manroland’s systems and workflow subsidiary ppi Media says registrations for its two-day presentations in Hamburg next week are at a record. Some 150 guests will listen to ten presentations over two days at the Hotel Hafen Hamburg on June 15-16. Chief operating officer Norbert Ohl sees process automation and diversification of products as the clear solution to uncertainties daily newspapers have about competing against a growing flood of information on the internet. National and international speakers will discuss these and other possible solutions at the open days. On June 15, Erik Hofmann (deputy technical director, Freie Presse Chemnitz) will give a presentation on ‘Automating the printing workflow with manroland Automatic Plate Loading (APL) and printnet OM’, while Laura Koot (managing editor/art director, The National, Abu Dhabi) will speak on ‘Launching a new newspaper project in record time’. The global economic crisis has also hit the daily newspapers. The media industry is fighting falling ad rates and a drop in the number of readers. "But every crisis offers an opportunity," says Ohl. "Those who counteract the rise in prices by increasing the efficiency of their planning and production workflows will be the winners of the future. The goal of ppi's Open Days is therefore to provide answers to the questions of the newspaper industry, which is currently undergoing a massive upheaval.” A solution to questions about on how cross-media ad campaigns can be implemented quickly and effectively is answered in the presentations given by Hans-Henning Scheferling (former head of the DP department, Neue Westfälische, Bielefeld), Martin Ruhle (CTO at ppi Media) and Christian Veith (senior consultant at ppi Media). With AdInvent they will be presenting a cross-media ad management system not only for the reservation and production of ad formats for online, print and mobile, but especially for the lucrative sale of cross-media ad campaigns. The browser-based software makes the number of free and booked ad spaces transparent, so facilitating ad sale. Keynote speaker is Peter Harry Carstensen, minister president of Schleswig-Holstein, and a varied programme of events includes a tour of the nearby historical warehouse district and newly-built HafenCity district.