As previously reported, PMA Australia is preparing a twelve month educational program aimed at the estimated 750,000 "prosumers" in our market.
 
This has been done in response to requests from PMA members ,and has been ratified by the  PMA Australian Executive at our AGM  held in Melbourne this year.
 
Why do we see it as important?
 
- You well know,the prosumer is seeking more information on their equipment, its use, and accessories to improve their picture taking enjoyment.
- Forming an "educator" relationship with the consumer allows us to recommend our PMA members as being the best place to seek additional help.
- PMA as a nonaligned organisation brings real credibility to an educating role.
- We are not professing to be the experts, we are in an excellent position however to facilitate the best presenters available.
- Partnering with the likes of Teds,Camerahouse,Paxtons,Michaels,Digital Camera Warehouse and our local PMA members adds weight and marketing support.
 
We realise Canon,Nikon,AIPP and a number of progressive retailers also see the opportunity in Prosumer education. We do not see ourselves as competing with any of these organisations,in fact we will happily promote their events in our weekly Newsline and see our program as supplementing their efforts.
 
Please call me, if you would like any further details on current plans, or to discuss ways we can expand the effectiveness of what we are doing.     

Cheers

Kind regards,

Peter Rose

www.pmai.org 

www.pmaaustralia.com.au

This week we received the following email from Chris Lydle in the USA asking for assistance from the industry to help rewrite the PMA CPC Program.

We all know how valuable a resource this has been to our industry over many years and now you can have a hand in making sure it stays a relevant far into the future.

This is not a McCurry Marketing Idea Exchange or an official communication from PMA, it's just a request for your guidance.

With all your photo experience, you can probably write better questions than the outdated ones in the current CPC tests.

The Certified Photographic Consultant program is still ticking along, but some of the questions are obsolete. I mean, who cares about APS film's technical specs these days? Not me. Not you.

PMA Executive Director Jim Esp has asked me to update the book and the test.

There's a library of 300 questions on that test (candidates get a test of 100 from that database.)

I don't want you to review those questions. I'm not asking you to think up 300 better questions.

But I'm betting you can write one question- just 1 - that's relevant to today's digital imaging world. Remember, the CPC is just about the only training program out there for professionals in our industry.

Here's a reminder of the format:

What is the name of a digital image that is made up of pixels arranged on a grid?

A. Bit map

B. Raster array

C. Raster graphics

D. Linear array

Answer:  A.   A "bit map" is a method of describing an array (or map of bits) within a rectangular grid of pixels or dots.

In other words, a question with one right answer and some wrong ones.

1 question. It'll take you 5 minutes. Just reply to this email and send it along.

I'll appreciate it and so will the industry we're all connected to.

To assist Chris send him an email to - chris@chriscamera.com