Before the trade floor at The PPAI Expo 2024 truly opens up for exhibitors and distributors, the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas will be buzzing with industry professionals looking to soak up some of the year’s best educational sessions at The PPAI Expo Conference.

  • Included in the collection of panels and speakers will be a session concerning digital transformation.
  • It will include a panel of experts from industry leading suppliers and distributors, and its official title is “Technology Tools To Maximize Profits.”
  • Promo Data eXchange (PDX) and creating a frictionless promo industry will be a key talking point.

This tech-focused panel will occur Monday, January 15.

  • It will be located at Reef B.
  • The session time will be 10 a.m. - 10:50 a.m.

A Collection Of Promo’s Technology Experts

The entire panel will consist of members who hold seats on PPAI’s Technology Committee and will be moderated by Nick DiNicola, PPAI’s digital transformation manager.

The panel members include:

  • Rose Arebdarczyk, SVP, transformation, HALO
  • Joe Hoffman, vice president of vendor management, iPROMOTEu
  • Shawn Reed, director of information technology, Showdown Displays
  • CW Karstens, director of digital transformation, PPAI

“As an industry we continue to find ourselves at a crossroads when it comes to the ways digital transformation can shape our future,” DiNicola says. “This panel is full of experts who, as a matter of course, think through the way technology can be leveraged to create a more efficient promo world.”

PDX Will Be An Important Talking Point

At the heart of the Association’s technology conversations is the inefficiency problem that the industry has often come to accept.

  • PDX is the open standards formula behind PPAI’s mission – in collaboration with SAGE – to eliminate unnecessary phone calls and emails.

If the vision of PDX is fully realized, distributors and suppliers can both benefit through reclaimed time that would otherwise be spent checking in with each other.

The speakers at Monday’s panels include people who shape the conversations around what both sides need from an open standards formula. PDX talking points are likely to include:

  • Integration process.
  • What distributors are looking for in terms of data sharing.
  • What the future holds for the industry in terms of PDX.