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The OurPPA forum committee has been working to improve the user experience on the forums at ppa.com. The forum conversation topics will soon be grouped into one of four sections:  Welcome, Member, PPA and Community. The total number of forum topics will be reduced as well. For example, forums with similar topics or with low activity will be combined. Work on these changes should be completed in the next few days, so you will soon be enjoying the "leaner, meaner" version of OurPPA Forums.

In the meantime, here is the layout of the new, simplified forum structure:

This year's Affiliate Leaders meeting will be held June 7 - 8, 2010 in Atlanta, GA at PPA Headquarters.

What's an PPA Affiliate Leaders Meeting?

This is an opportunity for those who manage affiliate organizations to meet and share best practices, discuss issues, and discover new ways to lead your association. PPA is committed to providing our affiliates and its leaders with knowledge and assistance to keep your affiliate strong and vibrant in today's industry. Any affiliate who is looking for ways to increase the value of membership, how to collaborate with vendors, and how to create a strong board/volunteer relationship should have a leader attend.

What will happen at the PPA Affiliate Leaders Meeting?

This is your meeting! While PPA staff will be on hand to answer questions and give some training, some of the best moments from last year's meeting came from the peer-to-peer interactions. Who better to get answers to your questions from than those who may have already experienced what you're going through? The agenda will be sent to all attendees as we get closer to the meeting date.

Loretta Byrd, Executive Director of Professional Photographers of North Carolina, is your Chairperson for this important meeting, but PPA staff handles the logistics. We'd like to find out if you'll be attending, so we ask that you RSVP by filling out this quick form:

http://www.formstack.com/forms/?944641-37BWBQxQlp

(We ask that you do this as soon as possible, as we need to make conference room arrangements and reservations!)

Dear PPA Member,

I'm in the middle of traveling with Jeff and Allison Rodgers on the PPA Tour 2010. It's great to see PPA members at these events who are eager to learn about becoming more successful in their own businesses by learning from their peers. You know how I feel about learning, right? Grab the good opportunities anywhere you can!

PPA Affiliate Schools are also good opportunities for photographers to hone their skills (and you get merits for attending, too!), so this week's Vital Signs focuses on what PPA Affiliate Schools are and what they can offer you.

This week's PPA Tour took us to Chicago and Minneapolis, where we had a blast with hundreds of photographers. We're headed to Irvine and Dallas soon (April 12th and 14th), and we'd love to have you join us. Be ready for laughs and learning--Tony Corbell, Cr.Photog., API, is joining Jeff and Allison for these cities, so register today!

Cheers!
Christel Aprigliano
Director of Member Value & Experience

These CPP Award Winners were recognized for the highest scoring Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) print, album, or electronic submission in their state print competition.

John Hill, M.Photog., CPP
PP of Connecticut
Kelly Highby, CPP
PP of Nebraska
Catherine Carter, M.Photog., CPP
PP of North Carolina
Jennifer Hudson, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
PPA of Massachusetts
Ryan T. Brown, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
PPA of Missouri
Jeff Bowman, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
Virginia PPA
Wilbur Jeffcoat, CPP
South Carolina PPA
Steven Yahr, CPP
PPA of New Jersey
Paul Speaker, Cr.Photog., CPP
PP of California
David Deutsch, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
PP of Michigan
Bogdan Fundalinski, M.Photog.Cr.,CPP
PPS of New York
Gary Fail, M.Photog.Cr.,CPP
Kansas PPA.
Beth Forester, M.Photog.Cr., CPP
PP West Virginia
Ella Carlson, CPP
PP of New Hampshire

Has your affiliate awarded this CPP Award to one of your members? Let us know so we can share and celebrate this with all of our affiliates! Send the member's name, your affiliate name, when the award was given, and even a .jpg image of the award winner to affiliates@ppa.com.

Affiliate Managers Meeting
PPA Headquarters, Atlanta, GA
Sunday, June 7: 1pm - 5:30pm and Monday, June 8: 9am - 3pm

Improve your association management--Don't miss these discussions presented by PPA Staff! Learn to solve specific problems unique to your situation:

• motivating your board
• recruiting volunteers
• budgeting & financing
• negotiating with hotels
• sponsorship and more...

Please confirm your attendance. RSVP to: affiliates@ppa.com.

