The Photo Marketing Association gathered the industry together in New York last week to unveil their plans for the 2007 PMA Show, running from March 8-11, 2007. The show’s return to Vegas was met with resounding approval and it appears as though Orlando is being left to Mickey and friends for the foreseeable future. While no announcement has been made official, it appears as though PMA will remain in Vegas for the next 3 years and out on the west coast for several years beyond that.
Among several new wrinkles, the news that the Complete Picture Inspiration Center will be back for another year was interesting on several fronts. PMA’s Gary Pageau was pleased to announce that the organization has heard back from several imaging retailers who have successfully implemented ideas taken from the Complete Picture booth at the 2006 show. This years’ edition will focus more on the concept of “Lifestyle Retailing” and redefining the photo retail environment.
“This retail concept environment redefines the traditional photo store as a lifestyle destination store and transforms innovative technologies into inspirational solutions. The user focused environment for Gen-X moms integrates photography, framing, scrapbooking and everything moms need to capture, preserve and share memories.” PMA President Ted Fox explained.
Last years’ Complete Picture played to rave reviews and it appears the concept is here to stay and will be expanded upon in coming years.
Another recent addition to PMA that is growing every year is the pre-show Sneak Peek event and show organizers are anticipating as many as 80-100 vendors for this years’ edition. The event features a buffet luncheon, open bar, and three full hours of networking opportunity for press and exhibitors and will be held in the LVCC’s South Hall beginning at 12 noon. .
Yet another new addition to the show is PMA’s Smart Connect online service, dubbed as a personal assistant that intelligently mines the PMA 07 community, finding the knowledge, people, and products most closely matched to meeting attendees’ objectives.
The Smart Connect software starts by creating your “Attendee Justification Report.” Visitors tell PMA Smart Connect what they’re looking for from the event, and watch while it finds what they need week-by-week as registration builds. CES has played with a similar technology but show organizers for that event have grumbled that it isn’t being used enough and awareness that it exists needs a push.
Add in over 200 sessions on a wide range of topics with some dynamic speakers along with an expanded keynote schedule that includes industry outsiders Peter van Stolk CEO of Jones Soda, a uniquely run beverage company that features their customers’ images on the bottle labels.
All in all it should be an exciting PMA as the imaging industry moves into what should be an interesting year on several fronts. Retail digital printing is gaining steam; the DSLR market gets more interesting by the day; the kiosk market remains red hot and new storage and photo archiving solutions are making news. You’ll see it all under one roof at PMA 2007.
