Tariffs significantly affected overall promo industry sales last year. So, it’s no surprise attendees at ASI Show Fort Worth would welcome a change in tariffs.

The finding highlighted the Education Day Wrap-Up: Tactics & Takeaways session that concluded the first day of the show.

Of the attendees participating in live polling during the Wrap-Up, more than four in ten said a reduction in tariff rates “would be great for my sales,” while another 19% said it would be “good for my sales.” A third said a reduction would be “irrelevant for my sales,” and 6% said it would be bad.

The question is top of mind right now after the Supreme Court struck down many of President Trump’s tariffs. The administration has responded by instituting a global 10% tariff rate on all countries. A federal judge ruled last week that “all importers of record” are entitled to refunds, though questions remain about the process to apply and the potential difficulty of having money returned.

Even with uncertainty over the future of tariffs, attendees were bullish about how sales are shaping up this year. Over 90% said 2026 sales would exceed their revenue last year, while 4% projected a decline.

Automation and AI were also a key topic among the day’s speakers who presented at the Wrap-Up. Sterling McKinley, who presented two sessions earlier in the day on how AI can drive sales and business results, remarked that AI can make you better at your job and save time. He urged attendees to take the three or four things you hate doing in your job and ask AI to identify how to make it faster and easier. Lastly, “don’t use AI to create,” he cautioned. “Use AI to critique. … Use it to improve and enhance your content.”

Jason McCracken, strategic partner for business development at Eagle Promotions (asi/185320), explained that while AI can perform mundane tasks and speed up convoluted procedures like submitting requests for proposal, “it doesn’t replace humans,” he said.

“You still have to be engaged, which is great, because it doesn’t replace you,” McCracken continued. “It enhances you.”

McCracken, a Counselor 2025 Salesperson of the Year finalist, explained how distributors sell the same products from the same suppliers. So what’s the differentiating factor? “What makes you special is you, the real relationship that you build thanks to the human element,” he said. “Pick up the phone, go make that trip, fly to that customer, sit and have the coffee with them for 30 minutes. The result of what you can deliver will beat a catalog every time.”

Print on demand has been a significantly growing trend in promo that’s built on the back of automation. It certainly had the attention of the Fort Worth attendees. When asked if they anticipated print on demand would be a growing part of their business in 2026, 86% of attendees said “Yes.”

“Print on demand isn’t just the onesie, twosies,” said Dave Conner of Stahls’ (asi/88984) during the wrap-up. Conner is the director of product marketing for the company’s Fulfill Engine print-on-demand software and presented two sessions during the day. “It’s not just web stores. It’s where fulfillment meets demand on time every time. It’s about running merchandise fulfillment programs and [where we] stop being job-based.”