In the promotional products industry, the single most important day of 2019 is January 14th and not because there will be an announcement of the next mega-merger between suppliers. January 14, 2019, is the date that you will have the single greatest opportunity to grow your business for the next 12 months if you are traveling to Las Vegas for the PPAI Expo for one simple fact: it’s Education Day.
While there will be educational opportunities throughout the week of Expo, Education Day is the single largest gathering of industry thought leaders like Mark Graham, Kirby Hasseman, Bobby Lehew, Roger Burnett, Catherine Graham, Henrik Johansson, and Kathy Houston, to name just a few. These people are subject matter experts who are ready to share their wisdom with the entire promotional products community – most of them at no cost to Expo attendees.
For those of you on the fence about embracing professional development as a lifestyle, here are three things to consider:
1. Relevancy. The constant of change is rampant through every industry which means anyone interested in remaining relevant needs to be able to keep up – and not just learning a few computer skills here and there. With the pace of change increasing on a seemingly daily basis, it’s critical to stay on top of current and future trends and that simply cannot be done in a vacuum. Any professional wishing to truly remain current must closely follow industry movements and seek to provide layers of depth to their knowledge base.
2. Motivation. As humans, we are conditioned to not only accept but embrace the known because it’s easy and comfortable. There’s a reason that during a day-long meeting that people sit in the same seats over and over again despite many breaks and opportunities to sit elsewhere. Challenging your perspective by listening to divergent thoughts on digital marketing, understanding how to relate to different buyers, or learning how to create loyalty in an ever-evolving economy will encourage you to think – and sell – differently.
3. Networking. Like it or not, networking continues to be the best way to grow and solidify your career. Because of this, professional development is a far more effective way to meet industry thought leaders than staring at them vacantly across the bar at Eyecandy. As someone who speaks at many industry events, I relish when someone comes up and engages me after a session. Another truth, I learn just as much from them as they do from me which creates a very strong network of giving.
With all the educational prospects available, it boggles my mind why people don’t make professional development part of their career lifestyle. The ONLY way to move forward is to continue to educate yourself at every opportunity. Embracing every educational opportunity will help you remain ahead of the competition in our constantly evolving industry. If you are going to be in Las Vegas on Education Day, do yourself a favor and attend one of the many great sessions available. If you don’t know which session might interest you, click here and you can search all the sessions and find the ones that interest you.
For anyone interested, I am also speaking at PPAI Expo and you can read about my sessions by clicking the titles below.
Monday, January 14, 2019
BrandYou: How to Out Amazon Your Competition (MAS 1.0)
10:30 AM
Breakers F, Level 2
Podcasting for Profit: unScripted LIVE with Kirby Hasseman (CAS 1.0)
1:30 PM
Breakers I, Level 2
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Learning Lab: Basics of Blogging (CAS 0.5)
1:30 PM
Breakers B, Level 2
Learning Lab: Start Your Own Industry Podcast (CAS 0.5)
3:30 PM
Breakers B, Level 2
Whether you attend my sessions or choose others, I urge you to make room for professional development this week at PPAI Expo. More importantly, I suggest you consider making professional development part of your career lifestyle. If you don't, you run the risk of being as relevant as a fidget spinner.
Bill is president of PromoCorner, the leading digital marketing service provider to the promotional products industry, and has over 18 years working in executive leadership positions at leading promotional products distributorships. A featured speaker at numerous industry events, a serial creator of content marketing, immediate past president of the Promotional Products Association of the Mid-South (PPAMS), vice president of the Regional Association Council (RAC) board, and PromoKitchen chef, Bill has extensive experience coaching sales teams, creating successful marketing campaigns, and developing branding that resonates with a target audience. He can be reached at bill@PromoCorner.com.