PPB November 2018

This year’s PPAI Product Responsibility Summit drew nearly 170 industry professionals to Alexandria, Virginia, for two and a half days of expert-led education sessions focused on ensuring safe and compliant promotional products. This year, Summit attracted almost 70 first-time attendees. Leeton Lee, who has been involved since the inaugural event in 2011 and now chairs the PPAI Product Responsibility Action Group, says Summit is a unique event because of the concentration of valuable resources and the information provided. “I think each person in this room benefitted from our efforts,” he said, adding that the cumulative effects of the program’s education over the years is showing good results. “But our mission will evolve—at this time it’s to support our industry to protect the brand, the business and the investment. The regulations are not going to stay the same as more and more federal and state regulations come into play. We are going to have to be that much more knowledgeable and vigilant in protecting our companies and our customers. I hope we continue the event for many years.” Monday’s program opened with a much- anticipated panel discussion that explored California’s new Prop 65 regulations that went into effect in August. It was led by Gene Geiger, MAS+, president of Geiger, and drew on expertise from Kim Bakalyar at PromoShop; Tabatha Bauer at Staples; Nathan Cotter at Hit Promotional Products, Dana Porter at SAGE and JillAnn Rogoz at alphabroder/Prime. This year’s program again brought in top experts in product safety and compliance including Carol Pollack-Nelson, PhD, an independent safety consultant who spoke on age grading and voluntary standards; Bernadette Corrado and Chris Dewolfe with FedEx, who discussed international shipping challenges; Matt Smith with ICIX who addressed industry implications of blockchain; Dr. George Borlais with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and David Tai with TQAChecked who spoke on hazard identification; Karolyn Helda with AsiaInspection who moderated a panel on social media and product misuse featuring Joseph Galbo, CPSC, and product safety attorney Neal Cohen. Summit programming also included many experts from supplier and distributor companies and vendors supporting product responsibility practices within the promotional products industry who shared their expertise as speakers and panelists. A highlight of the 2018 Summit was a keynote presentation from Ann Marie Buerkle, acting chairman of the CPSC, who shared the agency’s priorities and praised PPAI’s work in the area. Buerkle said, “Today’s buyer is more aware than ever of the link between good business and responsible business behaviors. The age of technology enables buyers and communities to share that information on a faster and larger, more visible scale. That makes your advocacy for safety and responsible practices in the promotion and marketing space even more critical.” One of the things she advocated for when she joined the agency five years ago and has been her mantra since then is her strong belief in the power of collaboration. “Let’s face it, safety is best achieved when we do it in a balanced, reasonable way,” she said. “When we take all the stakeholders and have them at the table and have these discussions—that’s how we are going to best promote safety.” And when she wrapped up her comments, Buerkle expressed her appreciation for the small-business professionals and entrepreneurs in her audience. “It’s the hard work and sacrifice of people like yourselves that keep the American dream alive and I appreciate that very much,” she said. “What you do is not an easy task, it’s hard work but this is the entrepreneurial spirit of this country and what makes it great. I hope we can truly work in a collaborative spirit to keep consumers safe but also not to unnecessarily burden your industry.” Summit also included a popular element—roundtable discussions on key topics—and social opportunities including a Potomac River dinner cruise aboard the Cherry Blossom on Sunday night and Monday night’s reception followed by small- group dinners at various local restaurants. Tuesday got under way with a session on audits, followed by a presentation on emerging regulatory challenges and PPAI’s Product Responsibility Summit Turns In Another Strong Event C M Y CM MY CY CMY K 92 | NOVEMBER 2018 | CONNECT