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MARCH 2017
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Best Of Expo
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FEATURE
both the quality of the show and the
networking. On the final show day, Paul
and I met a woman who had back surgery
three weeks prior and she exclaimed, ‘This
is my show!’ She said that nothing could
keep her from attending Expo.”
PPAI’s Bellantone calls the PPAI Expo
2017 a resounding success that exceeded
expectations. “The showmarked near-
record attendance, and now serves as the
launch pad for the year where industry
professionals connect, learn, discover and
build lifelong partnerships,” he says. “As the
Expo has grown, so too has themagnitude
and focus of the show. It is the forumwhere
Association executives, industry leaders and
professionals meet to guide the industry
forward on key initiatives, branding and
strategic partnerships to promote, protect
and grow this great industry.”
Over the five-day event, Bellantone,
Goos and Tomasini addressed the
membership on numerous occasions to
share the successes and opportunities
facing the industry and to present a
number of new initiatives including
highlights of PPAI’s new consumer
research; Generation Y outreach; new
industry branding campaign, Get In
Touch!
TM
and legislative advocacy. They
also engaged members about PPAI’s new
strategic plan to change the membership
focus from transactional to relationship-
based engagement and discussed plans
now under way to transform the Expo
from great to extraordinary.
The PPAI Expo
brought suppliers and
distributors face to face
to get business done.
PPAI honored its many volunteers who
completed their terms as chairs of committees, action
groups and the Foundation during the Volunteer
Recognition Luncheon.
PPAI President and
CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE,
and incoming Board Chair
Mary Jo Tomasini, MAS,
stopped in at the SPARK
event, a new platform
for young professionals
working in the promotional
products industry.