PACA announces new board and opens registration

PACA, the organisation for (stock) photography businesses has announced its new board and is preparing for its 15th conference.

PRESS RELEASE

Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) new President Robert Henson is looking forward to joining hundreds of professional photography industry leaders in taking a bite out of the Big Apple. PACA’s 15^th International Conference returns to the historic Downtown Marriott in New York City from October 15-17^th, 2010.

Henson, who is also the Director of Channel Relations and Sales for Blend Images, takes over the presidential roles from Maria Kessler who remains a Board officer as Immediate Past President. Henson has a strong industry background and was Co-Chair of the Technology Committee for the last two years. This will be Henson’s first experience on the Executive Board as it will be for almost half of the new board.

“We had our initial board meeting recently and I had remarked that in the 13 years I’ve been in this industry it has been nothing but change.“ Henson recently stated in an interview with John Lund.  “Faster creation, distribution and consumption of visual content across all devices; advances in the sophistication of content, including DRM; challenges to copyright, especially fair use and piracy. Our interests are quite diverse, but the market opportunity is immense for our members.”

PACA’s new Executive Board also includes:

• Vice President:  Nancy Carrizales (Animals Animals/Earth Scenes)
• Treasurer:  Dave Herbig (Danita Delimont Stock Photography)
• Secretary:  Alan Bailey (Rubbertball)
• Members-At-Large:  Jason Brown (Corbis) and Megan Murphy (Getty Images),
• Cathy Aron, PACA Executive Director, and
• Nancy Wolff, PACA Counsel, continue on the Board as non-voting members.

International Conference Highlights

In challenging market conditions it’s essential for organizations and business alike to set goals, which makes weekends like these critical to ensure long-term success. PACA’s 15^th Annual International Conference is designed to revolutionize the way its members do business. The weekend event offers cutting-edge informative sessions, international networking opportunities and solutions to the issues that affect stock photography industry. Some of the highlights include:

• PacaSearch Update – Recently introduced, PACA’s own mega meta-search with over 70 member agencies participating to date and more than 70 million images available for worldwide clients to find at blinding speed.from just one unique site.
• Expert Panels – Inspirational speakers and industry gurus with information that people will be tweeting about for weeks.
• Trends – How will the market change and which technological advances will most significantly impact the image industry in the coming years? What should businesses be shooting or acquiring now to meet those needs?
• Safeguarding Your Assets – Update copyright protection arsenal with vital legal decisions and recent news straight out of the Copyright Office covering everything from registering images, to effective ways to trace and chase infringers.
• Marketing – It used to be about how to find our clients, but now it’s all about how prospects find us. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social networking are here to stay.
• Networking – There is no better place to meet industry leaders and potential partners to discuss new business opportunities for collaboration in an informal setting.

Reasons to attend:

Here are what some attendees had to say about last year’s PACA International Conference.

“It’s the perfect meeting place to make contacts with colleagues from agencies around the globe and find new content and opportunities for representation.” — Carlos Angel, Other Images, Panama

“Allows us to get a year’s work done in a week. It’s like speed dating for business!” — Lanny Ziering, Superstock, Florida

“Attending last year’s PACA International Conference sessions created the opportunity for us, as a footage agency, to reach out to a global market and to grow as a company. Thank you PACA!” — JP Welgus, Apex Stock, California

Helping its members to maximize travel budgets, PACA timed its annual meeting to coordinate with Visual Connections’ Photo Expo (formerly Picturehouse USA) on October 13^th where members can meet new and current customers.

Updates on the 15^th Annual International Conference will be available in the coming weeks at the PACA website.

Register now and take advantage of the special early-bird discount rates.