandat the pharmacy and they, and I have it on my
(35:49):
YouTube and they're going in the pack in thefood section or they're buying, I don't know,
whatever they're buying food.
And my daughter just takes out the phone.
She makes a video and says, you know, my dadalways talks about embellishment and I just
picked up this packaging with theseembellishments.
I don't even know if it's good, but it surelooks good with the embellishments and we're
mini whisperers And she posted it and I waslike, nothing ever made me smile, they killed
(36:17):
me because it was so great.
And it just made me think, you know what?
They do listen to us.
They do They
need
to use our voice, right?
I speak to a lot of classes.
Like I said, I chair the Cal Poly advisoryboard for graphic communications.
So I get to engage with professionals andstudents, career days, all of that.
(36:38):
And they need to see our passion.
They need to see that we believe in thisindustry for them to go, yeah, I think I'd like
to be in that.
For them to ask their friends, consider this asa career path, right?
Talk to their younger siblings, go back totheir schools and talk about it.
Know, this is a viral thing.
(36:59):
Social media is being social.
Sometimes, you know, I think COVID taught usthat we need each other.
And so this is a time for us to be viral justlike your daughter and, you know, shot it from
the shot it from the rooftops.
I think it's great.
Oh, it's all listen, when I go in, I don't evenknow.
I don't know wine that well, but when I go in,I pick my wine based on the label.
(37:22):
Oh, right.
I think they're best label printers are rightnear Wine Country in Ontario.
You know?
Exactly.
That is that is that
that They have 15 different embellishmentssince that's the word of the day, all lined up
on that web.
They just, like, depending if you want gold,silver, emboss this, and, you know, raised
that, punched this.
(37:42):
Yeah.
And and and sorry.
We know all that embellishment stuff works.
Right?
Like, when people are going in, the thestatistics that show you when people see
something or pick it up or touch it.
Look at all the kid trading cards, like thePokemon stuff, all out of control.
They all relate.
Yeah.
I mean, I've I've a deck of cards all embossed,everything done, and I mean, Grateful Dead, you
(38:03):
know?
But even they're doing fancy cards and, know,effects.
So I think it's a whole new world out there.
For the stuff that we've come out with lately,it's right up their alley doing some of the
stuff.
The digital, the direct mail, right?
It's perfect,
the kids love apparel, all of those thingsbring to mind what the technology can do no
(38:31):
matter the medium and it's a huge thing and youdon't need to print more than one.
You can print 10,000, you can do 100,000 butyou only have to do one to begin with.
So just making accessibility is again it's kindof a gateway.
Oh I can I can do one off of my design and thenall of a sudden they're like oh hey I could
(38:53):
start to print my own?
Know it's it's it's pretty exciting.
Think it's I mean it's such an entrepreneurialindustry and I think that by giving
scholarships, by doing career days, bynetworking, we show them that we believe in the
future and it gets them a little riled up andmaybe they'll start doing a little bit on their
(39:16):
own.
It's pretty exciting.
If nobody shows anybody anything, where'sanybody going and what's anybody gonna do?
We all we all are where we are because somebodytook us, somebody showed us and it could be the
work thing, could be my fishing thing, could bemusic, could be everybody's introducing
somebody.
Listen, when we brought into the world, wedon't know anything.
(39:39):
Think about it.
Every single thing, somebody's showing us.
So we have to continue.
I would like for every owner to commit tobringing in one student for two weeks or four
weeks a year and pay them because they have allthese stages and all these things you can go in
and do and not pay, but you always pay someonewhen they come in if you wanna make them feel
(40:00):
respected.
Don't take advantage of them, but have themcome in, have them ride by a couple people in
the shop doing different things.
Ask them when they come in what they like, ifthey have any interest.
Some people like playing with machines andparts.
I never got dirty in my entire print careerjust because I didn't like the back.
Lots of paper cuts though.
But if you ask them, you're in another betterposition.
(40:24):
Right?
Some don't even know what they like untilthey've done
it.
Yes.
It's not everyone's but when we brought instudents, because there was a in York Region,
North to Northern Toronto, there was a good coop program in some of the schools.
