MemoryTrends Show Announcement for 2008
MemoryTrends Conference and Expo announced on Thursday, June 29th that starting in 2008 the Expo will be co-locating with the PMA (formerly the Photo Marketing Association International) International Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The joint 2008 show is scheduled for January 31st to February 2nd at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
In addition to co-locating their U.S. events, MemoryTrends will be working alongside PMA for their international events beginning with Canada in 2007 and Australia in 2008.
MemoryTrends Conference and Expo is owned by CK Media, which also owns the trade magazines MemoryTrends and Craftrends as well the consumer publications Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, PaperCrafts and Digital Scrapbooking. CK Media was recently sold by Primedia, Inc.
PMA was founded in 1924, and is headquartered in Jackson, Michigan. It has over 20,000 members in 100 countries and is dedicated to enlarging the imaging market. In May, PMA purchased the membership and educational programs of the SMART Group for an undisclosed amount from A-Z Media Group. The SMART Group, devoted to business education and expansion for the scrapbook industry, had previously exhibited at the CHA tradeshows.
In the announcement of the shows' co-location, the PMA's eagerness to bring scrapbooking to their annual show was explained by Ted Fox, executive director of PMA:
“We believe the scrapbooking industry will be best served by the PMA organization. The goal of PMA is to add value to and to grow every business within the scrapbooking community, as it has with the photo community. Scrapbooking starts with the photo, moves to the story and ends up as a creative expression of events, times and/or places that are important to the lives of scrapbooking and photo consumers.”
CK Media CEO Dave O'Neil also put a positive spin on the arrangement in the announcement. "Partnering MemoryTrends with PMA is a very exciting initiative that will allow scrapbooking/paper crafting manufacturers and retailers the opportunity to take memory preservation to the next level. Memory-making is the cornerstone of our business at CKMedia, and this relationship with PMA strengthens our existing marketing channels and opens up exciting new areas to better serve our industry partners. We have exciting plans for the 2007 MemoryTrends show in September leading up to a combined PMA/MemoryTrends Winter Show and regional and international show schedule in 2008.”
To read my thoughts on what the combining of these two events means to the scrapbook industry, please read my recent contribution to the "Vinny Da Vendor" column at CLN Online.
