Today is an amazing day for print! In fact, every day is an amazing day for print! The exciting part is how involved you become and how far you choose to take your passion. Printing has become the craft of our forefathers, and the modern art of today. With heavy metal machinery, pocket digital capabilities and endless software to help you produce faster, better and cheaper the ideas we all have now have a place to share.

The Federal Electronic Document Systems Association (FEDS) has a long history in Federal Government printing. Started by a small group at the GSA we have over 25 years and a few name changes in the business, and we have survived the tests of time by never changing our mission to educate and share ideas on, you got it, PRINTING. Even though it has surely changed all around us.

Our group is comprised of printing officers, web management, IT personnel, contracting professionals and procurement specialists are all involved on the way printing is produced and purchased. We are the project managers, printing specialist and decision makers for how the government will create documents and bridge new technologies. And each of us has a passion and drive for the love of print and document management. It is our common goal to make Print and Document Management a necessary topic of interest for all the Federal Government.

The way we do this is primarily through our relationships and informational sharing at FEDS meetings. The FEDS meetings are a forum where members of the Federal Community can exchange information and ideas relating to industry processes, procedures and technology. Our meetings are usually scheduled for the last Wednesday of the month and usually last about 2-3 hours. Meeting locations are determined by the vendor/sponsor in cooperation with the FEDS Board of Directors and each FEDS meeting centers on a common theme and interest in the federal printing arena with educational speakers and sponsor product launches.

If you are a federal employee or industry partner interested in learning more about printing, document management and the realm of the graphics industry, join us at a FEDS meeting and become part of a greater community. Our organization can help you build your resume and offer free education and training when budget cuts arise. Networking alone builds job opportunities and potential for personal growth.

Become excited about printing! Join your colleagues and our FEDS team at our next meeting.

Hope you see you there!

Casey Clarke

FEDS President 2007