November 13, 2025 • 32 mins
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The Dead Pixels Society sits down with SPAC’s leadership, Coree Cooper and Calvin Harrell Jr., to unpack how a volunteer-driven nonprofit became the world’s largest gathering for school, sports, and volume studios—and why its focus on workflows, profitability, and community sets it apart.
Harrell describes how SPAC evolved from film-era hotel meetups into a global hub with attendees from Europe, South Africa, and beyond. We get specific about what matters to operators right now: RFPs, data and capture workflows, ecommerce platforms, on-demand print, AI-enhanced processes, and the sales moves that win and retain school and league accounts. The SPAC agenda is designed for impact—Schools 101, Sports 101, and Volume 202 for scaling teams; a dedicated trade show with 100+ volume-first vendors; and a Workflow Walkthrough that lets you compare cameras, lighting, backgrounds, extraction, and software in side-by-side pods before you buy.
Cooper also dives into SPAC’s culture of access: scholarships for first-timers, 15-minute coaching sessions that often turn into year-long mentorships, and the live-voted King/Queen of the Hill session where peers pitch ideas that save or make real money. Expect smart ways to raise average order value with banners, ornaments, and yearbooks, plus a look at a new digital yearbook solution set to debut. Beyond sessions, curated excursions—Valley of Fire portfolio shoots, Atomic Golf, and the neon museum—build real connections. New this year, the SPAC Zone on the trade show floor creates a quieter space for meetings, quick coaching, and networking.
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Hosted and produced by Gary Pageau
Edited by Olivia Pageau
Announcer: Erin Manning
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Manning (00:02):
Welcome to the Dead Pixels Society Podcast, the
photo imaging industry'sleading out source.
Here's your host, Gary Pageau.
The Dead Pixels Society podcastis brought to you by Mediaclip,
Advertek Printing, andIndependent Photo Imagers.
Gary Pageau (00:18):
Hello again, and welcome to the Dead Pixels
Society Podcast.
I'm your host, Gary Pageau.
And today we're joined byreturning guests, Coree Cooper
and Calvin Harrell.
They're coming to us regardingthe SPAC conference, which, if
you don't know what SPAC is,we're going to learn about that.
And if you don't know when theconference is and why it's
great, you're going to hearabout that too.
Coree is the SPAC gal who runsthe day-to-day operations of
(00:42):
that great event.
And of course, Calvin is thepresident of the organization.
And they're going to share withus first, Calvin, the uh
history and the what SPAC is,where it came from.
Calvin Harrell (00:54):
Wow, you don't want the full history now, do
you?
No, no, no.
Hey, good afternoon.
And thanks for having us, Gary.
We really appreciate yourcontinued engagement throughout
the industry, not only for ourorganization, but for all of the
organizations that you seem tobring information together and
and provide to us.
You know, SPAC comes from thesame, a similar mindset and
(01:16):
position.
Uh SPAC was started in the1950s.
So it's way back in the filmdays.
In fact, it was large formatfilm at that time, 70 millimeter
or or otherwise.
When I joined in the um 70s,no, 80, 82 or so, it was a group
of about uh 15 to 20 differentphotographers, uh, mainly
(01:38):
California.
And we had a couple of peoplefrom out of uh from Nevada, and
then uh in particular, one uhcame out of uh uh Kenny, came
out of um one of the labs uhback in the southeast.
And it was a great group ofpeople.
Uh we'd meet in a hotel room,uh, and we'd get a suite and
meet in a hotel room.
(01:59):
It was an excuse to get awayand to get together, and we
share information what schoolswere uh and districts were doing
what, and how was innovationtaking place and that sort of
thing.
SPAC has evolved over theyears, and I've been an officer
and in and in leadership forquite a long time, actually from
the the 80s, and we've evolvedsignificantly.
(02:21):
And about 12 or 14 years ago,we brought uh Coree on because
we we really anticipated aseries or a period of
significant growth that was putgrowth potential for our
organization.
It wasn't that we were reallydoing anything differently,
although we are because we're anonprofit, none of us uh getting
paid for the doing the workthat we do to bring forth this
(02:44):
conference, but we saw thatthere was a significant
transition in the way businesswas being done and in the way
organizations were actuallydissolving, meaning the trade
organizations were actuallydissolving uh uh dur during a
period of time.
Absolutely.
And so at that at that time, wesaid, hey, look, we're gonna be
(03:05):
growing.
And Gary and I and Marty gottogether and we said, Hey, we
need to bring somebody in.
And that's how Coree came tous.
Coree happened to be someonethat I knew who was the wife of
a vice principal, but I knewthat she had other engagements
with other organizations and inthe leadership of those
organizations are managing.
Uh, and so I said, I think Ihave someone.
(03:26):
And I made a phone call and wenegotiated a deal, and Coree
said, I'm in.
And that was how this wholething came about uh where we are
today.
Since that time, uh uh lastyear, we had our largest
conference.
It was our 70th anniversary,and we had well over a thousand
(03:47):
people there.
We even have a big portrait, uhgroup portrait that was taken
on Risers by one of our members.
Uh, we all went out and loadedup Risers, and it's a phenomenal
picture.
That picture is going to besuper big uh and uh on display
at the conference.
So SPAC is a is become thepreeminent conference for volume
(04:09):
photography programs uh in theworld, in fact.
We have people coming from allparts of the world, from South
Africa, from Europe and Englandand South America.
We have people that actuallycome from everywhere to this
conference.
We've had them ask us and we'vegranted them permission to use
the SPAC name uh and the SPACacronym because it seems to
(04:33):
carry some value and weightthroughout the uh throughout the
the general industry.
So at this point, we are thelargest conference and the most
economical uh conference.
And what I mean by that is thevalue for the dollar that's paid
out.
Uh we we charge we have EarlyBird, which is over now,
unfortunately, uh but we haveEarly Bird pricing on through
(04:56):
regular pricing.
The conference is held in thethe last weekend of January, I
think it is, Coree.
Is that correct?
Coree Cooper (05:03):
No, it's actually the week before the last week.
It's the week of St.
Martin Luther King.
So we actually officially starton the 21st.
Calvin Harrell (05:12):
And you put St.
Martin Luther King on there.
This week of Martin Luther Kingholiday.
Uh, and we check in on aTuesday and we come out uh on
the following Monday.
But the conference actuallyruns from Wednesday through
Saturday evening.
Uh, and Coree's gonna sharewith you some information about
uh the excursions and a host ofthings that we're doing.
(05:33):
We're looking at the biggesttrade show we've ever had.
The key thing that folks reallyhave to focus on is this trade
show is designed for volumephotography.
That means the providers ofvolume photography.
You're not gonna see weddingalbums and a lot of other stuff.
This is gonna be the real meatand potatoes of a segment of the
(05:55):
photographic industry that hasbeen the most stable and
repetitive of any element of ourindustry.
Gary Pageau (06:03):
Actually, I would make the argument it's probably
one of the most innovative andinteresting areas of the capture
side of the business, at thevery least, at least when you
compare it to you know, weddingsor portraits or other things in
terms of just some of thetechnology, some of the
e-commerce platforms, thesoftware that's being used.
(06:23):
It's really kind of whereeverything is kind of heading
right now, is in the volumespace, at least, I think,
especially when we talk aboutthings like you know, AI and and
just you know, uh e-commerce,uh print on demand, all of those
things are coming at to a headat SPAC.
