PPB October 2018

(top) Tech Summit Work Group members Jon Norris and Catherine Graham led a session during the conference; (bottom) more than 100 professionals with tech responsibilities were in attendance. Much of the success of this year’s Tech Summit is credited to members of the PPAI Technology Committee and Tech Summit Work Group, headed by Jon Norris (second row, far right). Ian Kahn, a futurist and author, opened the conference with his General Session presentation on creating value in a transformational world. Tech Summit Delivers Robust Education To Industry IT Pros In August, more than 100 industry IT professionals, decision makers and executives responsible for their organization’s technology environment convened in Washington, D.C., for the PPAI Tech Summit. Over two days the annual educational event offered a variety of expert-led sessions exploring the most pertinent technology issues affecting the profession in general and the promotional products industry specifically, as well as opportunities to network and learn from each other. “In our field you can go out and get technology education anywhere,” said Jon Norris, vice president at Starline USA, Inc., and chair of the Tech Summit Work Group. “What we bring that is different are industry-relevant topics, a sense of community and networking. We really tried to focus on opportunities for attendees to interact with each other. The industry can do cool things when the tech community works together.” Futurist and author Ian Kahn, who is also a three-time TEDx speaker and Forbes contributor, opened the conference by giving a broad overview of the technological and transformational forces shaping our world, including cryptocurrency, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, the Internet Of Things and personal big data, among others. He spoke about the accelerating pace of change and exponential growth in computing power, David Zheng, president of supplier Riteline, Inc., said he was most impressed by the session on differentiation. “You have to be a little different—that’s the way to survive in the market.” Perry Wehrle, CAS, president of distributor PAW Marketing, added, “The amount of energy that (speaker Andrew Long) brought to the stage was what this group needed to see and hear. His excitement, his research and how prepared he was—it was a powerful presentation.” Attendees had a final chance to spend more time together to discuss and debate the issues at a closing event at ARTECHOUSE, an immersive exhibit that combined technology, science and creativity. They were joined by more than 100 other industry members coming in for the PPAI Tech Summit, which started the following morning in the same venue. Next year’s conference will be held August 11-13, 2019 in the Dallas, Texas, area. | OCTOBER 2018 | 103 CONNECT