Page 1 - PPIAC Newsletter August September 2021
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Index: MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
Conference vendors are friends, not foes.
Chair’s Message
If you're attending our conference at the end of the month, please read this. The men and
women who pay PPIAC to set up a vendor table at our conference are interested in meeting
V.P. of Membership Update and talking to each one of the attendees. Our vendors are there to try and generate new
customers. Their paid participation also helps keep your cost of conference attendance in the
$200 range instead of double or triple that amount. Conference venue rentals, setup &
V.P. of Training Update breakdown fees, and food & beverage costs at hotels are not cheap.
Maybe you've felt wary of approaching conference vendors due to a fear of getting pressured
by them to buy a product or sign up for a service. That is not how our vendors operate. They
2021 Conference Schedule
will probably ask for an email address before ending your conversation. They do that so they
can initiate follow-up or include you in their marketing campaigns. Again, that is not a secret.
Vendors are trying to sell products or services, but they are also interested in forming
Conference Speaker Spotlight
relationships. If their product or service is not right for you, you may know someone else -
now, or in the future - who could benefit from an introduction.
Member News I avoid the worry of an Inbox overflowing with email from vendors by using several email
addresses. I have one for friends and family, which I never share with anyone in my
professional life. I have one that I only give to people who pay me to do work for them.
That's my primary work email and I check it in the morning, at lunch, and at the end of every
workday. I have another address that is for work-related matters that don't generate
revenue, like vendors I meet at conferences or companies from which I make necessary work
purchases. That's my secondary work email and I check it a couple of times a week. I also
have a tertiary address that I use when I want to do something like download a white paper,
but the site won't let me do so without providing an email address. I rarely look at that inbox
unless I need to.
We have 100% control over how much access vendors have to us, as well as how much
contact we have after meeting them. It might be good for all of us to consider what our
business would be like if we had to regularly travel to different cities and pay hundreds of
dollars in each place to set up a table outside a ballroom and hope to talk with prospective
customers. Hope is not a tactic, and I'm glad that's not what I have to do to get new business
in the door.
September 24-25, 2021 Prepare in advance however you choose, but please remember that vendors are our allies.
Denver Marriott West Please spend a few minutes with each of them in Golden and listen to what they have to
Golden, CO say. Even if you don't think you want or need what they provide, thank them for showing
up at our conference. It will be time well spent from both sides of the table.
Sam Petitto, PPIAC Chair