So, Calvin, you know, this is along-established organization,
(06:45):
like you said, 70 years, but atyour conference, I think it's
you said about 20% of yourattendees are new almost every
year.
It's people entering thebusiness.
Calvin Harrell (06:54):
That is correct.
Coree Cooper (06:55):
I like to mention that we offer a scholarship
every single year.
Gary Pageau (07:00):
Yeah, there is a scholarship.
When is the deadline for that?
Coree Cooper (07:03):
We're gonna the deadline's already passed, and
we've already selected thisyear.
The board has selected 40people who are first-time
attendees to SPAC.
Gary Pageau (07:13):
Unfortunately, I wasn't eligible for that.
Coree Cooper (07:17):
Again, we had over 150 applications this year.
Yeah, uh, we have a committeego through them and decide who
are the lucky 40.
Um, and we do that as a way ofagain building our industry up.
Calvin Harrell (07:33):
Well, one of the things that we're conscious of
is, you know, uh, let's just sayback in the day for the sake of
language and words.
Uh, back in the day, uh aphotographer could build a
business and he builds it upinto a certain size, and he
could sell that business to amajor player oftentimes.
Yes.
Uh, that that transition istaking place now.
(07:54):
We have to create the peoplethat are involved in the
business to be able to sell ourbusiness too.
Right.
Because uh, you know, so if wedon't bring in new new blood,
new people that are looking togrow their businesses, those
that have long establishedbusinesses don't have as great a
value, obviously.
(08:15):
I'm saying this is one of thebenefits of bringing new people
in, is so that we're bringingpeople that are engaged in the
business that are looking togrow their business.
One, they can learn fromexperienced people, but another
piece is we're creating anactual audience that we can sell
businesses to as we movethrough and decide, hey, you
know what, it's time for me toretire, to slow down, uh, or
(08:38):
whatever the deal might be.
But it gives us an audience tosell to within this
organization.
Gary Pageau (08:43):
And just within the climate of that business,
right?
The volume for Tiger Industry,you know, you've got, quote, a
major unquote player who's gonethrough some challenges over the
last few years, and which hascreated a lot of opportunity for
businesses to take awaybusiness from them.
In fact, when I was at SPAClast year, a lot of the
conversation was with some ofthe uh SPAC attendees was I
(09:07):
can't grow any faster because II just have so many people and
so much uh ability within mybusiness.
So the business is out there,which creates the opportunity,
which creates, of course,interest in SPAC.
Coree Cooper (09:19):
I think also another point of view is that
the board feels like thesenewcomers to the industry.
It's hard to transition from awedding photographer to a school
volume photographer.
The business models aredifferent, the marketing is
different.
Even the actual shoot day whenyou're going to the school and
(09:41):
setting up and taking all ofthat is much different.
Lighting is different, you haveto be able to watch some head
size.
So we feel that is if we canprovide the best education to
help newcomers to the industryget trained trained on the
proper techniques, right, theproper words, what's an RFP, you
(10:03):
know, all these things thatthey're gonna hear in this new
industry, we are helping theindependents.
Gary Pageau (10:09):
Yeah.
Which I think helps everybody,right?
It raises the power foreverybody.
And it it I don't know if itgrows the whole pie per se,
because as I just had one of thevendors explain to me the other
day, you know, that they're notbuilding any more schools,
we're not having that many morekids.
It's kind of a market, so yougot to find ways to either
become more profitable viabecoming more efficient or sell
(10:31):
the ancillary products, which Ithink is the other piece of the
business, where you've gotpeople now selling banners and
mugs and and Christmasdecorations and holiday
ornaments and everything elsewith those pictures, which you
know, again, that's creating awhole new opportunity for volume
photographers to increase theirsales and profits.
(10:53):
And that's what they're gonnasee at the trade show, is on the
floor of the phone.
Coree Cooper (11:03):
Right because SPAC was pretty much school
photographers, but then we founda lot of volume guys who were
doing the sports business, the Tand I's and all of those, those
banners that you mentioned.
Yeah, and we thought, you know,this is kind of marries well
with our school photography,it's volume photography, and so
bringing in that sportscomponent also really added to
(11:24):
the community.
Calvin Harrell (11:26):
And there are those of us that have been
around a long time thatrecognize that a camera on the
shelf makes no money.
And so if you're only shooting,if you're only shooting during
the school season and then youput 10 cameras on the shelf and
they're dead until the spring,you know, uh what would that's
not a good investment, let'sjust say.
So you take the exact sameequipment effectively for doing
(11:49):
TNI and sports groupphotography.
Right.
Uh, why wouldn't you do that?
And and one of the things thatwe're recognizing also is when
we talk about percentage ofparticipation, average order
value, and that sort of thing,the sports segment is a very,
very good one.
Uh, in fact, it's oftentimesbetter than the actual school
services segment for a varietyof reasons because there's fewer
(12:11):
service items, there's fewerpoints of contact, etc.
It's not necessarily a stablebecause you get boards that
change and everything elsehappens uh much more frequently.
Yeah, much more frequently.
But other than that, they justit was a natural marriage.
Uh, one of the things that'sgonna you talked about the uh
ancillary items that you talkabout uh yearbooks is a major
(12:33):
one for many of the schoolphotographers that are selling
their yearbooks directly totheir schools.
And uh in January, I'll beintroducing uh uh through with
another organization a digitalyearbook product that's never
been seen before.
And it's like it's unbelievablewhat is now available, what is
what we're capable of in theimaging world as it relates to
(12:56):
these volume segments, right?
Gary Pageau (12:58):
So, Koy, let's pivot a little bit to the event
itself.
Uh for the basics.
So we know we covered itearlier, but we'll just get
through the basics of where whenis it and where is it?
Coree Cooper (13:10):
Okay, so it's in Las Vegas and it's out the South
Point, which is only about a10-minute ride from the strip.
Uh, and we have discountedhotel rooms and also discounted
resort fees.
All of this information is onthe website.
It is January 21st through24th.
So Wednesday is pre-con day.
(13:33):
Pre-con is an all-day classthat kind of revs you up for the
regular conference.
It's an additional add-on tothe regular conference.
Gary Pageau (13:43):
Right.
Coree Cooper (13:44):
Um, and we do cover the basics schools 101,
sports 101, volume 202.
This class is designed forpeople who've already know the
basics, but now they're lookingto be rather than a single
operator or two owners, right?
They actually need to hire astaff.
How do you scale my business togrow?
(14:06):
That's the class that you need.
We also have sales training.
Now, our sales trainer is aprofessional sales trainer, he's
not a photographer, and that'sa great class for you if you
have any sales reps that need tolearn how to sell.
And then this year we have aninternational track.
So Calvin mentioned that we'vehad other SPAC pop-ups, as I
(14:29):
like to call them.
We've had them in Germany,we've had them in the UK, we've
had them in South Africa.
They're mini SPACs, usually oneday, one room, a whole bunch of
speakers.
We are in bringing them allback to SPAC, back to the
mothership, so to speak.
And we've given them a track aswell because some of the
business topics are a little bitdifferent when you're talking
(14:52):
about an international basis.
Gary Pageau (14:53):
Sure.
Coree Cooper (14:54):
So that's just basically Wednesday, but we do
start off with a kickoff party.
We're giving everybody theshock to hear that.
Gary Pageau (15:00):
That's that's shocking to me that that would
happen.
Coree Cooper (15:04):
We got to get together and we gotta get
through the hey, how was youryear conversation before we
start learning?