Hotel Accomodations

Hyatt Place Atlanta Downtown
330 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
404-577-1980
atlantadowntown.place.hyatt.com

• Room Rate: $135 per night
• For reservations, call 888-492-8847 (use corporate rate code PPHO)
• Reservation deadline: April 15

Where does Brides Magazine tell its readers to go when looking for a photographer? Why PPA of course! See #66 on their list.

Last October, nearly 350 Professional Photographers of America (PPA) members in 41 states and the District of Columbia joined PPA Charities' Family Portrait Month, an annual, national fundraising effort to benefit Operation Smile--raising the total donation to more than $150,000.

On January 10, during PPA's Imaging USA convention in Phoenix, Arizona, PPA Charities presented a check for $50,635.21 to Operation Smile at Alice Cooperstown. The check was presented to Beth Marshall, Operation Smile Senior Executive Advisor for Latin America and Caribbean, and Carmit Bachar, Operation Smile Celebrity Smile Ambassador. Bachar, an American singer and dancer, is best known as a member of the pop group, The Pussycat Dolls. In addition to serving as a Smile Ambassador, Bachar--born with a cleft lip and cleft palate--participated on an Operation Smile medical mission to Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Join Texas School of Professional Photography and Professional Photographers of America, July 19-27, 2009, for a photo tour of Ireland. Travel by luxury motorcoach with the camaraderie of other professional photographers. This tour has been especially designed for the most scenic and picturesque places. Includes limited edition travel shirt, evening photography seminars, special program with Ireland photographers, and over $1000 dollars in door prizes.

Don't miss out on this once in a lifetime experience. Register online at https://www.tppa.org/forms/register_ireland.php.

LAND FARES
(Based on fare-paying passengers per coach)

• Per Person............................................... $1585.00
• Single Room Supplement......................... $347.00
• A deposit of $250 per person is required. The balance is due Friday, May 8, 2009.
• When the trip is sold out, you will be put on a wait list and not charged your deposit until you are confirmed on the trip.

TRAVEL PROTECTION PLAN
Premium per person.................................. $149.00
CIE Tours International offers this travel policy with Trip Mate (see attached information sheet).
Protection Plan can only be purchased at the time of deposit.

Land Fare Inlcudes

• Transport by luxury motorcoach with a driver/guide (one man) for 8 days
• Hotel accommodations based on twin bedded rooms with private bath as listed opposite for 7 nights.
• Full breakfasts (7).
• Table d'hôte dinners (6).
• Welcome drink in your Dublin hotel.
• Dinner and evening entertainment at the Abbey Tavern.
• Guided tour of Dublin.
• Passage on the Tarbert Ferry.
• Boat trip and bus tour to the Aran Islands.
• Catamaran cruise on Killary Harbour.
• Visits and admission fees to:
  • St. Patrick's Cathedral
  • Trinity College (Book of Kells)
  • Blarney Castle & Woollen Mills
  • Skellig Experience
  • Cliffs of Moher
  • Dun Aengus
  • Clonmacnoise
• Hotel porterage, service charges and government taxes.
• Flight bags, ticket wallets, baggage tags and identifying strap.

Are you a Facebook user? If so, come on over and join the PPA and Imaging USA Facebook groups. We would love to see you there.

If you were at Imaging USA in Phoenix and have some great pictures you want to share, upload them to the Imaging USA group. And who knows, you might see yourself in someone else's photos!

• Professional Photographers of America (PPA)
• Imaging USA

Colorado photographer Sandy Puc' (Expressions by Sandy Puc') has designed a marketing campaign to promote studios nationwide, raise funds for charity, inspire photographers, and help photography studios bring in money during the lean months of the first quarter. Participating studios receive a complete marketing campaign with marketing tips.

The National Charity Model Search will select "America's Cutest Kid." Participating photographers will submit portraits of children, ages 18 months to 14 years, to determine the city winner. City winners are determined by online votes. Each vote is $1, and proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org). Photography and model industry experts will determine the contest's national winner.

The national model winner receives a $5,000 US Savings Bond and a Canon PowerShot G10 digital camera. The photographer who submits the winning portraits earns national recognition and up to $10,000 in prizes including a Canon EOS 5D Mark II kit with EF24-105 f4.0 L IS.

For more information, visit www.sandypucmodels.com.