Dear ARA Member:

One of the jobs of a trade association like Awards and Recognition Association is to provide information and context for important issues in the industry. Perhaps no other issue has dominated discussions, chat rooms, and speculation among our members this year than the state of the U.S. economy on the awards industry.

In June, ARA distributed via e-mail an Internet-based survey to all U.S. retailer ARA members, who shared both their thoughts about how the economic climate is affecting their businesses, and what they are doing to respond to the shift in economic climate. In July, ARA distributed a similar survey to all its U.S. supplier members.

Both surveys provide a gold mine of information and context that every ARA member should review and consider. Click here to download the retailer survey results, and here for supplier survey results.

Sincerely,

Cathy Garcia
President
Awards and Recognition Association

The ARA Savings Program offers Affordable Web sites

The Jestus Company specializes in economical Web site development and ECommerce solutions. ARA members can call Tom Jestus at 651/226-8646 and mention their ARA affiliation for special pricing. Visit the Jestus Web site. ARA, through its ARA Member Savings Program, intends to continually provide members with cost-effective business solutions. For more member savings benefits, visit ARASavings.com or call Mark Schiavone at 941/330-8050.

Regional Education Event at Western Trophy & Sign Supply
Saturday, August 23, Portland, OR

• “Introduction to Sublimation: the Big Picture in Nine Essential Steps” Instructors: Jim and Matt Woodhouse
• “Sublimation: Case Studies in Profit Growth – Increase Revenues by 20% this Year” Instructors: Jim and Matt Woodhouse
• “What’s New in the Latest Version of CorelDRAW & Corel PHOTO-PAINT” Instructor: John McDaniel

Click here for details about these seminars and to register. 

Regional Education Event at GML Enterprises
Saturday, September 13, Atlanta

•  “Success Tactics for the Laser Engraving Entrepreneur” Instructor: Tom “Buzz” Bernard, LaserBuzz
• “Advanced Sandblasting Crystal, Glass, & Stone for the Awards Industry” Instructors: Abdul Amlani, N & R International, and Andy Kite, Corporate Expressions
• “Solutions Clinic for Sublimation” Instructor: Mike Onushco, ACP Technologies
• “Working Smarter with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4” Instructor: Marc Bech, Corel Corporation

Click here for details about these seminars and to register.

Regional Education Event at Continental Trophies
Saturday, October 4, Newark, DE

• “Marketing VS. Sales” Instructor: Ed Hunt, Continental Awards & Trophies
• “Make Your Company Work For You (Not the Other Way Around!)” Instructor: Michael Anzalone, Precision Signs.com
• “Working Smarter with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite® X4” Instructor: Evelyn Watts, Corel Corporation

Click here for details about these seminars and to register.

Regional Education Event at Identification Plates
Saturday, October 11, Mesquite, TX

• “Laser Engraving Advanced” Instructor: Roy Brewer, CRM, Engraving Concepts
• “Creative Marketing for the Awards Industry” Instructor: Tricia Shaw, CRM, B & B Awards and Recognition
• “Your Awards Shop and a Presence on the Web” Instructor: Robert Hensley, Engravers Network

Click here for details about these seminars and to register.

Regional Education Event at LaserBits
Friday, October 24, Phoenix

• “Basic Laser Engraving Techniques” Instructor: Mike Fruciano, LaserBits
• “CorelDRAW & PHOTO-PAINT for Lasers” Instructor: Kathryn Arnold, LaserBits

Click here for details about these seminars and to register.

Recognition Review Survey
Thank you to those ARA members who responded to our recent Recognition Review survey. We received a flood of encouraging feedback, including the following comments:

• "GREAT PRODUCT"
• "I have been in business for nine years; Recognition Review has been my educational magazine since I have started. Thank You."
• "It's good to receive the Digital version. Excellent idea."
• "Recognition Review is my perferred Business related magazine to read. The articles are very informative and the advertisements are well arranged through out the magazine."
• "Keep up the good work, I enjoy each month's issue and can't waith for the next one."
• "Many years ago, 42 to be exact for our company,we did not have trade magazines. This generation of engravers has the opportunity to learn from the pioneers of the industry. Recognition Review is a valuable tool we should all appreciate."

Congratulations to Jeanette Cerce from Image Award Ribbons, who was the winner of the iPod Shuffle. Jeanette was chosen at random from those who responded to the survey.

ARA Sportsmanship Award
For the third year in a row, the vast majority of Americans believe that sportsmanship is worse now than when they were growing up, according to a national survey fielded by ARA. More than 85 percent of Americans from ages 20 to 80+ think sportsmanship
is worse now than when they were growing up. For the full report, click here.

The September 2008 issue features the results of an ARA supplier member survey regarding current economic conditions in the U.S. The issue also features an article on the hot trend of personalizing tech gadgets such as mobile phones, mp3 players, digital cameras, and laptop covers. ARA distributes its official magazine electronically in addition to its standard printed-and-mailed issues. If you didn’t get a copy via e-mail, please let us know by sending a message with your store name and address to info@ara.org.

Ask the Experts Extra
If you’re an ARA member, log in to the “Members Only” section using your member number, and select ARA “Ask an Expert.” Find the topic and expert you’re looking for and submit your question(s). More often than not, an ARA expert will have the solution you need.

? Can you recommend any books that show examples of font styles, or books of fonts that come with CDs that I can then load onto my engraving program?

Robert “Dr. Type” Trogman responds: The subject of font identification is a hard one when it comes to recommending software that displays showing of fonts. I used to use the Adobe Type Manager by Adobe; it would allow users to print samples. There are also books that show type styles but they don't cross reference the junk that is on the CDs. In order to copy a font for sale they change the name, thereby making it difficult to find a showing in a type book. If you surf the Internet in the font section you can see showings of the bogus fonts. Right now there are about 20,000 fonts floating around with fake identities. Some of the software people are guilty of changing names to avoid paying any royalties and I'm afraid you are caught up in it.