Which is Thursday.
Thursday, full day ofeducation, five classes
happening at the same time.
Agenda and session descriptionsare all on our website.
Thursday night, we have ourbeautiful awards dinner, uh
(15:27):
sit-down dinner, and we have aparty afterwards, of course.
Great entertainment I bookedfor this party.
Friday.
Gary Pageau (15:34):
Are you revealing that now?
Coree Cooper (15:36):
Or uh, you'll have to wait a week or two.
Gary Pageau (15:39):
I was gonna say it says to be announced on the
website, it doesn't say yet.
Calvin Harrell (15:42):
So, Coree, and by the way, we got I I want to
plug this in.
I'm not gonna speak to aspecific vendor, but we have
vendor partners that areabsolutely unbelievable.
They sponsor the nighttimeparties, the the the cocktail
parties, the entertainment atthe uh uh uh parties and that
(16:03):
sort of thing.
They actually, that's inaddition to their normal booth
fee, that which is still a greatrate for the booth, but they
sponsor those things just tomake sure that everybody is
enjoying themselves.
So I just want to plug that in.
Our vendors, we trulyappreciate them.
Yep.
Coree Cooper (16:19):
Right.
So then when we move intoFriday, we have classes in the
morning after breakfast, butthen, which is very different
than most shows you've been to,we have a dedicated trade show.
Meaning, once trade showstarts, which is at 11:30 on
Friday, and we stop alleducation.
We don't want you to have tochoose between learning
(16:41):
something and engaging with anexhibitor.
We give that time dedicated toour exhibitors, and they also
have sideshow rooms, which istheir own sales presentations in
smaller rooms.
Trade show, we have over 100vendors, 40,000 square feet, a
lot of demos running in thebooths.
You'll have everything fromlighting to backdrops to
(17:03):
e-commerce to printers to um, amI forgetting any of the major
categories?
We've got even uh gear fortripods.
Uh, we try to cover it all,everything that you might need
in your business.
Gary Pageau (17:17):
Yep.
I mean, even like packaging anduh envelopes and all of that
stuff.
Calvin Harrell (17:22):
Absolutely.
Vendors for all of those arethere.
And one thing that you missedon the educational side, Coree,
the work-through walkthrough.
The workflow walkthrough.
Oh, man.
That's a, you know, we see somany people online asking
questions about how do you, whatdo you, should I do, uh, et
cetera.
What equipment should I use?
Uh, this, that, and the other.
(17:43):
And so two years ago, I thinkit was, we put together uh uh a
program that's a workflowwalkthrough, where you'll get
different manufacturers' cameraequipment, different
manufacturers' lighting,different background systems,
you know, extraction pieces, uh,just a whole nine on what's it
take to get a school picture daydone.
(18:05):
Here, put your hands on thecamera.
How do you like the way thisfeels?
Right.
And it gives you much, muchmore understanding of what we're
doing.
Coree Cooper (18:14):
The room is set up with individual pods.
Every camera, every pod has adifferent camera, a different
background, different lighting,and a different capture system.
So you can walk from pod to podand do a direct comparison of
which system works best for youbecause we know that it there's
(18:34):
not one system is the correctsystem, it's what works for your
business.
At Smack, we just want to giveyou all the best options.
And that's on Wednesday.
Now keep in mind, folks, asidefrom that pre-con class that I
just talked about, everything,including your meals, is
included in your registrationprice.
(18:55):
There's no other additionalunless you want a pre-con class,
or I'm gonna move on to nextour Tuesday fun excursions.
Those things are individuallyon their own.
You also get one-on-onecoaching.
We offer every attendee anopportunity to sign up for a
15-minute session with a coachof their choice, either a person
(19:18):
specifically or a topic.
We'll marry you with the bestcoach, depending on your topic.
You can sit down with thatperson for 15 minutes and ask
them all your pointed questionsabout your business and get
direct feedback.
And most of our coaches end upmentoring throughout the year.
Like they check in.
(19:38):
I remember Michael Rack onetime told me she sat he sat down
with a lady who needed to writea business proposal.
She was going from a weddingphotography into school
photography.
She got her first preschool,didn't know what to do.
And Michael Rack sat down withher and they wrote a business
plan.
And every year, Michael Rackstill meets with her because now
it's become a relationshipthat's moving forward.
Gary Pageau (20:02):
And then so, but yeah, and then on then the last
day of the of the event isSaturday, and that's another
full day.
I mean, that's yes, it is.
I mean, for a lot of shows, thelast day is a half day, but
that's actually a full day.
Coree Cooper (20:16):
And we give away all of our grand prizes at
closing ceremony.
And this year, again, Sony hasdonated a camera to give away.
Panasonic has donated a cameraon top of I think it was like
$30,000 worth of products.
And when I mean products, I'mtalking about tablets and
computers and laptops, not justmore gear that you probably
(20:39):
already have at home.
Gary Pageau (20:40):
Right.
Right.
And one of the highlights for mein terms of just kind of great
sessions to just watch as aspectator is the queen slash
king of the hill session, whichis completely unusual and weird.
And I really want you to talk alittle bit about that because
that's something you just don'twant to miss.
How does that even work?
Coree Cooper (21:00):
Okay, so everyone always says to me, Coree, what
is Queen and King of the Hill?
So Michael Rack and TJ Rack wasthe one who developed this.
And it's kind of like aspitball fire of your best idea
to either make or save youmoney.
Those are the two premises.
Anybody in the audience can popup and say, Here's my idea.
(21:22):
You become the king and theaudience votes.
The next person pops up, theypitch their idea.
The audience votes whose ideais the better idea until we
finally run the gamut of theroom and we end up with one king
or queen of the hill.
But the ideas that come out ofthat session are just insane.
(21:45):
I've seen people in the backrow sitting there writing down
every single idea.
Gary Pageau (21:51):
Right.
Coree Cooper (21:52):
I'm sure, Gary, you've gotten a few.
Gary Pageau (21:54):
Well, it's just the whole premise of the whole
thing is uh is interestingbecause you're really getting
direct feedback on what theideas are, unlike you know other
sessions.
It's a typical session, right?
Somebody's up there talking,and you really have no idea
whether it's a bomb or it's ahit.
You know, you gotta have somepretty confidence in your idea
in the first place to get upthere and know it's gonna get
(22:15):
voted on.
Calvin Harrell (22:17):
Absolutely.
But one of the keys is that I'maware of is that oftentimes we
have our own ideas that we haveprocessed for ourselves, but our
world, quite candidly, nomatter who we are, whatever the
sophistication or or knowledgewe might have, our world is
relatively small.
It's within our own world.
When you can put it out thereinto the space, you can find out
(22:40):
what the feedback is going tobe like, what's the trigger that
somebody says, wait a minute,if you did X, it would work this
way.
So it just gives you a bettergauge of what creates a
successful idea.
Right.
Gary Pageau (22:55):
So you you kind of glossed over it a couple of
times, Coree, but you didn'treally go into details on what
the excursions were on Tuesday.
Coree Cooper (23:02):
Okay, so okay, so we're in Vegas.
And every a couple of yearsago, people are like, hey,
Coree, I'm coming to Vegas.
It's my first time in Vegas orwhatever.
What can I do if I come early?
So I thought to myself, whatcan I offer a photographer in
Vegas?
Well, have you ever seen anyphotos from Valley of Fire?
(23:22):
It's about a 45-minute bus rideout a little bit to the Red
Rocks.
