The Knowledge Society
In our Information Age, knowledge — not muscle power, as in the Industrial Age — is the primary economic mover. No longer can you leave your school days behind. Lifetime education is the new norm.
Indeed, to retain a business advantage today, you must stay updated on systems, processes and best practices. Luckily, the direct marketing industry offers numerous such educational opportunities. I want to highlight just a few of them here. (I apologize in advance if I’ve missed one of your personal favorite events.) Following are the conferences whose planners I’ve found to consistently offer valuable education to catalog executives.
The annual National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment (NCOF), held this month in Grapevine, Texas, usually offers outstanding seminars on topics important to your catalog’s distribution center, contact center and operations managers.
The Annual Catalog Conference, to be held next month in Orlando, Fla., offers sessions on catalog circulation, creative/production, marketing, e-commerce and merchandising.
The New England Mail Order Association (NEMOA) offers two conferences annually. Topics covered in the most recent one, held in Cambridge, Mass., last month, included creative, circulation, merchandising, branding, industry trends, Internet sales and technology. The next NEMOA conference is scheduled for Sept. 21 to 23 in Groton, Conn. I hope you’ll forgive my shameless plug here: I’m scheduled to moderate a session at the September show. Several catalogers who made our Top 200 list will be on the panel. You’ll get to hear about their success strategies.
The Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Catalog Council offers several terrific educational events, including the Catalog-on-the-Road conference, at which Bill LaPierre, vice president at Millard Group, gives his annual seminar “What Were They Thinking,” a hilarious, yet informative, look at catalog hits and misses from the previous year. The Catalog Council also offers useful workshops for your junior-level staffers to get them up to speed on cataloging’s business practices.
Of course, there’s the DMA’s Annual Conference, always helpful to direct marketing know-how. This year it’ll be in Atlanta, Oct. 15 to 19.
And finally, there’s the annual conference of the eCommerce & Catalog Systems Forum, a nicely targeted show for anyone who selects or manages direct commerce systems and services. This year’s conference was held in New Orleans last month, and Catalog Success was proud to be one of its sponsors.
All of these — and many other — conference planners can help you stay in the game in this, our knowledge-based society.
