AmericasMart University Gift Seminars

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Thursday, July 15

10:30-11:30 a.m.
Cash Flow and Managing Your Business: Part I
Retail Basics: Beginner
Presented by Dolly Evans [click here for bio]
Learn how to track your cash flow from month to month using actual to projected data. Identify the peaks and valleys based on seasonality, purchases and labor. Take-away from the session includes a CD with an Excel template for creating cash flow projections based on your company’s data.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Cash Flow and Managing Your Business: Part II
Retail Basics: Intermediate
Presented by Dolly Evans [click here for bio]
Learn to identify patterns in cash flow trends. Use what-if scenarios to determine how loans or investments are utilized and debt repaid. Plan for expansion with cash-flow analysis to help determine the validity of your plan.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

1-2 p.m.
The Retail Bottom Line: MONEY
How to Make It, How to Spend It Wisely and How to Keep It
Retail Basics: Advanced
Led by William Smith [click here for bio]
This fact-filled roundtable discussion covers the real world "dos" and "don'ts" of retailing. From day-to-day marketing and operations to money management, this important discussion can help you make and keep a profit. Smith facilitates this discussion as we examine the realities of retail. Learn from seasoned pros and from your peers what works and what doesn't as you navigate the money mine field of retailing.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

3-4 p.m.
Exhibitor Seminar: How to Think Like a Retailer
Presented by Albert Maslia [click here for bio]
Learn how to make your market profitable by understanding the minds of your buyers and determining what makes them “tick.”
Building (3), 3rd Floor Conference Center, Chastain Room

Friday, July 16

8:30-10 a.m.
Grow Your Sales with a Gift Registry
Buying and Selling: Beginner
Sponsored by HomeStyle, Ivystone Group, OneCoast/SnapRetail, Gifts & Decorative Accessories Magazine
Even in tough times, people still get married and have babies, and their friends and family members still spend money on wedding and baby gifts. How do you get them to purchase gifts at your store? What if you could quickly and affordably set up, market and maintain a gift registry? Learn from our industry expert and a seasoned retailer how to build incremental sales and increase transactions with a gift registry game plan.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1002

8:30-10:30 a.m.
Catching Up with the Kitchen Trend: How to Successfully Incorporate Kitchen Wares into Your Gift Business
Buying and Selling: Beginner
Presented by Mary Moore [click here for bio] and Janis Johnson [click here for bio]
Sponsored by Gourmet Catalog
Learn how to incorporate kitchen items into your gift store from two of the housewares industry’s most involved and educated businesswomen. The class covers integrating kitchen products with your current product assortment, planning a new layout, merchandising this area of your store, implementing promotional opportunities, planning for a realistic return on investment and taking advantage of the food and entertaining television industry. Let this presentation inspire you to “catch up” on the latest kitchen trend.
Building (2) WestWing, Floor 8, Demonstration Kitchen

9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Productive & Profitable: A Smarter Way to Shop
Presented by Albert Maslia [click here for bio]
A must for every buyer, learn your way around the campus and hear inside information to maximize your time at market.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1001

10:30- 11:30 a.m.
Creating an Effective Website: Transform Your Business Online
Building Your Brand: Beginner 
Presented by Brent Beatty, VP of Search and Social at What's Up Interactive [click here for bio]
Learn what it takes to transform your website from static “brochure-ware” to a lucrative marketing platform. Beatty will discuss the best means of designing, developing and managing content and how to maximize the most important asset you have for your business.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

Noon - 1 p.m.
Social Media Integration: How Does It All Fit Together?
Building Your Brand: Intermediate
Presented by Brent Beatty, VP of Search and Social at What’s Up Interactive [click here for bio]
Hear how an integrated social media strategy will work for your business. Beatty explains how to socially optimize your website and the best techniques to create and manage a holistic online marketing program.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

1:15-2:15 p.m.
Social Media Tracking and Analysis: What is Social Success?
Building Your Brand: Advanced
Presented by Brent Beatty, VP of Search and Social at What’s Up Interactive [click here for bio]
Learn about proper tracking, measurement and analysis techniques to ensure your social media program is optimized and driving results. Beatty will provide examples of the best tools for measurement and explain the best criteria for defining success.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

Saturday, July 17

8:30-10 a.m.
Merchandising on a Budget
Presented by Michele Flamer [click here for bio]
Sponsored by NARB, National Association of Retail Buyers
Learn tips on capturing the “science” behind merchandising for YOUR customer. Flamer shows you how to make your store modern and relevant and helps you learn how to design your store for success.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

9:30-10:30 a.m.
Art of Shopping and Good Customer Service
Presented by Albert Maslia [click here for bio]
Discover tips on how to shop more efficiently and how customer service can increase sales.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1001

11 a.m. - Noon
Market Keynote Address
Increasing Customer Interactions and Loyalty with Social Media
Presented by Olivier Blanchard [click here for bio]
This keynote presentation will cover the basics of social media and its benefits to your business, as well as tactics to improving your search engine optimization and company exposure. Learn why social media is worth your time and how you can use it more effectively. Blanchard is a Brand Strategist with 16 years of marketing management experience across a variety of B2B and B2C industries. He manages BrandBuilder Marketing, a brand consulting and marketing management firm that helps companies combine traditional and new/social media. Blanchard blogs daily on The BrandBuilder Blog.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1004

Sunday, July 18

11 a.m. - Noon
Market Keynote Address
What Shoppers Want: How Retail Can Thrive in a Post-recession World
Buying and Selling
Presented by Kathy Juckett, CEO Telescope Casual Furniture [click here for bio]
This in-depth look at the results of Telescope’s National Shopper Survey reveals shoppers’ attitudes coming out of the recession, including where they’re spending (and not), what’s important to them in home furnishings and décor, and where they’re heading next. Plus best practices and recommendations on how to get them to spend more.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1002

1-2 p.m.
Retailing in the New Economy
Retail Basics: Beginner
Presented by Albert Maslia [click here for bio]
A revolution is occurring in the retail world today in which all retailers, in an effort to gain a greater market share, are expanding their basic core assortments of merchandise into other than their traditional categories. The famous “Wheeler Wheel of Retailing” is starting to turn into what the retail industry calls “Cross Merchandising”. Retailing is moving away from the large shopping malls and returning to the individual store concept. Learn how your retail store can take advantage of the latest phenomena in retailing, which will add to the profitability of your operation.
Building (1), Floor 10, Room 1001