And we have it hosted byPanasonic.
Uh, Suzette Allen will be doinga 30-minute presentation on how
to capture photos in naturallight.
We bring three models withbeautiful dresses.
They get up on the red rock.
(23:43):
So anyone with their own cameracan take photos for their
portfolio.
If you don't want to stickaround for that and you want to
go ahead and take an hour hike,there's easily areas for you to
hike to.
We also give you lunch and weprovide transportation in a
charter bus.
So that is the Valley of Fireexcursion.
A little bit later on the otherside of town, we had used to do
(24:08):
a golf tournament and it wasfun, but you're stuck with the
same four people for 18 holes.
Not really engaging.
I like people to engage.
So we've gone ahead and did abuyout at Atomic Golf, which is
kind of like a spin-on-top golf.
We have a whole floor, eightdifferent bays.
(24:28):
Every bay is a different kindof a game.
Every bay is actually umsponsored by an exhibitor.
So you'll be engaging with anexhibitor.
And we've hit some golf balls,you get some food, get some
drink, you mix and you mingle.
Again, provide transportationas well for that because we
don't want anyone drinking anddriving.
Gary Pageau (24:50):
Right.
Coree Cooper (24:51):
New this year is later in the evening.
We are having an excursion tothe neon graveyard, which is
where all the old neon lightedsigns from Vegas live.
Again, it's a hugeInstagrammable place.
A lot of people who go outthere again with cameras, right?
(25:12):
So again, I thought it wasanother opportunity for our
photographers to get out and dosomething different in Vegas
that's not gambling and losingmoney.
And again, charter bus for thatas well.
So those are the excursionsthat we're offering on Tuesday.
Gary Pageau (25:28):
And even there's there's actually plenty to do at
the South Point.
Um, I mean, there's a alley,there's a pool.
I mean, there's there's there'sstuff to do even there that's
not gambling, movie theater.
Coree Cooper (25:38):
Yeah, there's a free comedy show on Friday
night, uh dirty 30 at 12:30.
Yeah, it's a free comedy showwhich a lot of people go to.
You're gonna see also once youregister, we have an event app
on your phone, Hoover, which isbasically a virtual spot for you
to start meeting people.
(25:59):
You can create your own agendaby saving the sessions you want
to go to to your personalcalendar.
I already see at least ahundred people meeting up at the
Silver out Silverado Lounge Barat X day at X time.
Right.
So it's again, we createatmospheres for people to engage
(26:20):
and network because we know alot of education goes on, but we
know that most of our learninghappens when we engage with one
another.
Right.
Gary Pageau (26:29):
And what's great is you got those opportunities for
those newcomers to come and youknow find a friend.
So somebody who's new to thebusiness doesn't feel have to be
feel intimidated, you know,they're gonna run into a other
new people who are looking forfriends and also established
people in the industry who arelooking to mentor some people.
Coree Cooper (26:47):
Exactly.
Calvin Harrell (26:48):
Really, we don't offer um an award system, a
ranking system, or anything ofthat nature within our
organization.
And part of our reason for thatis because we want parity.
We want anybody should be ableto talk to anybody without fear
of, oh my goodness, look at allthe salad they have, look at all
(27:09):
the metals.
I can't talk to them.
I'm too little, I'm too small.
Well, you might be small today,but you might be the one that's
gonna grow if you mentor withthis person and then buy their
business later on.
Who knows?
Gary Pageau (27:23):
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, I mean, that's oneof the things.
I mean, if you look around theroom and you see, you know,
certain people who have become,you know, some of these third
and fourth generation companies,and you know, they're wearing
jeans and it's a regular shirt,you know, there's no pretense
that they're uh, you know, assuccessful as they are.
Calvin Harrell (27:42):
No, you've got people that are doing, you know,
one school to people that aredoing three or four thousand
schools.
Right.
Right.
Holy smoke.
You know, uh, that's a hugegamut, and and you think
differently as you grow yourbusiness.
People on people find out thatyou have to think different to
do 50 schools rather than fiveor a hundred schools or five
(28:04):
hundred schools.
You have to change the wayyou're thinking, not only the
way you do business, but the wayyou think about business.
It's an engaging environment,and we've we purposely kept it
this way so that we would havethe ability for people,
especially new people, to learnas quickly as possible.
(28:24):
There is a premise also thatwas founded with the idea to
keep young people and new peoplecoming in.
And that premise was if they goout and they screw up a picture
day, that school could say, youknow what, we don't want this
ever again.
Right.
And now you've now you've gotto go sell them on even doing
(28:45):
the process, right?
Let alone using your companybecause they had a bad
experience.
So this helps us to get aroundall of that and try to help
people have success every day.
Gary Pageau (28:57):
So listen, we I I I think we've covered the gamut
of the event and spac.
Coree Cooper (29:01):
I have one more thing.
Gary Pageau (29:02):
Oh, Coree.
Well, there's always one morething.
Coree Cooper (29:04):
Coree, there's always something new with SPAC.
So everything we've talkedabout, we've been doing now for
a couple of years.
But what is new this year atSPAC?
Gary Pageau (29:13):
Coree, what's new at SPAC this year?
Coree Cooper (29:16):
SPAC zone.
Gary Pageau (29:18):
Okay.
Coree Cooper (29:18):
SPAC zone.
That's what that is.
SPAC zone is going to belocated up at the exhibit hall,
but we've created a space withcouches and high tables for
people to have privateconversations.
The trade show floor is reallybig and can be very loud, right?
And it's hard to find somewhereto walk off and have a
conversation.
Gary Pageau (29:38):
Yeah, especially with the new location because it
is up and away.
Coree Cooper (29:43):
Right.
So Stock Zone is a spell zonethat's going to be created for
all of you.
In it, we are going to have acornhole to uh tournament on uh
Friday, and we are also gonnahave some other games in there
like Jenga and other things.
Bars are gonna be Located inthere as well as that's where
all of our happy hour food onFriday night will be served.
(30:05):
Okay, that's also where you'llmeet your coach for one-on-one
coaching.
But the SPAC zone is createdagain for that networking, for
that conversation, that smallgroup conversation that you can
actually talk and connect andshare information and maybe have
a little fun.
Maybe you want to beatsomeone's butt in Jenga or
(30:26):
something.
Gary Pageau (30:26):
Oh, no, that sounds great.
So listen, I'm ready to signup.
Where do I go for moreinformation to get my
registration going for SPAC 2026at the South Point?
Coree Cooper (30:38):
Everything is online at www.spac-usa.org.
The room discount code, theregistration.
Right now, registration is at$559.
The price increases.
Uh it ends November 30th.
It goes up on December 1st.
(30:59):
So if you want to lock in thatlow price, do so now.
If you are bringing some fouror more people from your
company, email me because we dohave a discount code for uh
groups over four from the samecompany.
Gary Pageau (31:15):
And where would that email be?
What would that be?
Coree Cooper (31:17):
SPACGAL at gmail.com.
Gary Pageau (31:20):
There you go.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Well, thank you, folks, foryour time and your energy and
your dedication to making SPACsuccessful.
Because it's it's a I wouldn'tsay it's a thankless job, but
you're certainly not uh uhremunerated for it.
So uh thank you on behalf ofthose who uh who enjoy SPAC.
Coree Cooper (31:39):
Thank you, Gary.
And also, by the way, we have aweekly broadcast on Tuesday.
We're live on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, and
YouTube.
