Eco Working Meeting General Session

Tuesday, January 20: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Salons A-D

This working meeting will tackle the goals and action items of the subcommittees.  All industry companies who are participating in or are interested in learning more about corporate social responsibility or green product development practices are encouraged to attend.


Eco Working Meeting Breakout Session A
Tuesday, January 20: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Salons E


Eco Working Meeting Breakout Session B
Tuesday, January 20: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Deer Valley

 
Industry Breakfast
Thursday, January 22: 7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Speaker: Ken Burns
Location: Salons A-F

Join Outdoor Industry Association for a very special morning with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns as he provides a sneak peak to his upcoming film, THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA to the industry.  Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, Florida’s Everglades to Alaska’s Gates of the Arctic — THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA is a six-part, 12-hour documentary series by Ken Burns on the history of America’s national parks. This is a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs — who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved and in doing so, reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

THE NATIONAL PARKS, airing in September 2009 on PBS, will be a national television event with a major PBS advertising and public awareness campaign launching in January designed to engage Americans across the nation in learning about this precious resource. At a time of economic uncertainty, the outdoors and our parks present an opportunity for our industry to remind our customers the outdoors helps improve mental and physical health and is a great means for escape in troubling times.

Outdoor Industry Association, in conjunction with PBS, has developed a free retail toolkit of simple ideas to tap into the national promotion and reach out to your communities, engage your customers in the outdoors and get them excited to head out to the parks and reconnect with nature. Pick up a toolkit at the industry breakfast, or download at www.outdoorindustry.org.
 

Growing the Size of Your Business No Matter What the Economic Conditions!
Thursday, January 22: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Jay Townley
Location: Deer Valley

This seminar presents the Five Ways to grow your business with appropriate references to the OIA SROR Report – and the three over-arching changes that owners and managers need to commit to:

1.       Increase the value of transactions: Real world examples including pricing policies, merchandise mix and assortment planning.

2.       Increase the number of transactions: Using retail POS databases to drive cost efficient direct response marketing.

3.       Increase the number of customers: How to use Net promoter and generate positive word of mouth, or WOM to grow the number of customers.

4.       Complete retail process: A common sense retail process focused on consistently providing extraordinary customer service.

5.       Work with business partners that add value: The key to first surviving and than thriving…is working with channel partners that support high inventory turnover and GMROI (with an olive) while providing satisfactory merchandise selection and availability.

Three over-arching changes:

1.       Develop a passion for retail that is at least equal to your passion for the products.

2.       Focus your whole organization on becoming consumer-centric.

3.       Making a commitment to lead!

 
The Customer of 2012
Thursday, January 22: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Lynn Switanowski-Barrett, CBCG, President
Location: Salon E

The changes and transformations expected in consumer shopping trends/attitudes between now and 2012 are staggering.  Where will your business be in the new world of retail 2012?  Now is the time to begin thinking about how will your business be positioned – and prepared --to meet the needs of your future customers.

This seminar will focus discussion around the expected complexities of retailing in 2012.

• Managing the shifting demographics of consumers—Who they are, where will they live, and how will they shop
• Household downsizing- What does a typical household look like in 2012? Who lives there? Who shops there?
• More educated consumers- The information super highway delivers information and education to consumers faster than ever. How will you deliver your businesses’ message?

 
Returning to America
Thursday, January 22: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Moderator: Doug Hoschek
Location: Salon D

Create awareness and organization through the Outdoor Retailers who attend OR and affiliate shows to build relationships and products that are made in America. The commitment is to follow a path of Sustainable Business with a strong emphasis on the Social Responsibility to protect jobs in America and create new jobs by building more Outdoor Products in America.

Returning to America is a project supported by Outdoor Retailer and will be moderated by veteran Doug Hoschek. A panel of four is the goal and the audience focus is retail store owners who want to development a strategy and actual products to bring made in America products to their stores and customers.


Caution: Restricted Substance Legislation-Ripple Effects Throughout the Supply Chain
Friday, January 23: 7:00 – 9:00 a.m.
Moderator: Joe Walkuski, Founder and CEO of TEXbase, Inc.
Location: Salons A-D

The Consumer Product Improvement Act of 2008 becomes effective February 10, 2009, limiting the use of lead on products for children up to the age of 12.  As a result, apparel manufacturers and their retail customers may be stuck with large amounts of inventory that will soon be illegal to sell.  The product safety law also boosts the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) funding and authority, and raises concern regarding certain types of phthalates and other questionable chemicals used within the product development process.  The impact on the entire supply chain is significant.  Current global pressures will continue to increase into the future with mounting regulations on restricted substances.
 
FabricLink and TEXbase present this Panel to address what this legislation means to Brands, Suppliers and Retailers; and to explore the supply chain’s responsibility to provide transparent production, including ways to track and insure the various components are in compliance with these new safety requirements.
Join this important and timely discussion.  Have your questions answered, plan your strategy and network!

