2020 SPAC Book final proof

W E L C OM E T O S P A C 2 0 2 0

I first attended SPAC 17 years ago withmy Dad in the small ballroom at the Flamingo on the strip. I had just entered the industry full-time after graduating fromUniversity. We arrived on a Friday morning and joined one of two round tables being 2 of about 30 people that had shown up for the ‘pre-con’. After lunch, SPAC launched in the early afternoon. The first speaker had a 1.5 hour time slot, with the first half to present and the latter half open for questions. There was only one room so you had one choice for what speaker you wanted to go to. We had a huge networking break with an attendance close to 80 people. At the time, the majority were from the state of California. During the networking break, about 4 vendors showed up with a suitcase each and paid for their vendor table. It was just a table with a few brochures and a retractable display (some of these vendors are still a part of the show today!) Networking continued and we had time to visit with all four vendors, then separate groups went off to dinners where my learning continued. That was the first day of SPAC for me--I was pretty new to the industry and still unsure if I was going to stay and join the family business. At dinner, a few people askedme the usual (well, now I know they are the usual) questions: How many heads do you photograph? Howmany schools do you have? What cameras do you use? After every question, I had to turn tomy dad and ask him for the answers. That night I learnedmore about the industry and the history of school photography frommany of the SPAC loyal. The next day there was one speaker in the morning and one in the afternoon. Vendors packed up and then it was time for the SPAC group photo. Networking resumed and people hung around until dinner or until they had to depart. That was it! Over the following years, I continued to attend SPAC and it grew slowly--moving venues a few times, adding vendors, and havingmore attendees volunteer their time to present and share their wisdom. Eventually I was“voluntold” to join the SPAC board where I started as the secretary, taking over fromGary. We have a whole team that has volunteered lots of hours throughout the year. A sincere thank you toWayne, Calvin, Marty and Beth--we are a great team and we always seem to have many laughs along the way. Last but not least, thank you to Coree for keeping us all on-task; she gives us 2 weeks off right after SPAC and then resumes with a conference debrief, review of feedback and surveys, and is off to planning for the next year! Word spread through the industry and around the world that this was the place to be if you were in school photography. SPAC expanded from two session tracks to four, and have fully included sports, pre-schools and dance photography. We have had somany volunteers dedicate their time to present, teach and facilitate 100’s of sessions so far. We can’t thank them enough. We have grown our list of supporting vendors from 16 to just over 100. Many of our vendors are long term attendees and do not hesitate to sign up year after year--thank you!

We have all come a long way fromour first SPAC. If this is your first SPAC, Welcome! We have learned fromothers, met new friends, and have advanced together as an industry. I look forward to seeing everyone at this year’s conference as we all FOCUS on 2020.

Sincerely, Michael Rak

Michael Rak The Artona Group

SPAC President January, 2020

S P A C B O A R D M E M B E R S

Wayne T. Barksdale Barksdale School Portraits

Calvin Harrell, Jr. My Legacy Matters

Marty Brown Excel Photographers

Beth Jones Best Eye Photography

Coree Cooper The "SPAC Gal"

W W W . S P A C - U S A . O R G