So you would get these kids knocking on thedoor, Hey, can I do three months?
Maybe it was even six months.
(40:45):
You got to know them over.
So one of the things I would do is, by the way,you're gonna take notes and you're gonna do
stuff, but at your what you're gonna do isproduce a video for us about working here.
And so at the end, you know, sort of our threequarters of the way through, they were like,
Hi, I'm, you know, so and so I'm here at suchand such printing and ink.
(41:09):
I didn't know anything about it.
When I came, I'm gonna walk you through theplant or, like, whatever the thing was.
And we got some really kind of, like, you know,high school quality fun videos.
And I I track some of these kids, you know, andthey're, like, super achievers now.
Right?
They're just like doing great, but it's it'ssome of them have, you know, I don't think any
(41:32):
of them have stayed in the print industry.
That was their high school co op.
But it it we used that, you know, the Lovideo.
It was good for staff morale, because theycould see some young person like working here,
and then it was good for like promotion andstuff because we'd put it on our website, we'd
put it on our LinkedIn and stuff.
Here's somebody who spent six months here andit didn't kill them.
(41:57):
Listen, I think companies could ask some of theyoungins in the company to do some scripted
videos for the company to promote the companyand their offering or the hiring of people,
right?
And that's a great way to show other youngpeople that there's already young people in
rather than meeting the guy with gray hair.
(42:18):
By the way, I wish I had gray hair as opposedto no hair, But I think there's so many little
ways that you can use them.
And then again, if you do that, I think thepeople, the young people you're asking to do
that, you're making them feel important.
We all know a job is not just about the money,although it's very important these days,
especially thanks to the tariffs and yourpresident.
(42:39):
Okay, I won't go politics in the podcast.
But no, but it's important to let the kids dowhat they have to do and feel empowered, right?
Because I think today kids wanna be moreempowered than we did as kids.
I don't think we knew what the word empoweredmeant back then.
Yeah, no, they want to be able to, here's whatyou need to get done, here's the end game,
(43:04):
here's the tools and then let them do it,right?
But also be engaged and show them.
I think it's really important that you makethem feel welcome.
And one other thing I wanted to say is when youtalked about high school, trade schools, career
days, also bring get your younger people totake samples and go to the high school.
(43:29):
Go to the trade school.
I've done that.
Look at visual communication programs.
Look at graphic communications, graphic design.
Get them excited about that screen becomingsomething else and how it intersects with
photography, how it intersects with UX UI, howit intersects with fabric and signage and
(43:53):
Pokemon cards.
I mean they just, again, they don't know whatthey don't know but if you can get the
educators to get excited then you're reallystarting to create community.
Sorry about my dogs.
Yeah.
That's okay.
Dog dogs are dogs.
Right?
It's so let me let me ask you a questionbecause you speak with the teachers.
(44:15):
Are the teachers that are teaching our kidsabout print and industry excited?
Or are they like some of the teachers that Ihad where I wanted to jump out the window and
drop out of school?
Most of them are excited.
Think especially the younger ones.
We have some graduates that were PGSFscholarships that are now teaching at Ferris
(44:36):
and down at Wisconsin Stout.
In The US.
These are women in their 30s who went toschool, worked in the industry are now
instructors.
We need to show them we're supporting them andthey need to be able to go to their department
(44:56):
chairs, to be able to go to their universitiesand schools and say, I need this equipment.
I need this software.
I need this kind of support so that I can showthe students pathways.
So it kind of, there's a lot of part of thecircular economy that us as an industry needs
(45:17):
to make sure that we're plugging into andsupporting.
But it's different.
The ones I've worked with, the ones at CalPoly, for example, they love print.
They do, they teach other things because thestudents aren't all in on
that.
But
they love the print part and they're verypassionate about teaching them.
(45:39):
Cool.
And I mean, we we mentioned before, like, theone ups.
I mean, kid young the young ins are buying Nikeonline and designing their own shoes.
Right?
T shirts and whatnot.
So they're some of them, if not half of themare probably already doing stuff without even
knowing it, right?
They're all pretty computer savvy, like turningtheir fingers, doing shortcuts and all that
(46:03):
other stuff where I'm still doing one finger ata time.