The Panel will include representatives from the following supply chain segments:

• Fabric Mill / Trim manufacturer
• Major Apparel Brand
• 3rd Party Testing Lab
• Retailer
• American Apparel & Footwear Assoc. / CPSC

Explore Life, Mankind and What it Means to Run a Business in Today's Increasingly Crazy World
Friday, January 23: 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Kristen Ulmer, Zen Facilitator, Founder of Ski to Love
Location: Salon E

Join Kristen Ulmer - named best female big mountain skier in the world for 12 years, now a full time facilitator of Zen Wisdom- in a profound experience where we explore different kinds of consciousness as they relate to the Outdoor Business and your life.

Using Big Mind, a simple facilitated dialog, come explore your motivations, your work and far far beyond in a one hour oasis that just might affect the way you see just about anything. 

This experience is limited to the first 30 people who appear. We will start exactly at noon and doors will be closed after that time.

 
Inventory Management: The Process Is More Important Than the Technology!
Friday, January 23: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Jay Townley
Location: Deer Valley

Inventory Management is a collective term for eleven retail store functions that are tied into a bigger and more complete store process.  The store process consists of the steps your store consistently follows in providing an exceptional retail shopping experience – part of which is having the merchandise your customers want, when they want it!

1.       Merchandise assortment planning
2.       Sales forecasting at the stock keeping unit (SKU) and category levels
3.       Open to buy (OTB) analysis and management
4.       Purchasing and generating and issuing purchase orders
5.       Use of scanning technology from door to door
6.       Regular and consistent education of staff to ensure complete working knowledge of the store POS system
7.       Retail process that assures consistent staff use of every aspect of the store POS system
8.       Retail process that specifies what metrics will be tracked and regularly generated by the POS and financial reporting software/systems
9.       Store operating policies and procedures in the store manual that document and fully support the inventory management process
10.    Store management that consistently and uniformly supervises, guides and helps staff adhere to store operating policies and procedures
11.    Store management that consistently educates the staff in the store retail process, including inventory management

At the end of the day…it’s not the computers or software, it is the store process, policies, procedures and management that make for great, more profitable inventory management!
 

Sport Trends & Influences
Friday, January 23: 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Renee L’Abbe, Director,  Promostyl
Location: Salon D

Promostyl presents an in-depth look at the lifestyle currents influencing the sports market for Spring/Summer 2010 (with a emphasis on the fitness, outdoor, and active sports sectors).  The presentation also looks at the evolution of colors, silhouettes, and styling for the season. A must for designers and product developers and even big-picture buyers.  Promostyl's Sport Spring/Summer 2010 presentation debuts exclusively at Outdoor Retailer for its attendees. 

 
Eco Working Group Meeting
Saturday, January 24: 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Location: Deer Valley

Hear the latest progress by the OIA Eco Working Group to develop a manufacturing index that will determine how the industry measures its environmental footprint.  All industry companies interested in learning more about, or that are currently participating in corporate social responsibility or green product development practices are encouraged to attend.
Speaker: Britt Bivens, Director,  Promostyl
Saturday, January 24: 7:30-9:00 a.m.

B2B Working Group Meeting
Saturday, January 24: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Co-Chairs: Brad Tollefson, Backcountry.com, Andrew McClellan, Arcteryx
Location: Deer Valley

Over the past six years the OIA Business to Business working group has successfully developed and promoted a technical communications standard that allows for more efficient manufacture to retailer business through the use of XML. Today, the second version of the OIA XML B2B Specification is available to outdoor industry businesses and is being used by more than 46 retailers and 17 manufacturers. Snowsports and action sports businesses have also seen the benefits of using the standard – including improved ordering capabilities, a lessened need for double entry, and greater access to vendor inventories. Find out how your business can benefit from the B2B Standards, how to get your systems ready, and how to connect with other businesses that are using the Standard.

 

The Inside Scoop on Outdoor Marketing Online
Saturday, January 24: 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Walter Lahmann, Director, GNOutdoor Sales
Location: Salon E

Gorilla Nation, the world’s largest web publisher rep firm, presents an educational look at online marketing and advertising. For advertisers, its new GNOutdoor vertical market offering provides aggregated target market reach of over 50 premium websites in the hunting, fishing, boating, hiking, motorcycling, ATV, and outdoor equipment markets. For outdoor-related web publishers GNOutdoor provides a specialized sales force with access to major brand advertising budgets through ad agencies and directly from brand marketers. Most marketers are now spending about 10% of their media budgets online, and are taking advantage of the unique interactive features of the internet to engage and motivate consumers. Innovative case studies will be presented to illustrate proven advertising strategies and tactics. This session is a must for anyone not wanting to be left behind in a media revolution that has been well underway for quite some time.