PMA 2010
International Convention and Trade Show - February 21-23, 2010
Pre-Show Conferences - February 19-20, 2010

One of the things that makes an association-led show like PMA 09 so great is all of the learning opportunities available. I'm not talking just about the great session line-up either. There's lots to see and learn on the trade show floor itself.

Are you a retailer? Learn more about some of the most important issues in retail with these sessions taking place from 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. on the PMA 09 trade show floor:

• Are You Giving Women What They Want?
• Starting to Turn Green – Make your business operations easier on the planet - and on your bottom line.
• PMA 09 Retailer Hot Picks – Newly Discovered Gems at PMA 09 with Bill McCurry

If photo books are your thing (or you're curious to find out if it's your thing), you can compare kiosk production platforms side-by-side at the DIMA Photo Book Showcase.

Or maybe you need tips and tricks on photo software? Grab a quick 20-minute presentation at the DIMA Software Tutorial Pavilion.

There's plenty to see and learn at PMA 09 - all you have to do is get there!

Just because you are in Vegas doesn't mean you can't exercise. And Lucidiom is offering a great opportunity for networking with other PMA 09 attendees who are looking for a stretch of the legs:

Come and join Lucidiom staff for a 3 mile Sunrise Fun Run at PMA 2009 on Tuesday March 3rd and Wednesday March 4th.  We will meet at the Las Vegas Hilton east entrance (which is on Joe Brown Road) at 6:15am (to stretch) for a 6:30am run.  We have an alternate shorter walking route mapped out also if you prefer.  Wear red and we’ll know you’re there to run!  

Be sure to pack your sneakers!

Personally, I'll be saving my steps for seeing the hottest products on the trade show floor – especially at the Lucidiom booth.

• Paperless sessions – speaker handouts available online as PDFs
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
• Recycling badges and holders
• Using recycled carpet and padding
• Energy Star approved lighting in all displays
• Water conservation devices in all public restrooms

Sleep well before the show – Forget the attractions on the strip and focus on picking the brains of the people who you will meet at the convention center. Ron Inkley taught me years (decades?) ago to be an early arrival at all the education sessions and meet people. Ask them about their business and what their best success of 2008 was. Then listen and determine what germ of wisdom you hear can you incorporate into your business. Everyone has at least one good idea in them... your job is to find it, adopt it as your own and adapt it to the uniqueness of your own operation.

Drink lots of water – When you are on the trade show floor, try to stand on the carpeted area when you stop to talk with folks – at the end of the day your back will appreciate it. If your back starts to hurt take and hold deep breaths, this somehow changes the pressure on your spine. Bring breath mints as a courtesy to your fellow PMA members. Drink lots of water, can’t overstate the need to keep hydrated.

Make your meals count – If you meet someone you think is interesting ask them if they are free for lunch or dinner and make it clear you’re thinking each party pays their own. This is true for people who are speaking as well. You would be amazed the number of times speakers eat alone. I had heard this (and know it from personal experience) when I was at a meeting where a VP from Microsoft spoke. I went up after to talk to her and said I was going to lunch, would she like to join me and she was happy (no accounting for some people’s tastes) because she knew nobody at this particular convention. So we ate and she told me PowerPoint ‘secrets’. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know... most people will be pre-committed but not all of them so don’t be shy.

Bring lots of business cards – make sure your email address is on them - bring about 5 times more than you think you need – you can always take the extra home. You will give out more than you think if you are intelligently working the crowd and meeting friends. Also, bring a small note book that fits in your pocket so you can write down what you hear.

Traditionally, the larger the booth, the lower the margin for the reseller – don’t ignore the small booths in the back recesses of the convention center. Look at booths that aren’t real slick or shiny – that’s where the next new thing is likely coming from.

One of the “sleepers” of the convention is the Global Gala Reception on Tuesday night. It's a super value also – cost as little as $29 for qualifying PMA members (max price is $49 for non-members) You can eat there plus hear some sounds and mix/mingle with folks from all over the world. In the past the food has been international as well. Many Yankees didn’t think they could attend because they didn’t have “International” on their badge but this session is really open to everyone. Great value, good fun and superb conversation.

The “A List” event for retailers is the PTN Dealer of The Year Party – Wednesday – 5:30pm to 7:00pm at the Renaissance Hotel – this year honoring Jerry and Rosemary Sullivan of Precision Camera – the presentation is usually at 6:15 – that’s when you hear some of the real story as to what makes these winners so unique. The attendance is usually the who’s who of camera store operators and top manufactures are there too. The free food and drink helps draw the crowd as well.

