This week, exhibitors and distributors from around the country are attending the third annual SAGE Show and Education Day at the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas. Running Wednesday and today, this is the show’s first year in Irving after two years in Fort Worth.

The SAGE Show features an extensive promotional products trade show and the same high-quality education industry practitioners find at The PPAI Expo and Expo East. The education program, produced by PPAI and SAGE, opened the show on Wednesday. Running on parallel tracks, the PPAI education programming brought together a number of industry experts to speak on growing, managing and succeeding in the promotional products business, while the SAGE track delivered best practices and deep dives to make the most of the tools and programs SAGE provides to industry practitioners. Industry speakers at the show included Ruth Verver, CAS, partner at Paperclip Promotions; Tia Walker, MAS, account executive at Activate! Promotions + Marketing; Christopher Jenkin, CEO of gotcha! Mobile Solutions; Steven Meyer, MAS, vice president of sales at Riteline; Anne Larder-Stone, PPAI’s director of public affairs; Natalie Clark, PPAI membership services manager; and Ryan Hanchey, distributor sales manager at SAGE.

The second day of the show began today with a presentation from SAGE Show keynote speaker Steve Deitz, president and creative director of experiential design studio 900 lbs. of Creative. Deitz’s presentation, “Experiential Marketing: The Tech-Fueled Future,” explored the latest tech trends and how to apply this knowledge to build brand engagement and craft memorable messages. Following Deitz’s presentation, the show floor opened to distributors and their clients.

At this year’s show, exhibitors can donate unwanted samples to the Kids In Need Foundation. Donations will be collected by volunteers after the show closes today at 4 pm. Products of all kinds are accepted and used by classroom teachers in underprivileged schools as incentives, prizes and learning tools. Exhibitors may pick up a donation form and labels at the Kids In Need table located in aisle 500 near the lead retrieval station.

PPAI has a booth on the show floor where show attendees can find out more about the many services and benefits available through the Association.