Every week we talk about adifferent topic.
And the next few weeks we willbe featuring some of our
speakers that will be speakingat SPAC.
The whole agenda, their sessiondescriptions, everything is
there.
If you've already registeredfor the conference, it's now
(32:02):
time to download that Hoover appand get going on your
engagement because a lot ofpeople are setting up meetings
and things like that.
So join us because we'd love tohave you.
Gary Pageau (32:15):
All right.
Well, thank you much, folks.
Appreciate your time and uhlooking forward to seeing you in
January in Las Vegas.
Calvin Harrell (32:21):
Home of fabulous Thanksgiving, man, and thank
you for having us.
All right, thank you.
Take care.
Erin Manning (32:26):
Thanks, thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel
Society Podcast.
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
www.theadpixels society.com.
Welcome to the Dead Pixels Society Podcast, the
photo imaging industry'sleading out source.
Here's your host, Gary Pageau.
The Dead Pixels Society podcastis brought to you by Mediaclip,
Advertek Printing, andIndependent Photo Imagers.
Gary Pageau (00:18):
Hello again, and welcome to the Dead Pixels
Society Podcast.
I'm your host, Gary Pageau.
And today we're joined byreturning guests, Coree Cooper
and Calvin Harrell.
They're coming to us regardingthe SPAC conference, which, if
you don't know what SPAC is,we're going to learn about that.
And if you don't know when theconference is and why it's
great, you're going to hearabout that too.
Coree is the SPAC gal who runsthe day-to-day operations of
(00:42):
that great event.
And of course, Calvin is thepresident of the organization.
And they're going to share withus first, Calvin, the uh
history and the what SPAC is,where it came from.
Calvin Harrell (00:54):
Wow, you don't want the full history now, do
you?
No, no, no.
Hey, good afternoon.
And thanks for having us, Gary.
We really appreciate yourcontinued engagement throughout
the industry, not only for ourorganization, but for all of the
organizations that you seem tobring information together and
and provide to us.
You know, SPAC comes from thesame, a similar mindset and
(01:16):
position.
Uh SPAC was started in the1950s.
So it's way back in the filmdays.
In fact, it was large formatfilm at that time, 70 millimeter
or or otherwise.
When I joined in the um 70s,no, 80, 82 or so, it was a group
of about uh 15 to 20 differentphotographers, uh, mainly
(01:38):
California.
And we had a couple of peoplefrom out of uh from Nevada, and
then uh in particular, one uhcame out of uh uh Kenny, came
out of um one of the labs uhback in the southeast.
And it was a great group ofpeople.
Uh we'd meet in a hotel room,uh, and we'd get a suite and
meet in a hotel room.
(01:59):
It was an excuse to get awayand to get together, and we
share information what schoolswere uh and districts were doing
what, and how was innovationtaking place and that sort of
thing.
SPAC has evolved over theyears, and I've been an officer
and in and in leadership forquite a long time, actually from
the the 80s, and we've evolvedsignificantly.
(02:21):
And about 12 or 14 years ago,we brought uh Coree on because
we we really anticipated aseries or a period of
significant growth that was putgrowth potential for our
organization.
It wasn't that we were reallydoing anything differently,
although we are because we're anonprofit, none of us uh getting
paid for the doing the workthat we do to bring forth this
(02:44):
conference, but we saw thatthere was a significant
transition in the way businesswas being done and in the way
organizations were actuallydissolving, meaning the trade
organizations were actuallydissolving uh uh dur during a
period of time.
Absolutely.
And so at that at that time, wesaid, hey, look, we're gonna be
(03:05):
growing.
And Gary and I and Marty gottogether and we said, Hey, we
need to bring somebody in.
And that's how Coree came tous.
Coree happened to be someonethat I knew who was the wife of
a vice principal, but I knewthat she had other engagements
with other organizations and inthe leadership of those
organizations are managing.
Uh, and so I said, I think Ihave someone.
(03:26):
And I made a phone call and wenegotiated a deal, and Coree
said, I'm in.
And that was how this wholething came about uh where we are
today.
Since that time, uh uh lastyear, we had our largest
conference.
It was our 70th anniversary,and we had well over a thousand
(03:47):
people there.
We even have a big portrait, uhgroup portrait that was taken
on Risers by one of our members.
Uh, we all went out and loadedup Risers, and it's a phenomenal
picture.
That picture is going to besuper big uh and uh on display
at the conference.
So SPAC is a is become thepreeminent conference for volume
(04:09):
photography programs uh in theworld, in fact.
We have people coming from allparts of the world, from South
Africa, from Europe and Englandand South America.
We have people that actuallycome from everywhere to this
conference.
We've had them ask us and we'vegranted them permission to use
the SPAC name uh and the SPACacronym because it seems to
(04:33):
carry some value and weightthroughout the uh throughout the
the general industry.
So at this point, we are thelargest conference and the most
economical uh conference.
And what I mean by that is thevalue for the dollar that's paid
out.
Uh we we charge we have EarlyBird, which is over now,
unfortunately, uh but we haveEarly Bird pricing on through
(04:56):
regular pricing.
The conference is held in thethe last weekend of January, I
think it is, Coree.
Is that correct?
Coree Cooper (05:03):
No, it's actually the week before the last week.
It's the week of St.
Martin Luther King.
So we actually officially starton the 21st.
Calvin Harrell (05:12):
And you put St.
Martin Luther King on there.
This week of Martin Luther Kingholiday.
Uh, and we check in on aTuesday and we come out uh on
the following Monday.
But the conference actuallyruns from Wednesday through
Saturday evening.
Uh, and Coree's gonna sharewith you some information about
uh the excursions and a host ofthings that we're doing.
(05:33):
We're looking at the biggesttrade show we've ever had.
The key thing that folks reallyhave to focus on is this trade
show is designed for volumephotography.
That means the providers ofvolume photography.
You're not gonna see weddingalbums and a lot of other stuff.
This is gonna be the real meatand potatoes of a segment of the
(05:55):
photographic industry that hasbeen the most stable and
repetitive of any element of ourindustry.
Gary Pageau (06:03):
Actually, I would make the argument it's probably
one of the most innovative andinteresting areas of the capture
side of the business, at thevery least, at least when you
compare it to you know, weddingsor portraits or other things in
terms of just some of thetechnology, some of the
e-commerce platforms, thesoftware that's being used.
(06:23):
It's really kind of whereeverything is kind of heading
right now, is in the volumespace, at least, I think,
especially when we talk aboutthings like you know, AI and and
just you know, uh e-commerce,uh print on demand, all of those
things are coming at to a headat SPAC.
So, Calvin, you know, this is along-established organization,
(06:45):
like you said, 70 years, but atyour conference, I think it's
you said about 20% of yourattendees are new almost every
year.
It's people entering thebusiness.
Calvin Harrell (06:54):
That is correct.
Coree Cooper (06:55):
I like to mention that we offer a scholarship
every single year.
Gary Pageau (07:00):
Yeah, there is a scholarship.
When is the deadline for that?
Coree Cooper (07:03):
We're gonna the deadline's already passed, and
we've already selected thisyear.
The board has selected 40people who are first-time
attendees to SPAC.
Gary Pageau (07:13):
Unfortunately, I wasn't eligible for that.
Coree Cooper (07:17):
Again, we had over 150 applications this year.
Yeah, uh, we have a committeego through them and decide who
are the lucky 40.
Um, and we do that as a way ofagain building our industry up.
