MEETINGTHE

The BPMA Membershipteam has hadabusycoupleofmonths visiting members andattending events. Sarah Irwinjoined the association in Februaryand herintroduction to thesector of promotional merchandise has been ongoing since then Product Media caughtupwithher latest moves.

HAVE YOU VISITED ANY BPMA MEMBERS YET?

We went to Pooletovisit supplier member, Laser Crystal. The primaryfocus of thevisit was to experience engravingofaparticular trophy, from theAnnual Awards Dinner whichwas the first BPMA event Iattended. It wasa fantastic opportunitytosee theprocess from start to finish, engravingAndrew Hill’sname on to his IndustryRecognition Awards, whichhelater collected from theBPMAoffices.

Iwas shown howquicklythe design team wasabletocreatewording that went on theaward.Iwas then shown theprocess of engravingthe name. It wasincredible to witness thespeed and precision of thedesign. We also had thechance to see some of Laser Crystal's most intricatedesigns. Afavouriteofmine would have to be thelifesize3DStarbucks drink.

WHERE ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN?

Whilst in Poole, we also took theopportunity to visit one of our newest members, The FunkyPeach. Their headquarters wasfull of lifeincluding apingpong tableinthe centre of theoffice. Sales director DanGriggs showed us theprinting and embroideryworkshop including some of thenewest machinerywhich allows thebusiness to print larger quantities of garments in ashorter time frame. The Funky Peachisexpanding its already thriving business model to become distributors of promotional merchandise and expand its client offering.

HAVE YOU BEEN ABLETOATTEND BPMA EVENTS?

The first event Iattended wasMerchandise WorldatCoventryinJanuaryand The BPMA Annual Awards. I’mgladtohavehad thechance to witness thesector coming together fornot only an exhibition but equally aprestigious awards event. Next Annual Awards, I’ll be involvedinthe lead up withthe rest of theteam.

The BPMA International Women’s Day lunchinMarch wasalsoa great success. An opportunitytomeetmanyIhad been emailing or on thephone to and to truly take part in such an important event. It wassucha successful and constructive event that we areadding thelunch to our annual events calendar,sokeep an eye on theBPMAEvents page.

Withmeetings and events scheduled up and down thecountryinthe weeksand months to come, Iamlooking forwardtogetting out on theroadmoretomeetour members. Letmyself or theteam knowifyou requireasitevisit to covermember benefits and we canschedule this in Contact Sarah on sarah.irwin@bpma.co.uk.