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Monday
November 30, 2009 Break Out the Crystal Ball!Filed under: Editorial Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and didn’t pass out in a tryptophan-induced coma face down in a Jell-O mold. ; ) As we enter the last month of 2009, it’s a natural time to look ahead and try to prepare for what 2010 has in store for us. In that vein, I’ll be moderating a Webinar this Thursday, 12/3, from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. (ET) called, “Get Ready for 2010: Top Sales and Market Trends.” My whip-smart panelists are three of my favorite people in the industry, all of whom are at the helm of distinguished supplier companies and each of whom is on this year’s Counselor Power 50 list. My pal Bonni Shevin-Sandy is the executive vice president of Counselor Top 40 supplier Dard and this year’s Counselor International Person of the Year. My girl knows her stuff, and is so savvy when it comes to finding new markets into which to sell that the international and custom division of Dard, of which Bonni is president, was up double-digits in 2009. Bill Korowitz, president of Counselor Top 40 supplier The Magnet Group, is a new friend of mine. He’s very much the renaissance man — a trained economist as well as a guitar aficionado (he’s been known to stay up til 2 a.m. jamming, with his amp cranked “to 11″). Bill has one of the driest, most sardonic wits I’ve come across in some time and is equally astute at reading sales and marketing indicators both for our industry and the U.S. economy. And last but not least, we have Ira Neaman, owner of Counselor Top 40 supplier Vantage. Ira is one of my oldest friends in the industry, and the person who — when I was new to the ad specialty business nearly 13 years ago and knew nothing about imprinted apparel — was patient enough to give me many in-depth tutorials. Still, to this day, when I have an apparel-related question and need someone to explain the intricacies to me, Ira — who was one of the youngest people ever to graduate from Harvard Business School — is first on my list. For that reason, I have always called him my wearables “Yoda.” As apparel constitutes the largest category of product sales in our industry, Ira the Yoda is an expert on the latest trends and applications. Learn from him, you will. If you’d like to listen in to the Webinar this Thursday to hear Bonni, Bill and Ira discuss such topics as keeping your company competitive in a down economy, where industry sales will be in 2010, new growth markets for ad specialties and the smartest thing companies can do in the upcoming year to be successful, click on the link below to register. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/174512624 Cheers, and more next week! — M
Tuesday
November 3, 2009 Photos From This Year’s ASI Power Summit!Filed under: Travel ASI’s third annual Power Summit is in full swing at La Costa Resort & Spa in sunny Carlsbad, CA. Two hundred of the industry’s most prominent professionals are here, taking part in panel discussions on topics like safety and legislation issues, new media for marketing and challenges for the industry for 2010 and enjoying many great networking events. I’m moderating a panel at 8:30 am, Cali time, on the topic of keeping employees motivated in a down economy with Lon McGowan, owner of iClick, my pal Eric Johnson (aka, “E”), executive vice president of Halls & Co., Tina Montgomery, president/CEO of L.W. Barrett Co. Inc., Fred Albrecht, founder and co-owner of Proforma Albrecht Co. and Mark Ziskind, COO of Counselor Top 40 distributor Caliendo-Savio Enterprises (CSE) — all of whom have been on Counselor’s “Best Places to Work” list for the past two years. With this fabulous panelists, it should be awesome More later and enjoy the photos!
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