Calvin Harrell (07:33):
Well, one of the things that we're conscious of
is, you know, uh, let's just sayback in the day for the sake of
language and words.
Uh, back in the day, uh aphotographer could build a
business and he builds it upinto a certain size, and he
could sell that business to amajor player oftentimes.
Yes.
Uh, that that transition istaking place now.
(07:54):
We have to create the peoplethat are involved in the
business to be able to sell ourbusiness too.
Right.
Because uh, you know, so if wedon't bring in new new blood,
new people that are looking togrow their businesses, those
that have long establishedbusinesses don't have as great a
value, obviously.
(08:15):
I'm saying this is one of thebenefits of bringing new people
in, is so that we're bringingpeople that are engaged in the
business that are looking togrow their business.
One, they can learn fromexperienced people, but another
piece is we're creating anactual audience that we can sell
businesses to as we movethrough and decide, hey, you
know what, it's time for me toretire, to slow down, uh, or
(08:38):
whatever the deal might be.
But it gives us an audience tosell to within this
organization.
Gary Pageau (08:43):
And just within the climate of that business,
right?
The volume for Tiger Industry,you know, you've got, quote, a
major unquote player who's gonethrough some challenges over the
last few years, and which hascreated a lot of opportunity for
businesses to take awaybusiness from them.
In fact, when I was at SPAClast year, a lot of the
conversation was with some ofthe uh SPAC attendees was I
(09:07):
can't grow any faster because II just have so many people and
so much uh ability within mybusiness.
So the business is out there,which creates the opportunity,
which creates, of course,interest in SPAC.
Coree Cooper (09:19):
I think also another point of view is that
the board feels like thesenewcomers to the industry.
It's hard to transition from awedding photographer to a school
volume photographer.
The business models aredifferent, the marketing is
different.
Even the actual shoot day whenyou're going to the school and
(09:41):
setting up and taking all ofthat is much different.
Lighting is different, you haveto be able to watch some head
size.
So we feel that is if we canprovide the best education to
help newcomers to the industryget trained trained on the
proper techniques, right, theproper words, what's an RFP, you
(10:03):
know, all these things thatthey're gonna hear in this new
industry, we are helping theindependents.
Gary Pageau (10:09):
Yeah.
Which I think helps everybody,right?
It raises the power foreverybody.
And it it I don't know if itgrows the whole pie per se,
because as I just had one of thevendors explain to me the other
day, you know, that they're notbuilding any more schools,
we're not having that many morekids.
It's kind of a market, so yougot to find ways to either
become more profitable viabecoming more efficient or sell
(10:31):
the ancillary products, which Ithink is the other piece of the
business, where you've gotpeople now selling banners and
mugs and and Christmasdecorations and holiday
ornaments and everything elsewith those pictures, which you
know, again, that's creating awhole new opportunity for volume
photographers to increase theirsales and profits.
(10:53):
And that's what they're gonnasee at the trade show, is on the
floor of the phone.
Coree Cooper (11:03):
Right because SPAC was pretty much school
photographers, but then we founda lot of volume guys who were
doing the sports business, the Tand I's and all of those, those
banners that you mentioned.
Yeah, and we thought, you know,this is kind of marries well
with our school photography,it's volume photography, and so
bringing in that sportscomponent also really added to
(11:24):
the community.
Calvin Harrell (11:26):
And there are those of us that have been
around a long time thatrecognize that a camera on the
shelf makes no money.
And so if you're only shooting,if you're only shooting during
the school season and then youput 10 cameras on the shelf and
they're dead until the spring,you know, uh what would that's
not a good investment, let'sjust say.
So you take the exact sameequipment effectively for doing
(11:49):
TNI and sports groupphotography.
Right.
Uh, why wouldn't you do that?
And and one of the things thatwe're recognizing also is when
we talk about percentage ofparticipation, average order
value, and that sort of thing,the sports segment is a very,
very good one.
Uh, in fact, it's oftentimesbetter than the actual school
services segment for a varietyof reasons because there's fewer
(12:11):
service items, there's fewerpoints of contact, etc.
It's not necessarily a stablebecause you get boards that
change and everything elsehappens uh much more frequently.
Yeah, much more frequently.
But other than that, they justit was a natural marriage.
Uh, one of the things that'sgonna you talked about the uh
ancillary items that you talkabout uh yearbooks is a major
(12:33):
one for many of the schoolphotographers that are selling
their yearbooks directly totheir schools.
And uh in January, I'll beintroducing uh uh through with
another organization a digitalyearbook product that's never
been seen before.
And it's like it's unbelievablewhat is now available, what is
what we're capable of in theimaging world as it relates to
(12:56):
these volume segments, right?
Gary Pageau (12:58):
So, Koy, let's pivot a little bit to the event
itself.
Uh for the basics.
So we know we covered itearlier, but we'll just get
through the basics of where whenis it and where is it?
Coree Cooper (13:10):
Okay, so it's in Las Vegas and it's out the South
Point, which is only about a10-minute ride from the strip.
Uh, and we have discountedhotel rooms and also discounted
resort fees.
All of this information is onthe website.
It is January 21st through24th.
So Wednesday is pre-con day.
(13:33):
Pre-con is an all-day classthat kind of revs you up for the
regular conference.
It's an additional add-on tothe regular conference.
Gary Pageau (13:43):
Right.
Coree Cooper (13:44):
Um, and we do cover the basics schools 101,
sports 101, volume 202.
This class is designed forpeople who've already know the
basics, but now they're lookingto be rather than a single
operator or two owners, right?
They actually need to hire astaff.
How do you scale my business togrow?
(14:06):
That's the class that you need.
We also have sales training.
Now, our sales trainer is aprofessional sales trainer, he's
not a photographer, and that'sa great class for you if you
have any sales reps that need tolearn how to sell.
And then this year we have aninternational track.
So Calvin mentioned that we'vehad other SPAC pop-ups, as I
(14:29):
like to call them.
We've had them in Germany,we've had them in the UK, we've
had them in South Africa.
They're mini SPACs, usually oneday, one room, a whole bunch of
speakers.
We are in bringing them allback to SPAC, back to the
mothership, so to speak.
And we've given them a track aswell because some of the
business topics are a little bitdifferent when you're talking
(14:52):
about an international basis.
Gary Pageau (14:53):
Sure.
Coree Cooper (14:54):
So that's just basically Wednesday, but we do
start off with a kickoff party.
We're giving everybody theshock to hear that.
Gary Pageau (15:00):
That's that's shocking to me that that would
happen.
Coree Cooper (15:04):
We got to get together and we gotta get
through the hey, how was youryear conversation before we
start learning?
Which is Thursday.
Thursday, full day ofeducation, five classes
happening at the same time.
Agenda and session descriptionsare all on our website.
Thursday night, we have ourbeautiful awards dinner, uh
(15:27):
sit-down dinner, and we have aparty afterwards, of course.
Great entertainment I bookedfor this party.
Friday.
Gary Pageau (15:34):
Are you revealing that now?
Coree Cooper (15:36):
Or uh, you'll have to wait a week or two.
Gary Pageau (15:39):
I was gonna say it says to be announced on the
website, it doesn't say yet.
Calvin Harrell (15:42):
So, Coree, and by the way, we got I I want to
plug this in.
I'm not gonna speak to aspecific vendor, but we have
vendor partners that areabsolutely unbelievable.
