When Jane Muir, Dr. Marina Iacovou, and Ally Heywood prepared conference materials to showcase their cutting-edge diet therapy, they faced a challenge. It wasn’t what to include in the materials — that was the easy part — it was how to get printed materials 10,000 miles across the globe.

The trio from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, had an exciting list of conferences on their 2017 calendar. But traveling across the ocean from Australia to Orlando, Sacramento and Chicago meant they had to carry the printed materials to each location or ship them ahead of time. They needed a simpler, less-costly solution. And they found it at the FedEx Office^® National Bid Center.    

Monash University ranks among the top 100 universities in the world. It’s “best known for innovation in education and research,” explains Muir, associate professor and head of Translational Nutrition Science.

Indeed, for sufferers of irritable bowel syndrome, Monash University had some pretty exciting data to present. The team there developed a diet therapy, the Low FODMAP Diet, to treat this common gastrointestinal disorder.

Monash University has developed tools and resources for its findings, including a diet app, booklet, food certification program for the food industry, and an online course training dietitians in implementing the new system. The conferences were a key part of Monash University’s overall educational strategy, Muir says, “an opportunity for the Monash team to discuss this area with other health professionals.”

However, conferences mean printed materials — and delivering those materials to the right venue on the right day. The team needed help. “There was a major challenge (and cost) around printing this information and delivering these resources to the conferences in the U.S.,” Iacovou recalls.

And it wasn’t just the distance. Time zones also presented an added wrinkle: 10 a.m. Wednesday in Melbourne is 7 p.m. Tuesday in Chicago, making it difficult to coordinate details by phone.

Fortunately, the staff at Monash University is no stranger to smart problem-solving. Heywood, the department’s administrative assistant, reached out to the FedEx Office National Bid Center, where specialists work with more than 2,000 FedEx Office locations across the U.S. to successfully create custom solutions for some of the more unusual specialized print jobs.

With the right printing and shipping services network, a savvy presenter can turn a challenge into a success and wow attendees with professionally printed collateral. The FedEx Office National Bid Center is a network of expert print consultants who help organizations and individuals tackle large, complex print jobs at the best possible price — even from thousands of miles away.

The consultants could get around the time-zone barrier by handling most interactions online. And when only a phone call would do, that call could be set up beforehand via email. Heywood says she was pleasantly surprised at how smooth, reliable, and convenient the process was on her end.

What’s more, instead of printing the information booklets onsite in Australia and shipping them all across the U.S., the consultants at the store found a FedEx Office location centrally positioned among the three conferences. With one location handling the printing and distribution, Monash University secured the best pricing for the print job while keeping the shipping cost at a minimum and eliminating the extra time associated with international shipping.

“The service provided by FedEx was a fast, efficient, and cost-effective way for us to send printed material to these conference venues,” Iacovou says.

Got a unique project of your own? From small and simple to large and complicated, the FedEx Office® National Bid Center experts can tailor a solution that best fits your printing and shipping needs.