There are years when planning for the International Christian Retail Show takes precedence over all other job responsibilities here at CBA. This has been one of those years – not just for me but for everyone on staff. The need to have a trade show that delivers tangible take-aways and finely tuned business solutions is one of the driving forces behind why prepping for ICRS has taken over our daily calendars leading up to the industry’s largest event.
Dean Edwards, CBA’s data guru, often says he deals in the “cornflakes” of life while at work. That is, he’s messing around in the soggy, sometimes indecipherable details of data. Cornflakes abound for everyone during ICRS season though. It’s easy to get stuck in the details and not see the big picture of what’s happen and how things are shifting. At least it feels that way for me this time of the year.
As tedious as the cornflakes can be, they are paramount to delivering those aforementioned tangible take-aways and finely tuned business solutions. If we didn’t traverse through the cornflakes, we wouldn’t gather together next week. And what has come from the cornflakes is exciting this year.
Here are a few happenings from the Show that if you’re not careful, you’ll miss as you’re wading through your own cornflakes:
Kelly Gallagher & Rebeca Seitz’s free workshop called Know Thy Customer: Going Deeper in our Understanding. First of all, this event is free. So you should be there. Second, I’ve read both Rebeca’s report and the hot-off-the-presses CBA report, Know Thy Customer: Achieving High-Performing Retailing During the Downturn. Both contain excellent insights into current consumer shopping habits and are invaluable to retailers today. Suppliers can easily take away a few light bulb ideas too. If you want to know how to change your business operations to better suit today’s customer needs, then be sure to block off time for this event on Monday, July 13, from 9-10 a.m. in the Town Center presentation area. Then take what you learn in this session, combined with what you learned in the Marketing PCRs (which are on Sunday afternoon) and apply it all to your business strategy.
Since I mentioned it in the last paragraph, I’ll just plug the new CBA report Know Thy Customer again. Using the new CBA Consumer Intelligence service, this report will not only tell you the who and the when behind customer buying habits, but also answers the why and the how, and most importantly, the “what now?” questions. I read through the report earlier today and it’s worth the investment. Pick up a copy in Town Center
The Show floor will be smaller in terms of square footage, but there are nearly 300 companies exhibiting this year. Debut Avenue sold out and we had so many companies wanting to get in it that we had to expand the “avenue”. It’s more like a cul-de-sac now. To have that many companies attending and even more interested in being at the Show speaks directly to their interest in this channel. I’m impressed that all those companies will be there, and I’m exciting to see how their weeks go, especially the ones who are offering exclusive Show specials.
While I was at GMA earlier this spring, I ran into Britt Nicole in one of the women’s restrooms. We had a brief chat about clothes or hair or some inconsequential topic that women always talk about while staring into the mirrors of public restrooms. What struck me as noticeable about Britt though is her spunk. It will be fun to see what she brings to the stage during the Power of Music event on Sunday night.
While scheduling my evening appointments for Monday and Tuesday, I realized I had invitations to five different movie screenings between those two days. I’ve already seen a few of these films so I thought I’d decline the invitation in lieu of attending a concert or another type of event. But then I realized I didn’t have any concerts lined up to cover and I hadn’t heard of any other events on those nights besides the screenings. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a growing trend. Regardless, I’m excited to connect with all film industry people at the Show and see what they’ve been working on this past year!
And as soon as I finish this post, I am off to the Apple Store across the street to purchase an iPhone for the CBA Service Provider giveaway. CBA member retailers who visit with the Service Providers and sign up for their services will be entered in a drawing to win either the iPhone, a free hotel stay at any Marriott Hotel in the country, or simply $500 cash. Retailers can pick up an entry card that explains the whole contest in the registration area, Town Center, or at one of the Service Providers’ booths.
See you next week!
We are very excited to see the "whole bowl of cereal"!
Posted by: Calvary Distribution | October 15, 2009 at 11:26 AM