BETHESDA, MD—The Twelfth Annual Decorative Plumbing & Hardware Association (DPHA) Conference will be taking place in Chandler, AZ, with a theme of “Thriving on Disruption.” The conference will run October 9 to 12, 2013, at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa. Featuring a series of interactive workshops led by industry experts, the conference is expected to attract market-leading showroom owners from the United States and Canada and provides a valuable resource for those owners to meet face-to-face with leading decision makers.
“A disruption is a missile that is fired at your business,” says DPHA Program and Showcase Committee Co-Chair Gary Erickson (Renaissance Design Studio, Beverly Hills, CA). “For most DPHA Annual members that missile has been the Internet. One of the goals of the 2013 DPHA Annual Conference and Showcase is to teach DPHA members how to convert Internet researchers into brick and mortar showroom customers by providing content that customers want and need, by delivering more compelling in-store and online experiences and offering the answers to questions that make showrooms a go-to resource for their clientele.”
Conference highlights:
- Robb Best, Elkay Manufacturing Director of Education and Design –his presentation will detail how to layout a show-stopping showroom, how to develop vignettes that surprise and delight showroom visitors, how to maximize the use of a store’s retail footprint and how to offer a layout that flows well and directs customers through displays logically.
- Another workshop will help showrooms better understand their customer’s journey by examining different touch points customers have when designing new or renovating existing baths and kitchens. The session will also review the jobs showrooms perform more easily, conveniently and affordably than online or discounting competitors and using those to their advantage.
- Roundtable Workshop entitled “What’s Working in Showrooms and Why.” Moderated by Ken Rohl (ROHL) the discussion with feature Ken Goren (Hardware Designs, Fairfield, NJ), Kaye Powell (Chown Hardware, Portland, OR) and Brad Clore (Belmont Hardware, San Francisco, CA). This workshop features showrooms most successful practices in areas that include staff training, trade outreach, displays and merchandising, customer service, technology, vendor and product selection and marketing, among others.
- A second workshop led by Robb Best will provide the tools and strategies showrooms use to reach designers and architects. He will explain how to establish a viable network of key influencers and explore tools to educate and convince specific customer types.
- On Saturday, October 12, an education program will be presented by Marcus Sheridan (River Pools and Spas) and will take aim at turning the Internet from showroom adversary into ally. Sheridan has personal experience using content marking to convert Internet researchers into showroom customers and how to make showroom web sites the places customers go to first research project needs.
More information about the DPHA Annual Conference or the group in general can be found here.