WPPI convention Report

About 10,000 attendees and roughly 300 vendors took over Bally’s and Paris Las Vegas for the 28th annual WPPI convention. The 4EVER Group, represented by many members, also hosted a morning seminar on the final day.

Artistic Achievement Award winners, VIDEO 08 presenters, and other staff members were among The 4EVER Group’s attendees. That group included Ron Dawson, who is again producing the official WPPI highlights video, Joshua Smith, Chris Jones, Sara Frances, Julian St. Pierre, and Alex and Julie Hill.

LaDonna Moore was scheduled to deliver The 4EVER Group presentation at WPPI. Unfortunately, conditions in the Dallas area caused the cancellation of more than 700 flights on the day LaDonna was to travel. Director of Development Steve Wernick was able to fill the two-hour slot with an improvised program.

“We started with the Video Critique, which is always a fascinating program,” Wernick said. “I fielded a lot of really thoughtful questions, so we didn’t even get through half of the videos that are a normal part of that program”. The second half of the program was an exploration of the synergy between video producers and others in the wedding industry, with an obvious emphasis on photographers. That part of the session was centered on creating profitable alliances within the industry.

“Elysium Productions (Alex & Julie Hill) and Cinematic Studios (Ron Dawson) have produced some outstanding videos for photographers,” Wernick explained. “They allowed us to use some of their productions in the presentation, and those examples really illustrated the profitable cross-marketing opportunities”.

The WPPI convention draws photographers, and some video producers, from all over the world. Many of their award winners came from Australia and New Zealand. Including their pre-convention programs, the event ran for a total of nine days, and the trade show covered three of those days.

The 4EVER Group is the leading resource for video producers, especially those in the social event industry. For more information about the events and activities of The 4EVER Group, please visit www.4EVERGroup.org, or call 1-888-4EVER G1