But I think we have to give them a little bitmore credit in general than we give them.
A %.
Oh, I just think So youth in general.
So, you know, people are in the industrywondering what's going on with the youth these
days.
(46:24):
We meet just the best.
Oh my goodness.
They just shock you how engaged they are.
They're ready to take on the world, smartpeople, great marks, all kinds of
extracurricular stuff.
They do sports.
They do this and that.
I mean, you get those people into yourbusiness, keep them interested and engaged,
(46:46):
think good things will happen.
And actually saying that, I just thought ofsomething else.
Aside from the young people, for the ownerslistening, most important is the culture of
your company.
If you do not have a good culture, if you donot have a place that is, I'll say fun and not
so stressful and demanding and I mean, we'reall deadline driven, but you don't have to say
(47:10):
it every day, then you're not gonna find peoplebecause people today are looking for a place
where they could feel comfortable.
No one stays for thirty years like ourgrandparents did or maybe some of us, but it,
you know, you have to do that.
I mean, we used to have disco bowling every sooften and we even went to play paintball once
and actually I was the only guy dressed inorange and I was the moving target.
(47:33):
But if it was gonna keep 65 people happy, I wasready to take a few hits for the team.
Right?
Like, where else do you get to shoot at yourboss?
I think that it's really important.
Culture is so important.
I've talked to a couple of graduates andthey're like, yeah, as long as the culture is
really good, I can put up with the buildingthat feels 30 years old.
(47:55):
So that's another thing.
If you're spending all this money on technologyand you're advanced and yet it looks like you
haven't done anything to your offices in twentyfive years, that doesn't really sell the
message that your advanced technology in printproduction and quality.
(48:16):
And so I invite employers to also consider whatthey look like from the outside in for that
next gen.
Listen.
You all do they all most do large format.
If you don't do large format, you know someonewho does.
That's right.
Have a designer help you out and and graphicyour walls.
(48:37):
I mean, I remember we had one wall 70 feet longin a hallway.
I had a friend going to Africa, a photographerfriend, and I said, do me a favor.
I need a picture that's gonna go on this wall.
70 feet long.
And he, 70 feet.
And he took a picture, however he did it,sliced it together, wide angle, the whole
thing.
I had giraffes and elephants and a wholeAfrican safari that when you walk down the
(48:59):
hall, can't do anything but look and notice andgo, oh, or wow, or, and it changes it.
That we were doing it before people were doingit today.
And then when customers would come in,
right?
It was giving them ideas and the truth is we'realways selling.
So I went from putting it on my wall toconvincing people coming in that they could add
(49:20):
brightness and energy to their office if theywould put some themes up and graphics on the
wall.
And I think what I've seen is people usetimelines.
So if you're really wanting to tell yourhistory story, which is wonderful multi
generational how you've advanced use that 70foot wall show it with graphics tell your story
(49:43):
to where you are now instead of it feeling likeI have awards from twenty years ago from the
Craftsman Club on my walls still, which I'veseen plenty of shops that did not.
Be proud.
It's making you cry, isn't it?
Because we know it exists out there.
It I was just at a printer.
(50:04):
I was just at a printer in their showroom ortheir boardroom.
They had catalogs on the shelf from 2019, notone, but four.
And I looked at them and I'm like, are youkidding me?
Does anyone come through here?
I said like, you need to have something that'supdated.
Right?
And it's like, you gotta I said, put somebodyin charge of it.
(50:27):
Put a young person in charge.
Yeah.
Just for a moment.
Give them the opportunity to make it the waythey wanna see it.
Yeah.
Right?
You go into, I've been into places where insmaller shops where they still have half the
box of envelopes piled up one by one by theside press, because nobody's gonna throw out
the envelope that they can never use againbecause it's dry and whatnot.
There's so many things out there that I think,you know, we, there's so many opportunities for
(50:52):
these kids.
It's wow.
So before we, before we head out, and I willsay this, I do wanna get on with students,
graduates, teachers from both your places.
I would even offer up if anybody wanted me, I'dbe happy to go in any of the schools and do a
session and talk and or promote what we do.
