Jun 12, 2017

IGC Show Will Offer Free Education Sampler

IGC Show organizers have announced the IGC Retailer Conference Free Sampler on Tuesday is back for 2017. All IGC Show attendees are invited to Judy Sharpton’s workshop, “Starting Over: What If You Did Use a Bulldozer,” on Tuesday morning for free — no “All-Access Pass” required. No need to RSVP — IGC Show officials encourage you to come as you are, and pull up a seat to get a taste of the interactive conference. Free coffee and donuts will be served.

This year’s IGC Retailer Conference features five tracks of all-new interactive retail workshops that dig deep into issues of paramount importance to the success of indies today, including “Cashing In on the ‘Shop Local’ Movement,” “Trying to Find the Work-Life Balance,” “Dollars & $ense,” “Store Makeovers” and “Using Google to Power Your Market Research.” Each of the tracks’ sessions is detailed in full in the IGC Show 2017 Planning Guide, now available for download here.

Jeff Milchen, co-founder and co-director of the American Independent Business Alliance, leads the track, Cashing In On the “Shop Local” Movement. His sessions will look at what works — and what doesn’t — in building effective “shop local and independent” campaigns that draw more customers to your garden center. This all-new track will look at how to turn your garden center’s community roots into customer loyalty, and how to build your base through community partnerships. Part of this process involves working with other local independent businesses to form an alliance that puts muscle behind the “shop local” push. Milchen will tell you how to initiate an independent business alliance and how to collaborate as a group to promote it for maximum impact at your cash registers.