Here comes a self serving plug - there will be two Idea Exchanges this year – Monday and Tuesday (both are different/unique). You should be able to make at least 7 new acquaintances at each session – people you can you’ll be able to figure out who has similar operations to what you have and how you can share insights with each other. These connections are is very valuable. Plus, you’ll be able to pick up great marketing ideas. Communicate with during the year and meet up with them again next year.

Now – before you leave, read the brochure about all the educational sessions so you can pick the ones where you need the most new ideas. There are great opportunities – don’t be bashful about looking at the framers’ or school photographers’ sessions. Good ideas are where you find them.

PMA has added a superb resource for attendees this year - nobody has the time to investigate every single booth – there’s too much. Imagine having a “staff” to go out and dig for the gems of the show and possibly paying you to listen to their ideas. It will be Thursday, March 5 - "Hot Picks of The Show" starts with a drawing at 1:00 sharp for $1,000 cash. It will feature representatives of the major buying groups around the world showing their best finds of the show. And there will be another $1,000 given away at 2:00 which is the end of this session . . . pretty good reward for showing up to see the hidden gems others have found . . . it will be just before they give away the even bigger cash prizes at the Parting Shot event, so make sure your return flight isn't so early you miss out.

It’s not too late to purchase Las Vegas Monorail tickets online in advance.

Are you still deciding on how you’re going to get around the Las Vegas Strip? Wait no more.

Purchase your Monorail

• Sunday, March 1, 12 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Monday, March 2 through Wednesday, March 4, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Thursday, March 5, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We know the traditional Yellow Pages and other analog marketing is ineffective. I just learned a similar lesson with newspaper interactive banner ads (few clicks and no conversions). But, Twitter is new, free, and instant.

If you’re on Twitter, please share the below message with your followers to help promote our industry’s convention. To sign up for Twitter, visit: http://www.twitter.com.

Cut/paste and RT [retweet or forward] this message:

Counting down... ONLY 13 more days until #PMA09 ... everyone in photo biz should attend! http://tinyurl.com/86mjcd

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a look at relationships around the world from National Geographic photographer Jodi Cobb. Her assignment was to document the various ways in which people and cultures express love and relationships in this photo gallery.

In her Field Notes, Cobb discusses the quirkiness of Las Vegas weddings:

Las Vegas calls itself the Wedding Capital of the World, and I found just about every conceivable permutation of a ceremony there. I photographed one place where an Elvis impersonator drove couples into a building in a pink Cadillac. Once they got inside, Elvis jumped out of the car, performed the ceremony, and sang as the couple danced.

I also saw a guy in a Dracula costume perform a wedding; the bride and groom were dressed in black. Then there were the weddings at the Venetian Hotel, where people got married in a gondola that floated through canals — on the second floor.

But my favorite Vegas wedding was a drive-through. A couple in a red Jeep showed up, and when I asked why they were getting married there, they said it was because half of their wedding party was too ugly for anyplace else. Then they pointed to their dogs sitting in the back seat. They didn't want to get married without them.

Looking for an affordable way to get around Vegas? Here's an insider tip: use the Las Vegas Monorail.

Pre-order your monorail tickets before February 17 and have them mailed to you in time for PMA 09. The Monorail will directly connect you to the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall without the hassles of traffic and wasted time.

The monorail has seven stops along the Strip:

• Sahara
• Las Vegas Hilton
• Las Vegas Convention Center
• Harrah’s/Imperial Palace
• Flamingo/Caesar's Palace
• Bally’s/Paris Las Vegas
• MGM Grand

As we gained altitude on the Salt Lake City to Jackson, Wyoming leg of our flight, I snapped a shot or two out of the airliner’s window. Your modern airliner, say a Boeing 767, has double-paned window glass. The exterior skin has a thick glass plate, while the interior is a thin piece of Plexiglas, with an inch or two of space between. Generally, the interior pane will be very scratched, possibly distorted by oilslick defects, and in some cases flaking to pieces. That doesn’t mean you can’t take a picture through it, though—just as when shooting through chain link fencing, if your point of focus is far enough out, the glass will blur to a misty gray fog.

Looking for ways to make your graphic programs work for you, instead of the other way around?

DIMA 2009 features almost 28 hours of hands-on training. Get insight into advanced techniques from experts such as:

• Black-and-White and Color Effects with Michael Ninness, Adobe Systems
• Advanced Techniques With Adobe Photoshop CS4 from Jerry Courvoisier, Jerry Courvoisier Photography
  
• Skin - Skin - Skin! with Katrin Eismann, School of Visual Arts
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Portrait Photographers and Work Smart from Julieanne Kost, Adobe Systems
• The Creative Digital Darkroom wtih Sean Duggan, Sean Duggan Photographics
• Creative Portrait Retouching by Jane Connor Ziser, Jane's Media Art