My name is Joanne Harap; I am president of Production Matters, and I’ll be editing the Media Matters blog.

I started my publishing career working at a trade association and moved to a medical association for my next job.  I also spent a year at a Washington area printer that specialized in association magazines, newsletters and direct mail.  I made the move to business to business publications before becoming a production consultant in 2006.  I have worked with several medical and trade associations on vendor selections, financial management, budget planning and preparation and workflow and process improvement initiatives.

We plan to cover many of the topics that are important to you and your association in this weekly blog.  We will have quarterly print, paper and postage outlooks to keep you up to date on the latest industry news and pricing changes.  We will bring you breaking news in these areas as well.

In addition to the quarterly updates, we will address social media issues, trends in the STM market, how associations are keeping up with digital delivery needs, membership challenges, international issues and timely legal news.  We have a stable of industry experts who will address these issues on a regular basis.

Please send me any ideas that you would like to see addressed in this blog.  I can be reached at joanneharap@verizon.net.