PPAI-Tech-Summit-2015 Clockwise: Catherine Graham moderates a panel on moving to the cloud with panelists Garret Ausfeldt, Jason Nokes and Sam Hornstein; technology evangelist Sven Peters presents Kick @$$ Software Development; during a break, attendee Paul Weller visits with a fellow techie; Radolo President Joshua Grippo presents a session on Design First Development.

IT directors, chief information officers and business analysts were among the 80 industry IT professionals joining PPAI’s second annual Technology Summit, held Tuesday and Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee. The opening of the conference dovetailed with the final day of the PPAI North American Leadership Conference and shared an opening reception on Tuesday evening.

The event packed 10 educational sessions into the day-and-a-half program with outside experts such as Joshua Grippo of Radolo who spoke about design first development, and presentations from industry practitioners including a panel on integrations moderated by Jon Norris of Starline and featuring Eric Alessi, Essent; Irwin Goldstein, HALO Branded Solutions and Eric Shonebarger, Hit Promotional Products.

“Just like last year, the thing that surprised me the most was how engaged all the IT people were in getting to know each other over meals. Someone needs to tell our IT people that they are supposed to be shy, reserved and not want to talk to anyone,” says Dale Denham, MAS+, CIO of Geiger and leader of the Tech Summit Work Group, which planned and implemented the conference with PPAI staff.  “During the meetings, I was extremely impressed at how 90-plus industry IT professionals collaborated to solve industry problems.”

On Wednesday morning, PPAI presented two inaugural awards: Internal Innovator and Industry Collaborator. The Internal Innovator winner was the Jetline IT team, comprised of Sam Hornstein, Erik Osterud and Adrian Todd. Hornstein was on hand to accept the award. Winners of the Industry Collaborator award were BIC Graphic USA and Hit Promotional Products with key contributors Tim Nale of BIC and Eric Shonebarger of Hit at the conference to accept. Each winner took time to present and discuss their award-winning programs and answer questions.

“The Tech Summit was a rewarding experience for me due to three key aspects: knowledge, perspective and relationships,” says attendee Sharon Zarter, senior business analyst, AIA Corporation. “I learn more about what works or perhaps doesn’t, I get insight from both the distributor and supplier side of the industry and love meeting that person on the other side of the email or the LinkedIn group. It has tremendously helped me move forward on some of the integration initiatives for AIA.”

Another satisfied attendee was Jason Nokes, president of industry services provider DistributorCentral. “The PPAI Tech Summit was a great event that brought technology leaders together to learn and collaborate in a way that will better our industry,” he says.

Paul Weller, AIA Corporation, one of last year’s attendees, returned for more tech education. “I must say it was a fun and productive technology summit this year. From sessions on industry best practices to Kick @$$ Software development, there was plenty of useful information and takeaways. It’s also been a great opportunity to network with fellow business and IT leaders. I can’t wait for next year’s Summit.”

Even those not directly involved with their company’s technology on a daily basis found value in this year’s program. “I attended this conference with Vernon's VP of technology, Chris Lanagan,” says Dave Regan, vice president of sales and marketing, The Vernon Company. “While I can say that I love technology, I must openly admit that I am a sales and marketing guy at the core. I am the person Dale Denham described at the beginning of the conference who attends the shows and meetings, and returns to the office all excited about something that I learned about. I go running to our IT staff trying to convey what I saw or experienced. It was clear to me that there was a lot of firepower at the Tech Summit when you consider the key suppliers, distributors and service providers.

“I thought the sessions were terrific for a few reasons: the topics were real life and relevant, and as a ‘non-techie’ I was pleased that I could understand the discussions. I would encourage executives from any company to attend future Tech Summits with their key personnel. Having corporate leadership and IT on the same page is critical for any organization today. Having a forum where, in a matter of hours, you can gather input and feedback on a variety of issues is priceless. From Vernon’s perspective our time was well spent,” Regan says.

The inaugural PPAI Tech Summit was paired with Expo East in Atlantic City in May 2014 and this year’s event was an opportunity to make further refinements to the program. “A perfect mix of distributors, suppliers and service providers made this event even better than last year,” says Denham. “The speaker lineup made it even more impressive with a great blend of industry professionals sharing valuable insights while adding in incredible outside perspectives, from design-first programming to Kick A$$ software development. Who knew technology summits could be both productive and enjoyable?  I’m already excited for next year in San Francisco and looking forward to another sold-out event.”

The dates for next year’s Tech Summit are August 17-18, and details and registration will be available soon.