Printers are employed by companies to print and distribute prospectuses. A typical public deal requires anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 copies of the preliminary prospectus (called the red herring or red) and 5,000 to 10,000 copies of the final prospectus. Printers receive the final edited version from the working group, literally print the thousands of copies in-house and then mail them to potential investors in a deal. (The list of investors comes from the managers.) Printers also file the document electronically with the SEC via the "EDGAR" system. As the last meeting before the prospectus is completed, printer meetings can last anywhere from a day to a week or even more. Why is this significant? Because printers are extraordinarily expensive and companies are eager to move onto the next phase of the deal. This amounts to loads of pressure on the working group to finish the prospectus.

For those in the working group, perfecting the prospectus means wrangling over commas, legal language, and grammar until the document is error-free. Nothing is allowed to interrupt a printer meeting, meaning one or two all-nighters in a row is not unheard of for working groups.

On the plus side, printers stock anything and everything that a person could want to eat or drink. The best restaurants cater to printers, and M&M's always seem to appear on the table just when you want a handful. And food isn't all: Many printers have pool tables and stocked bars for those half-hour breaks at 2:00 a.m. Needless to say, an abundance of coffee and fattening food keeps the group going during late hours.