They sponsor the nighttimeparties, the the the cocktail
parties, the entertainment atthe uh uh uh parties and that
(16:03):
sort of thing.
They actually, that's inaddition to their normal booth
fee, that which is still a greatrate for the booth, but they
sponsor those things just tomake sure that everybody is
enjoying themselves.
So I just want to plug that in.
Our vendors, we trulyappreciate them.
Yep.
Coree Cooper (16:19):
Right.
So then when we move intoFriday, we have classes in the
morning after breakfast, butthen, which is very different
than most shows you've been to,we have a dedicated trade show.
Meaning, once trade showstarts, which is at 11:30 on
Friday, and we stop alleducation.
We don't want you to have tochoose between learning
(16:41):
something and engaging with anexhibitor.
We give that time dedicated toour exhibitors, and they also
have sideshow rooms, which istheir own sales presentations in
smaller rooms.
Trade show, we have over 100vendors, 40,000 square feet, a
lot of demos running in thebooths.
You'll have everything fromlighting to backdrops to
(17:03):
e-commerce to printers to um, amI forgetting any of the major
categories?
We've got even uh gear fortripods.
Uh, we try to cover it all,everything that you might need
in your business.
Gary Pageau (17:17):
Yep.
I mean, even like packaging anduh envelopes and all of that
stuff.
Calvin Harrell (17:22):
Absolutely.
Vendors for all of those arethere.
And one thing that you missedon the educational side, Coree,
the work-through walkthrough.
The workflow walkthrough.
Oh, man.
That's a, you know, we see somany people online asking
questions about how do you, whatdo you, should I do, uh, et
cetera.
What equipment should I use?
Uh, this, that, and the other.
(17:43):
And so two years ago, I thinkit was, we put together uh uh a
program that's a workflowwalkthrough, where you'll get
different manufacturers' cameraequipment, different
manufacturers' lighting,different background systems,
you know, extraction pieces, uh,just a whole nine on what's it
take to get a school picture daydone.
(18:05):
Here, put your hands on thecamera.
How do you like the way thisfeels?
Right.
And it gives you much, muchmore understanding of what we're
doing.
Coree Cooper (18:14):
The room is set up with individual pods.
Every camera, every pod has adifferent camera, a different
background, different lighting,and a different capture system.
So you can walk from pod to podand do a direct comparison of
which system works best for youbecause we know that it there's
(18:34):
not one system is the correctsystem, it's what works for your
business.
At Smack, we just want to giveyou all the best options.
And that's on Wednesday.
Now keep in mind, folks, asidefrom that pre-con class that I
just talked about, everything,including your meals, is
included in your registrationprice.
(18:55):
There's no other additionalunless you want a pre-con class,
or I'm gonna move on to nextour Tuesday fun excursions.
Those things are individuallyon their own.
You also get one-on-onecoaching.
We offer every attendee anopportunity to sign up for a
15-minute session with a coachof their choice, either a person
(19:18):
specifically or a topic.
We'll marry you with the bestcoach, depending on your topic.
You can sit down with thatperson for 15 minutes and ask
them all your pointed questionsabout your business and get
direct feedback.
And most of our coaches end upmentoring throughout the year.
Like they check in.
(19:38):
I remember Michael Rack onetime told me she sat he sat down
with a lady who needed to writea business proposal.
She was going from a weddingphotography into school
photography.
She got her first preschool,didn't know what to do.
And Michael Rack sat down withher and they wrote a business
plan.
And every year, Michael Rackstill meets with her because now
it's become a relationshipthat's moving forward.
Gary Pageau (20:02):
And then so, but yeah, and then on then the last
day of the of the event isSaturday, and that's another
full day.
I mean, that's yes, it is.
I mean, for a lot of shows, thelast day is a half day, but
that's actually a full day.
Coree Cooper (20:16):
And we give away all of our grand prizes at
closing ceremony.
And this year, again, Sony hasdonated a camera to give away.
Panasonic has donated a cameraon top of I think it was like
$30,000 worth of products.
And when I mean products, I'mtalking about tablets and
computers and laptops, not justmore gear that you probably
(20:39):
already have at home.
Gary Pageau (20:40):
Right.
Right.
And one of the highlights for mein terms of just kind of great
sessions to just watch as aspectator is the queen slash
king of the hill session, whichis completely unusual and weird.
And I really want you to talk alittle bit about that because
that's something you just don'twant to miss.
How does that even work?
Coree Cooper (21:00):
Okay, so everyone always says to me, Coree, what
is Queen and King of the Hill?
So Michael Rack and TJ Rack wasthe one who developed this.
And it's kind of like aspitball fire of your best idea
to either make or save youmoney.
Those are the two premises.
Anybody in the audience can popup and say, Here's my idea.
(21:22):
You become the king and theaudience votes.
The next person pops up, theypitch their idea.
The audience votes whose ideais the better idea until we
finally run the gamut of theroom and we end up with one king
or queen of the hill.
But the ideas that come out ofthat session are just insane.
(21:45):
I've seen people in the backrow sitting there writing down
every single idea.
Gary Pageau (21:51):
Right.
Coree Cooper (21:52):
I'm sure, Gary, you've gotten a few.
Gary Pageau (21:54):
Well, it's just the whole premise of the whole
thing is uh is interestingbecause you're really getting
direct feedback on what theideas are, unlike you know other
sessions.
It's a typical session, right?
Somebody's up there talking,and you really have no idea
whether it's a bomb or it's ahit.
You know, you gotta have somepretty confidence in your idea
in the first place to get upthere and know it's gonna get
(22:15):
voted on.
Calvin Harrell (22:17):
Absolutely.
But one of the keys is that I'maware of is that oftentimes we
have our own ideas that we haveprocessed for ourselves, but our
world, quite candidly, nomatter who we are, whatever the
sophistication or or knowledgewe might have, our world is
relatively small.
It's within our own world.
When you can put it out thereinto the space, you can find out
(22:40):
what the feedback is going tobe like, what's the trigger that
somebody says, wait a minute,if you did X, it would work this
way.
So it just gives you a bettergauge of what creates a
successful idea.
Right.
Gary Pageau (22:55):
So you you kind of glossed over it a couple of
times, Coree, but you didn'treally go into details on what
the excursions were on Tuesday.
Coree Cooper (23:02):
Okay, so okay, so we're in Vegas.
And every a couple of yearsago, people are like, hey,
Coree, I'm coming to Vegas.
It's my first time in Vegas orwhatever.
What can I do if I come early?
So I thought to myself, whatcan I offer a photographer in
Vegas?
Well, have you ever seen anyphotos from Valley of Fire?
(23:22):
It's about a 45-minute bus rideout a little bit to the Red
Rocks.
And we have it hosted byPanasonic.
Uh, Suzette Allen will be doinga 30-minute presentation on how
to capture photos in naturallight.
We bring three models withbeautiful dresses.
They get up on the red rock.
(23:43):
So anyone with their own cameracan take photos for their
portfolio.
If you don't want to stickaround for that and you want to
go ahead and take an hour hike,there's easily areas for you to
hike to.
We also give you lunch and weprovide transportation in a
charter bus.
So that is the Valley of Fireexcursion.
A little bit later on the otherside of town, we had used to do
(24:08):
a golf tournament and it wasfun, but you're stuck with the
same four people for 18 holes.
Not really engaging.
I like people to engage.
So we've gone ahead and did abuyout at Atomic Golf, which is
kind of like a spin-on-top golf.
We have a whole floor, eightdifferent bays.
