the best program you are not attending
Posted 4/6/2009 - 10:12:01 AM
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What are these?
This year’s International Home + Housewares Show was one of my most eagerly anticipated in years, for a number of reasons. First, there were a number of new initiatives at HOMEWORLD BUSINESS®, parent publication to Gourmet Insider. For the first time, the homeworldbusiness.com website carried live daily updates from the show floor, with staff editors uploading breaking news throughout the day, every day of the show. Also for the first time, HomeWorld and Gourmet Insider brought a videographer to the show and filmed interviews with major vendors as well as with celebrity chefs including Paula Deen, Tyler Florence and Iron Chef Michael Symon, which can now be seen on the both the HomeWorld and Gourmet Insider websites. These exciting new online offerings are merely the first of many new developments you will be seeing and hearing about in the coming months. These new web efforts also included my first Twitter posts or “Tweets,” as I understand they are called, which enabled me to provide live updates from the International Housewares Association’s Specialty Retailer University program held the Saturday before the show. Now in its sixth year, the Specialty Retailer University program is a full-day series of seminars specifically designed to provide gourmet housewares store owners and managers with tips, strategies and specific tools for improving their business. This year’s program is covered in detail beginning on page 24 of this issue, and I would encourage those of you who did not attend to check it out to see what you missed. Attendance at this year’s program was down from last year, not too surprising given the economy. However, given the substantial number of gourmet housewares store folks I saw on the show floor Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I’m a little surprised attendance at this invaluable program continues to lag. Put simply, this is the best program you are not attending. Having followed the “University” since the founding of Gourmet Insider, and having sat through the entire program for the last two years, I can honestly say Specialty Retailer University is a must-see for anyone who owns or manages a gourmet housewares store. At $75 for the full day, including lunch, it’s a bargain. The networking opportunities alone are worth the price of admission. Each seminar, and typically there are five to six each year, offers, at a minimum, one practical strategy you can use to improve your store’s sales. One of this year’s seminars included group brainstorming sessions with the goal of developing a low-cost event to improve sales, boost traffic, gain new customers or achieve any other goal the groups defined for themselves as part of the exercise. Imagine for a minute sitting in a brainstorming session with some of the most creative independent storeowners around the country to share ideas, strategies and experiences. What’s that worth to your store? Most of the presenters also set aside appointment time during the show for free consultations with University attendees. Let me say that again: Free consultations with store designers, merchandising experts, Internet designers and marketing specialists. In an economy where every dollar is stretched to the breaking point, the word “free” seems mighty appealing. At a time when every store owner must be concerned with driving store traffic, maximizing every footprint through the front door and operating as efficiently as possible, a low-cost program that provides information specifically crafted to address these issues would seem an important, even critical destination. Sitting in a half empty room on Saturday listening to presentations so packed with detailed information I was getting writer’s cramp, I was reminded of those critically acclaimed television shows over the years that just never find their audience. In this case, I think the audience needs to find the program. If not, a real opportunity will be missed. I hope to see many more of you at next year’s event. It is well worth your time.