(51:16):
So that's on the table.
Perfect.
So before we head out, remarks on anything youwanna say.
You wanna go first, Steve?
Okay.
Somebody go first.
Well, I'll just say if there's Canadianprinting companies watching this and they
(51:41):
aren't engaged with us or a local organizationthat's supporting youth coming into the
industry, they should take the opportunitybecause this is the future of your company.
There are people studying this stuff in most ofthe provinces of Canada.
So get engaged, take the next step, pick up thephone and pick up the email and connect with
(52:07):
one of these organisations and take advantageof resorts, these young people who are ready to
change your company and build it for thefuture.
And if you don't call Steve, I'm calling you.
So I think you're better off calling Steve.
Jules?
Yeah.
So, you know, we had over a thousandapplications for this scholarship season and.
(52:33):
Wow.
We will probably impact with our renewalsprobably 170 students because it costs so much
to go to school.
So we want to make sure they have enough.
My call to action is we've invested in a lot oftechnology ourselves so that we can reach those
(52:53):
high schools, those trade schools, help tocreate more feeder for that, maybe aside from
the scholarship work we do.
But also the more that we can help withdonations, with monies that are sitting there,
They can't give scholarships.
They don't get enough applications.
They're doing it very rudimentary and analog.
(53:15):
We have made it so that this is a very slicksystem.
We can reach more and more students.
We can get more and more community built.
And I invite anybody who feels as though thisis important to talk to us.
And we're just here to elevate the industry.
There isn't any other skin in the game other tomake every individual company, which makes our
(53:40):
industry better.
And we're pretty bullish on the future.
So I invite people to donate, to get involved,help us, help them.
Love it.
I just had a genius idea.
Okay?
We get together a bunch of students and theones that are good and we work with them and we
(54:03):
have them call the owners on behalf of thisfoundation or the scholarship trust and tell
them why we're calling.
I wanna hear an owner refuse some kid who'scalling to ask for money for printing school.
We sent them around with thank you notes at thelatest print show, handwritten thank you So,
students who received receipt, they'd go to thefeed you know, Fuji booth.
(54:26):
Hey, can I talk to Bob?
Well, Bob's not here.
Well, here, listen.
And we just wanted to thank everyone at thebooth.
Good they were good ambassadors.
The young people are good ambassadors.
Yep.
The other thing is when owners before yourespond to some of these kids, think about what
you would be telling your kid if your kid camehome and said they just spoke to a guy who blew
(54:51):
them off, right?
They're good at what they do.
And just imagine that if your kid came home andsaid, Hey dad, Jack over at this printing
company just told me I'm blah, blah, blah,blah.
Because I'm sure the advice that the fatherwill give the child is not exactly the same
that he would say when he was sitting on theother side.
(55:14):
So I just always like to look at both sides andto think.
That's not a bad idea.
We might we might take up that idea because wethere's certainly lots of prospective donors
and supporters.
I'll come to the training.
Excellent.
Wow.
So first of all, I thank both of you.
I will say so far of all the podcasts I've doneon printing alive, this might rank up there as
(55:38):
one of the most important because it is aboutthe kids.
Without the kids, we're not gonna have a futurein this industry, period.
So I ask all owners if you're listening, doyour part, don't make me call you unless you
want me to say hi.
Guys, girls, we're gonna get some other peopleto come on and let's keep this regular so that
(55:59):
we remind people all the time about the youthand that we need people.
Wow, super exciting.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Really appreciate this Make
sure you get become part of it.
Learn more for sure.
When I post this on LinkedIn, I will put bothof your
Hashtag or whatever there.
(56:19):
No, I'm gonna tag you both so they can connect.
People connect right with you.
Owners connect, reach out.
Kids connect, reach out.
And then they can go direct.
So to everybody who's listening and I know youall made it to the end of this podcast being
that it's so important.
We all thank you for taking the time to listen.
(56:40):
If anybody has any ideas about any topics, feelfree to call me.
If you have something you wanna say that youwanna be on with me, my pleasure.
Other than that, I'm just gonna say goodbye.
Warren Werbitt, I love print and I love youguys too.
So thanks for joining.
Love print too.
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