PPAI

iPROMOTEu hosted its biennial Affiliate Forum from June 24 to-26 in Boston. Nearly 150 of iPROMOTEu's top affiliates attended the forum and were treated to an array of educational and professional development programs as well as an exclusive trade show.

My last two rants have covered the irritating hijacking of productive online networking discussions. In this Rant, I'm going to offer some basic DON'T suggestions for posting on LinkedIn and in other social media forums.

PPAI has announced that Marsha Flanagan has joined the association as director of content strategy and development, effective immediately. In this role, Flanagan is responsible for steering strategy and the development and delivery of all current and future PPAI professional development and editorial offerings.

Jetline announced that it has adopted the Promotional Products Association International's (PPAI) Code of Conduct, further emphasizing its industry commitment to safety, quality and product integrity.

PPAI has promoted Carol Gauger to director of member engagement and regional relations. Her focus will be on developing the organizational structures and processes to ensure meaningful, productive and rewarding experiences for the association's volunteers; engaging and recognizing member loyalty; and enhancing the overall membership experience.

In this rant, I'm going to address an old topic that has been covered in depth before, but now appears with the twist of greater visibility via social media—suppliers/manufacturers selling direct and distributors buying direct.

Today, the PPAI and SAAGNY announced, from the floor of PROMOTIONS EAST, a strategic alliance to produce Expo East, a promotional products trade show designed to serve the eastern United States. Under this strategic alliance, PPAI will bring its vision, growth management and production expertise to the robust eastern marketplace and PROMOTIONS EAST will cease operation at the close of this year's show.

The heads of PPAI, ASI and some of the largest suppliers and distributors in the promotional products industry took the stage in this first-of-its-kind keynote event on Monday at PROMOTIONS EAST.

PROMOTIONS EAST 2012 has kicked off with education, networking events and more. Stay tuned to Promo Marketing all week for show coverage.

Fashion—turn to the left. Fashion—turn to the right. We have a fashion-centric case study in this month's My Best Promotion. (Beep beep.)