With Robbo kicking off the show it was bound to be an emotional start to the PMA 2011 Conference.

With his upcoming retirement looming this was to be Robbo's last official duty as PMA Australia National Chairperson. As usual Robbo was to the point about where he saw the future of our industry. With another series of challenges changing the face of retailing he was happy to be handing the reigns over to 'the young folk' as he has had his fair share of change and reckons it is time for others to take the baton and run with it.
(Robbo has since  Kindly agreed to stay on until elections in Jan 2012).

Ita Buttrose was the first key note speaker and she certainly set people to thinking. With the similarity between the publishing industry (facing a massive challenge from eMags) to our industry's fight to keep people printing there was a lot of crossover thoughts and ideas. Phrases such as 'Tough times don't last, tough people do" I am sure will become the catch cry of many over the coming years.

Ita Buttrose regaling the crowd on the opening day.

A couple of other key take aways were that we should be looking everywhere for ideas that work in other people's businesses and industries. 'There is no copyright on ideas!'. Take those things that work and implement them into your own businesses.

68% of customers change businesses for little or no reason so it is up to us to offer 'positively outrageous service' to our customers. If we do then the chance of them leaving for little or no reason is diminished but in this area most of all the boss must set the pace.

A key marketing focus should also be that 70% of all women find out about new products and services from other women so think about running an event targeting women specifically and if your message is good they will become fantastic advocates for your business.

Savanth Sabastian from Commsec 

 Savanth Sabastian from Commsec gave us all lots to think about with regards to the economic future of Australia. With Australia set to reap huge benefits from China's burgeoning automotive industry (1.2Bn people yet so far only 35m have cars) and the huge growth of the Queensland coal industry our long term future looks secure. 

He also predicted that the Australian dollar will stay high (as high as $1.14) until the third quarter of next year so that will continue to present challenges to our industry in the short term.

One amazing statistic from the USA though was that 70% of job growth at the moment is happening in small business. This certainly shows that people are looking for a different shopping experience than they were before the GFC hit. Small business, personal service and variety is something that has value to it.

Now is the time for our industry to take initiative and find ways to connect with our customers like never before.

Events, Workshops, Classes, product launches anything to start getting involved in our customers lives.

Our customers and the US  customers share many common traits, let's try and get this small business growth happening here in Australia as well.

The day finished off with Paul Dawson winning the coveted Distinguished Service Award.

A very worthy winner Paul, from Hydro Photographics has spent many years building his own business, helping fellow school photographers build theirs through the PSPA (including his current role as Australian Chairman for PSPA) and spending many hours working with charities, sharing information on work reforms.

Congratulations Dawso - Very well deserved!

PMA President Brian Wood, Paul Dawson and DIMA President Phil Gresham