Hello everyone, welcome to the PromoKitchen podcast. We are a community inspired conversation featuring boundary pushers, rabble rousers, freaks and geeks who are shaking up the $21 BN promotional products industry.
 
My name is Mark Graham co-founder of commonsku and today I get the opportunity to speak with one of our industry’s foremost online community builders, Mike Schenker.
 
In his day job, Mike is the Executive Director of the Gold Coast Promotional Products Association, but his side hustle is guiding the ebb and flow of the Facebook Promotional Products Professionals group, a role that he proudly shares with Lisa Bibb
 
At 6134 members, the Promotional Products Professionals Group is the largest industry group on Facebook. It was founded in 2008 by Lisa Bibb as a way to bring industry people on Facebook together.
 
The group is well known within industry circles as a place where people can get ideas for projects they are working on, source hard to find products and discuss the latest trends. And yes, it’s also a place where some people come to vent and complain. More on that later.
 
Our episode today will explore the good, bad and ugly sides of building an industry group online and how one manages all of the different stakeholders, each of whom brings their differing opinions to the table.
 
There is never a dull day here folks, and I am excited to welcome Mike to get into the details with us today.
 
Mike, it’s great to have you here with us....