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DATEBOOK
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Scott Perry, Trade
Net Publishing Co.
DAY IN THE LIFE
80 Melissa McCauley, Numo
CLOSE UP 84
PEOPLE NEWS NEW MEMBERS
MAY 2015 • PPB • 77
Atlantic City has given our audience the largest marketplace for pro-
motional products and decorated apparel on the east coast. The initial
reaction from our attendees and exhibitors has been nothing but posi-
tive. We look forward to continuing our relationship with PPAI in the
future.”
Professional education at Expo East featured 40
sessions on seven tracks—Business Management,
Product Responsibility, Industry Essentials, Marketing
& Advertising, Decorate, Sales & Service and
Technology—throughout the show week, offering
industry professionals the opportunity to further their
careers and develop their business skill sets. Expo East also brought a
pair of exciting keynote speakers to Atlantic City. Christina “CK”
Kerley, speaker, trainer and strategist, shined a light on the smart revo-
lution of the “Internet of Things” and how it will play into a new era of
promotional products during her keynote luncheon presentation. The
next day, Jeffrey Gitomer, New York Times-bestselling author and sales
authority, was the featured speaker during Expo East’s Keynote &
Cocktail session and taught attendees how to differentiate themselves,
their companies and their products from the competition, and to ele-
vate their status with customers from salesperson to trusted advisor.
Expo East also marked a major milestone for PPAI’s Product
Safety Awareness initiative, an education-based program requiring
every member company wanting to exhibit, advertise or sponsor events
in the PPAI marketplace to complete a minimum of four hours of
product safety education. By the time the trade-show floor opened on
March 18, every exhibitor at Expo East had achieved Product Safety
Aware certification.
Product safety regulations affect nearly every aspect of the promo-
tional products business, and PPAI has developed a program that pro-
vides free professional development and education for all industry
members. To earn PSA status, member companies must designate one
employee as a Product Safety Ambassador who will complete four
hours of specified product safety. Expo East 2015 was the first event at
which Product Safety Aware certification was required to exhibit.
Read more about Expo East, including a peek at the editors’
favorite new products and highlights from Expo East keynote speaker
presentations, and see video and pictures of the show in the Expo East
Daily at Recorded education sessions are also
available for viewing On Demand at
users/ppa/search.php.
SNAPSHOTS 90
92
PPAI’S PYRAMID AWARDS recognize
the outstanding, creative use of promo-
tional prod-
ucts in the
client pro-
grams and
campaigns
of distribu-
tor mem-
bers and
industry
regional
associations.
Their cre-
ativity and
ingenuity is honored each year at an
awards presentation and reception held
during The PPAI Expo.
Industry professionals, companies and
regional associations who take home the
Pyramid Award’s coveted trophy bring
home not only the recognition and
appreciation of their peers, but also a
unique calling card in the competitive
promotional products marketplace.
Cliff Quicksell, Jr., MAS+, director of
marketing with distributor iPROMOTEu
(UPIC: IPRO9320), has won multiple
Pyramid Awards over the years. “The
Pyramid Awards have always been a
large part of my marketing strategy,” he
says. “In a very crowded market space,
having a significant differentiator is
imperative in order to survive and stay
out in front. I believe by using my cre-
ative talents and demonstrating these to
my clients it indeed creates a difference.
Winning a Pyramid Award or Image
Award actually validates the creative
usage of what I do. I am blessed to have
won 23 of these awards and honored to
have helped and guided nearly 50 oth-
ers in winning as well.
Bruce Felber, MAS, director of mar-
keting and sales support for The Image
Making The Most Of The PPAI Pyramid Awards
By the time the trade-show floor opened on March 18,
every exhibitor at Expo East had achieved Product
Safety Aware certification.
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