Promo industry tech executives enjoyed a laid-back, but professionally lucrative networking event in St. Pete Beach, FL, earlier this month.

PromoStandards held its second annual Tech Summit at The Don CeSar resort in St. Pete Beach, FL, earlier this month.

The second-annual Tech Summit, held Feb. 5 to 7 at The Don CeSar, was hosted by PromoStandards – a nonprofit organization committed to improving supply chain and transactional efficiencies in the promo industry. With around 200 attendees from more than 75 companies, the summit boasted several keynote speakers, an array of breakout sessions and announcements about new PromoStandards features, including order management and decorator services.

“Our continued vision for PromoStandards is to collaborate and develop open standards that foster transparency and trust for all industry participants, which improves the customer experience, reduces transactional touches and accelerates go-to-market activities,” said Amy Rabideau, vice chair of PromoStandards and senior vice president of strategy and innovation at Facilisgroup. “Our annual Technology Summit allows that to happen in real time, along with celebrating our successes, creating networking opportunities and building lasting collaborations.”

Keynote speakers were Stephen Reynolds, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery, who discussed AI and cybersecurity legal trends; Andrew Larsen, director of data science at Jobcase Inc., who gave a presentation about generating value from data; and Jana Markowitz, founder and principal consultant of The Collective Mind, who talked about the key to putting together successful projects.

During the event, PromoStandards also gave out several awards. Beki Ellis, information technology analyst at Top 40 supplier SanMar (asi/84863), was named supplier person of the year. Mehmet Buber, chief technology officer at Web Services Pro Inc., was named service provider person of the year, and Erica Griffitt, senior software engineer at Top 40 distributor Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601), was named distributor person of the year.

Attendees said they left the event energized and motivated. “Overall, the summit exceeded expectations, leaving me inspired and equipped with new insights to fuel my professional journey,” said Ryan Hutchinson, chief technology officer at ASI. He added that the resort had a “laid-back vibe” and that “networking felt more like a beach party than a boardroom affair.”

Philip Gergen, PromoStandards treasurer and chief information officer at Top 40 supplier Koozie Group (asi/40480), said the sessions at the summit shared data and insights vital to any industry technologist.

“A successful year two with a larger attendance than year one shows that this event has staying power and will become a staple event on the industry calendar,” Gergen added.