Andy Atkinson - Harvey's foto source Fredericton, NB, Canada - www.harveystudios.ca

I have been very remiss in sending in my dues the last year or so. I apologize.

A few years ago many public speakers at business seminars would push the idea that all businesses needed a Mission Statement, to define the overall goal of the corporation.

We struggled at our firm at various times to come up with something profound and had different versions including words about quality and memories and pictures and value, etc, etc. I think the final one we had was about 35 words in total and could never be recited by memory by anyone in our firm.

Today I was at a meeting at an engineering firm's board room. This firm, although headquartered in our small city, does work all around the globe and is very well respected in every continent. Their Mission Statement was prominently displayed in their offices:

"Success through satisfied customers".

Ward Lundgren - The Camera Company - Madison, WI USA - www.cameracompany.com

Hi Chris,

$29.00 seems like a fair price but free is better and sharing is whats it's all about. Sorry for not sending ideas sooner but procrastination is my specialty.

After reading about Dan's Free Tips & Gear Seminar I decided to have a full day of free seminars that lasted 45-60 minutes. Our class room will hold 25 people and every seminar was "sold" out. It was great to see the store full of people with a passion for photography. While people were waiting for the next class to start they were shopping and buying accessories. We also had a storewide sale with discounts on gadget bags, tripods, filters and flashes. The seminars were not sales pitches but accessories were mentioned and sales were made. When I do this again I am going to leave a little extra time between sessions so that we aren't so rushed during the transition. Many of our customers personally thanked me for the event. Here is a link to our list of seminars.

Bill Bricker - Rand's Camera - Toms River, NJ USA - www.randscamera.com

Hi Bill,

Just wanted to pass on another idea on photo class. Selling or giving classes at the store does help to educate those customers that already know about your store. I have started to contact the adult educational programs at local school districts to teach a digital photo class.

I find that most of the people taking the classes have bought their cameras on line and had either never heard of our store or never thought of coming to our store, thinking it was too expensive. As I teach the class I teach them that we are there to help, and we are no more expensive.

We always get at least 2 or 3 new regular customers from every class, and we sell accessories right at the classes if the students request it.

Bill Bricker says his classes help sell more product, and In MMIE #302 Britt Baker said "seems like everyone is doing classes" but we know there are still some stores out there who are not. Maybe they are just too busy and making too many profitable sales to take the time, there are also some who are a little intimidated and don't know what they would talk about.

More than a thousand camera stores, photo finishers, schools and universities have licensed the original Power Point presentations I created back back in 2003 and have been updating ever since.

As Bill McCurry has often said, "why reinvent the wheel?" I've already done most of the work for you.

Allen Showalter (immediate Past President of PMA) says :

"Chris,

"Thank you for creating this tool and making it available to us at such an affordable price. Buying this (digital 201 lesson plans) is the easiest $97 I'll spend this year.

" I would estimate I have taught over 1200 students from my original Camera Class presentation I bought from Chris. That is only counting paid enrollment, not Rotary Clubs etc.

"Although the material is complete and can be taught right of the box, keep in mind these are Power Point presentations. That makes them infinitely editable as technology changes. We have added photobooks, shoebox scans, photos of our new kiosks and screengrabs of our website to our original presentation.

"I would also suggest that you consider replacing some of the photos with those from your local community. This will add interest for your students and ties you back to the community as the local photo expert."

Alan estimates he's taught over 1,200 students. Let's be conservative and figure each one paid only $25 tuition. That would be $30,000 return on his $97 investment - not to mention the additional sales from his students. And students will actually come up to you and thank you for sharing your knowledge with them after each class!

OK, that's a long winded introduction to the fact that I now have lesson plans available for Digital SLR cameras, the fastest-growing segment of the digicam industry. And one nice thing about DSLR owners - they buy extra (profitable) goodies.

Three upcoming trade shows - PRO, IPI and PMA Australia - look like they're going to have extremely strong attendance figures. (Disclaimer - official sources will not release preregistration numbers so we are listening to "informed sources who request anononimity due to the sensitivity of the data" ).

One aspect these three events share is a strong emphasis on the educational components.

Our cracker barrel analysis?

Smart operators want to stay, not just current with the industry, but ahead of it. And with the amount of technical, sociological and economic change right now, it's challenging.

Every attendee of these events is giving up time and money to come to these - and they think they're getting their money's worth.

Attendance is less at events that promise - and deliver - less.

Each year the Australian branch of PMA gets bigger and better, and this year they've got a great show planned.

Register soon at http://www.pmaaustralia.com.au/a/61.html

Bill McCurry has done the ground work and will be heading up at least four sessions.

• Session K1 - Australian Imaging Industry Trends and Statistics
• Session 100 - Marketing Idea Exchange.
• Session 200 - Digital Output Opportunities
• Session 303 - Retailer Hot Picks
• The Secret Session . . . if you're a New Zealand PMA member you should have gotten a private invitation, if not, contact PMA NZ.

More information on Bill's pre-PMA report - http://www.photoimagingnews.com.au/index.cfm?objectid=4F58E784-2400-11DE-967E0050568C22C9

June 25-28, 2009 - PMA Australia 2009 Imaging Technology Show Sydney, Australia

July 7-9, 2009 IPI Meeting and Trade Show. Las Vegas, NV, USA.

July 15-19, 2009 PRO Convention, (Members and affiliates only) Rancho Mirage CA, USA

September 10-11 PMA Canada Exposition 2009, Toronto, Ontario Info

October 22-24, 2009 PDN PhotoPlus Expo Jacob Javits Center, NYC, NY, USA - info

November 10-12, 2009 - 6Sight Future of Imaging Conference being held in the Monterey Conference Center, Monterey, CA, USA. www.6sight.com