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“Helping You Sleep Better at Night” will be the theme of the 48th annual Garden Center Symposium scheduled for Jan. 11-12, 2012, at the Country Springs Hotel in Waukesha, Wis. Event organizers recently announced the speaker lineup:
- Ian Baldwin, contributing editor for Garden Center magazine and well-known international garden center retail consultant will focus on helping retailers figure out how to tempt customers through topics such as “Thinking Like a Customer” and “Making it easy for Customers to Spent Money.”
- Bob Negen of Whiz Bang Training will focus on training staff to be Retail Superstars and structuring your time to be as productive as possible.
- Chris Beytes, editor and publisher at Ball Publishing will discuss gardening trends that he has learned of in his travels.
Two additional speakers will focus on web presence and e-marketing for smaller, independent businesses:
- Barry Callen is a creative marketing guru who assists business large and small create targeted marketing communications, print and electronic. Participants will be encouraged to bring their marketing pieces for individual analysis.
- Barry Roberts of the University of Wisconsin Small Business Development Center will provide guidelines on how small businesses can successfully use the web to supplement their operations.
And, after successfully debuting roundtable discussions last year, attendees will be encouraged to engage in one-on-one conversations with each of the speakers on situations specific to their individual needs.
Registration materials for the Garden Center Symposium will be available beginning in September at www.gardencentersymposium.com.