(24:28):
Every bay is a different kindof a game.
Every bay is actually umsponsored by an exhibitor.
So you'll be engaging with anexhibitor.
And we've hit some golf balls,you get some food, get some
drink, you mix and you mingle.
Again, provide transportationas well for that because we
don't want anyone drinking anddriving.
Gary Pageau (24:50):
Right.
Coree Cooper (24:51):
New this year is later in the evening.
We are having an excursion tothe neon graveyard, which is
where all the old neon lightedsigns from Vegas live.
Again, it's a hugeInstagrammable place.
A lot of people who go outthere again with cameras, right?
(25:12):
So again, I thought it wasanother opportunity for our
photographers to get out and dosomething different in Vegas
that's not gambling and losingmoney.
And again, charter bus for thatas well.
So those are the excursionsthat we're offering on Tuesday.
Gary Pageau (25:28):
And even there's there's actually plenty to do at
the South Point.
Um, I mean, there's a alley,there's a pool.
I mean, there's there's there'sstuff to do even there that's
not gambling, movie theater.
Coree Cooper (25:38):
Yeah, there's a free comedy show on Friday
night, uh dirty 30 at 12:30.
Yeah, it's a free comedy showwhich a lot of people go to.
You're gonna see also once youregister, we have an event app
on your phone, Hoover, which isbasically a virtual spot for you
to start meeting people.
(25:59):
You can create your own agendaby saving the sessions you want
to go to to your personalcalendar.
I already see at least ahundred people meeting up at the
Silver out Silverado Lounge Barat X day at X time.
Right.
So it's again, we createatmospheres for people to engage
(26:20):
and network because we know alot of education goes on, but we
know that most of our learninghappens when we engage with one
another.
Right.
Gary Pageau (26:29):
And what's great is you got those opportunities for
those newcomers to come and youknow find a friend.
So somebody who's new to thebusiness doesn't feel have to be
feel intimidated, you know,they're gonna run into a other
new people who are looking forfriends and also established
people in the industry who arelooking to mentor some people.
Coree Cooper (26:47):
Exactly.
Calvin Harrell (26:48):
Really, we don't offer um an award system, a
ranking system, or anything ofthat nature within our
organization.
And part of our reason for thatis because we want parity.
We want anybody should be ableto talk to anybody without fear
of, oh my goodness, look at allthe salad they have, look at all
(27:09):
the metals.
I can't talk to them.
I'm too little, I'm too small.
Well, you might be small today,but you might be the one that's
gonna grow if you mentor withthis person and then buy their
business later on.
Who knows?
Gary Pageau (27:23):
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, I mean, that's oneof the things.
I mean, if you look around theroom and you see, you know,
certain people who have become,you know, some of these third
and fourth generation companies,and you know, they're wearing
jeans and it's a regular shirt,you know, there's no pretense
that they're uh, you know, assuccessful as they are.
Calvin Harrell (27:42):
No, you've got people that are doing, you know,
one school to people that aredoing three or four thousand
schools.
Right.
Right.
Holy smoke.
You know, uh, that's a hugegamut, and and you think
differently as you grow yourbusiness.
People on people find out thatyou have to think different to
do 50 schools rather than fiveor a hundred schools or five
(28:04):
hundred schools.
You have to change the wayyou're thinking, not only the
way you do business, but the wayyou think about business.
It's an engaging environment,and we've we purposely kept it
this way so that we would havethe ability for people,
especially new people, to learnas quickly as possible.
(28:24):
There is a premise also thatwas founded with the idea to
keep young people and new peoplecoming in.
And that premise was if they goout and they screw up a picture
day, that school could say, youknow what, we don't want this
ever again.
Right.
And now you've now you've gotto go sell them on even doing
(28:45):
the process, right?
Let alone using your companybecause they had a bad
experience.
So this helps us to get aroundall of that and try to help
people have success every day.
Gary Pageau (28:57):
So listen, we I I I think we've covered the gamut
of the event and spac.
Coree Cooper (29:01):
I have one more thing.
Gary Pageau (29:02):
Oh, Coree.
Well, there's always one morething.
Coree Cooper (29:04):
Coree, there's always something new with SPAC.
So everything we've talkedabout, we've been doing now for
a couple of years.
But what is new this year atSPAC?
Gary Pageau (29:13):
Coree, what's new at SPAC this year?
Coree Cooper (29:16):
SPAC zone.
Gary Pageau (29:18):
Okay.
Coree Cooper (29:18):
SPAC zone.
That's what that is.
SPAC zone is going to belocated up at the exhibit hall,
but we've created a space withcouches and high tables for
people to have privateconversations.
The trade show floor is reallybig and can be very loud, right?
And it's hard to find somewhereto walk off and have a
conversation.
Gary Pageau (29:38):
Yeah, especially with the new location because it
is up and away.
Coree Cooper (29:43):
Right.
So Stock Zone is a spell zonethat's going to be created for
all of you.
In it, we are going to have acornhole to uh tournament on uh
Friday, and we are also gonnahave some other games in there
like Jenga and other things.
Bars are gonna be Located inthere as well as that's where
all of our happy hour food onFriday night will be served.
(30:05):
Okay, that's also where you'llmeet your coach for one-on-one
coaching.
But the SPAC zone is createdagain for that networking, for
that conversation, that smallgroup conversation that you can
actually talk and connect andshare information and maybe have
a little fun.
Maybe you want to beatsomeone's butt in Jenga or
(30:26):
something.
Gary Pageau (30:26):
Oh, no, that sounds great.
So listen, I'm ready to signup.
Where do I go for moreinformation to get my
registration going for SPAC 2026at the South Point?
Coree Cooper (30:38):
Everything is online at www.spac-usa.org.
The room discount code, theregistration.
Right now, registration is at$559.
The price increases.
Uh it ends November 30th.
It goes up on December 1st.
(30:59):
So if you want to lock in thatlow price, do so now.
If you are bringing some fouror more people from your
company, email me because we dohave a discount code for uh
groups over four from the samecompany.
Gary Pageau (31:15):
And where would that email be?
What would that be?
Coree Cooper (31:17):
SPACGAL at gmail.com.
Gary Pageau (31:20):
There you go.
Awesome.
Awesome.
Well, thank you, folks, foryour time and your energy and
your dedication to making SPACsuccessful.
Because it's it's a I wouldn'tsay it's a thankless job, but
you're certainly not uh uhremunerated for it.
So uh thank you on behalf ofthose who uh who enjoy SPAC.
Coree Cooper (31:39):
Thank you, Gary.
And also, by the way, we have aweekly broadcast on Tuesday.
We're live on Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, and
YouTube.
Every week we talk about adifferent topic.
And the next few weeks we willbe featuring some of our
speakers that will be speakingat SPAC.
The whole agenda, their sessiondescriptions, everything is
there.
If you've already registeredfor the conference, it's now
(32:02):
time to download that Hoover appand get going on your
engagement because a lot ofpeople are setting up meetings
and things like that.
So join us because we'd love tohave you.
Gary Pageau (32:15):
All right.
Well, thank you much, folks.
Appreciate your time and uhlooking forward to seeing you in
January in Las Vegas.
Calvin Harrell (32:21):
Home of fabulous Thanksgiving, man, and thank
you for having us.
All right, thank you.
Take care.
Erin Manning (32:26):
Thanks, thank you for listening to the Dead Pixel
Society Podcast.
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
www.theadpixels society.com.
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