We're headed to New Orleans for the latest in education, good times with the best of friends and the hottest industry event January 15-17, 2012!

Can you believe it's almost time for registration to open? Can you tell we're excited about this year's venue and convention? There are still booths and sponsorship opportunities available, so don't miss out. The full website with schedules, speakers, tracks and more will be live soon, and the first advertising sections in Professional Photographer magazine are slated for July 1. So, if you're thinking about going big at Imaging USA, now is the time to jump in and get the party started. For more information on sponsorships, promotional opportunities and booth space, contact Bill Kelly at 404-522-8600 x248.

PPA is the only professional photographic organization with a full-time government affairs staff and all the complexities surrounding the 1099 requirements in the new healthcare law have kept them busy for the last few weeks.  Have you been able to keep abreast of the issues?  If you need a quick summary of how the 1099 requirement stood to negatively impact photographers and how PPA represented their interests during debates on the repeal, you can get completely up to speed through our articles on the issues. 

This is another way PPA leverages your support to assist professional photographers and the industry as a whole.  We thank you for standing with us on the issues that matter most to our members.

Professional photographers rely rather heavily on their good reputations as business owners and artists. So, what do they do when something goes wrong on assignment and their reputations are about to get smeared? If they are Professional Photographers of America (PPA) members, they turn to the Indemnification Trust.

The Indemnification Trust (or simply, the Trust) is a unique program offered exclusively to PPA members. It is not insurance, but rather a unique trust fund that was established to help protect photographers from allegations of negligence while on an assignment. You might even say it's like Kevlar for their reputation! However, the PPA Indemnification Trust is not business liability insurance, and situations that are not considered negligence are not covered. Some examples of what situations the Trust does help resolve are as follows:

• Digital image data loss (corrupt media card or hard drive failure) relating to a paid contracted assignment
• Failure of the photographer to be at the event or assignment at the specified time
• Missed or missing images
• Client dissatisfaction with services rendered during an assignment or as contracted

Photographers need strong roots in both art and business fundamentals to flourish, and we're providing a day-long event in eight cities during the fall to help them do just that. At the PPA Tour 2011, photographers will learn about cultivating new marketing, posing and lighting, workflow, post-production editing and sales skills. The PPA Tour begins August 15 in Atlanta, with stops planned in Houston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Orlando, Kansas City, San Francisco and Raleigh. Registration opens May 1 at www.ppa.com/ppatour.

PPA business partners who have already joined the PPA Tour include Adobe, Allied Photo, Barbour Backdrops, Bay Photo, Collages.net, Kodak, Midwest Photo, Miller's Professional Imaging, onOne Software, ProDPI, White House Custom Colour and Zenfolio. Business partners will be promoted through a variety of media and will also have the opportunity to get one-on-one with attendees at events. A handful of sponsorship opportunities are still available. If you'd like more information, contact Bill Kelly.

As a Corporate Member, you have the ability to market your business directly to PPA members--just rent the PPA mailing list! With 22,000 member mailing addresses that can be segmented by city, state, or even the type of photographer, you will have a handy pool of qualified prospects. Interested in sending your marketing message to this list? The Corporate Member discounts make it even more appealing:

Platinum Corporate Member Unlimited use of the list List rental at 30% discount with 7,000 free names Gold Corporate Member Limited use of 20,000 names per year List rental at 20% discount with 5,000 free names

Silver Corporate Member Limited use of 15,000 names per year List rental at 10% discount Bronze Corporate Member Limited use of 10,000 names per year

If you're ready to rent the list, please contact Cheryl Pearson at cpearson@ppa.com or 404.522.8600, ext. 230 for our list broker's contact information.