PPB October 2018

PPAI’s Bellantone, Stone Speak On Strategic Foresight At MiPPAMichigan Leadership Conference The Michigan Promotional Professionals Association (MiPPA) held its inaugural Michigan Leadership Conference in August at the Waldenwoods Conference Center in Hartland, Michigan. PPAI President and CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE, and Public Affairs Director Anne Stone joined the conference to speak on strategic foresight in the promotional products industry—the ability to look to the future and spot emerging trends to take advantage of them or prepare for the disruptions they may bring. Paul Kiewiet, MAS+, MiPPA executive director, said, “The Strategic Foresight Playbook presentation provided our leaders with a framework for discussing, analyzing and preemptively planning for the change and disruption accelerating through our industry.” PPAI’s Tucker, Gauger Visit Toddy Gear In Chicago While in Chicago in August, PPAI Business Development Director Ellen Tucker and Member Engagement and Regional Relations Director Carol Gauger, MAS, visited the offices of supplier Toddy Gear to learn their perspectives on some of PPAI’s programs, including the awards program at The PPAI Expo. Toddy Gear has won multiple awards from PPAI over the years. Thirty industry professionals from Michigan and around the country attended the conference to learn more about the challenges faced by the promotional products industry, to discover how to turn these challenges into opportunities, and to develop actionable plans to begin implementing immediately. Bellantone and Stone’s session, in which they delivered the Association’s new Strategic Foresight presentation and Playbook, opened the two-day event. Viktorya Kooistra (right), director of marketing and communications at Toddy Gear, showed PPAI Business Development Director Ellen Tucker (left) and Member Engagement and Regional Relations Director Carol Gauger, MAS, around the supplier’s Chicago offices. | OCTOBER 2018 | 113 CONNECT