BrandSource Convention draws record registration for educational tracks
By YSN Staff
It’ll be back to school for BrandSource members next week, when Convention 2022 rings in an extensive curriculum of must-attend trainings and business sessions.
Registration for the educational tracks has already broken previous attendance records, forcing the AVB Events team to relocate at least two programs to larger quarters at the Gaylord Texan, the Convention’s host facility.
ServiceSource
Among the show’s hottest tickets is the ServiceSource track. Led by ServiceSource senior lead Paul MacDonald, the series kicks off at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 29 with a crucial how-to on setting profitable service rates based on your cost of doing business. Later that day, Master Samurai Tech, Fred’s Appliance Academy and Dyer Appliance Repair Academy will share best practices in training new technicians, the folks from The Original Blue Book will discuss the lasting impression on customers that your service personnel make and the benefits of flat-rate pricing, and red-tape untanglers JustPressOne will discuss the advantages and pitfalls of warranty service.
MacDonald will wrap things up the following morning at 7:30 a.m. with a Service Town Hall Breakfast, where members can submit any and all questions to Paul and his vendor panel of national service managers.
Furniture Technology Source
FTS will be on the seminar scene with two full days of vendor trainings and special sessions that will help members galvanize sales by leveraging AVB’s industry-leading technology. Monday’s classes include “Best Practices on Driving Foot Traffic Through Promotions” (1 p.m.) and “Optimizing Your Product” (2 p.m.), to be followed on Tuesday morning with a Furniture Town Hall Breakfast at 7:30 a.m., led by AVB’s home furnishings general manager Michael Posa.
LUXE
BrandSource’s dedicated LUXE initiative is designed to help members enjoy the rich margins delivered by super-premium appliances, and will be the subject of two must-attend sessions on Monday morning. First up at 10 a.m. is “Marketing & Events,” wherein Monogram execs will explain how to plan, execute and conclude a luxury designer event, followed at 11 a.m. by “Luxury Vendor Executive Panel” that will assess the sector and discuss the latest trends and forecasts.
HRSource
AVB’s sweeping human resources initiative led by managing lead Daniel Abramson will celebrate its first year at Convention with a special presentation by keynote speaker and generational expert Matt Havens on Monday at 10 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. His humorous and informative session “Stop Acting Your Age!” will address the generational divide facing today’s workplace while poking fun at our cultural foibles. Topping the HRSource agenda is an Abramson-hosted Town Hall gathering at 1 p.m. on Monday, in which the president/founder of StaffDynamics, author of two books and past president of international search and staffing firm Dunhill Staffing Systems will take on the most pressing employment challenges facing independent dealers today.
AVB Marketing
Join AVBM’s crack digital team for a deep dive on the marketing tools that will help members stake their marketplace claims. Kicking off the track is digital success GM Grant Hancock, who will explain “How to Merchandise Your Store and Website to Win in the Digital Age” on Monday at 10 a.m., followed at 11 a.m. by Eric Hunter, marketing products GM, who will review the various marketing levers to help drive business and how to measure their effectiveness. Later that afternoon at 1 p.m., product GM Kate Morris will spotlight the full AVB Marketing product suite and show how these powerful tools can be integrated, while Caleb Ferguson, director of marketing products, will present a panel of member dealers who will share their marketplace success stories.
Vendor Trainings
In addition, there’s a record 30 separate appliance and mattress product trainings scheduled for this Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The schedule includes seven vendors — Allstate, Ashley Furniture, Corsicana, Dacor, Miele, Package A.I., and Sterns & Foster — that will be offering classes for the first time ever at Convention.
The complete Convention agenda is available for download here.
BrandSource, a unit of YSN publisher AVB Inc., is a nationwide buying group for independent appliance, furniture, mattress and CE dealers.
