IRDC

 

I know I tend to wax rhapsodic about Iron Merchant and the big IRDC party and all the other networking opportunities at the conference. There are two reasons for that. One, the networking -- and believe me, it's real networking, not just socializing -- is frequently cited by attendees as a key reason for attending IRDC. And two ... well, they're fun to talk about. A lot more fun than declining retail sales and store bankruptcies. But don't let that fool you.

We're well aware that this conference has to offer a hell of a lot more than a chance to glue sea creatures to mannequin torsos, which is why the actual session planning is a massive endeavor that takes a full year to execute. We need the right types of sessions for what retailers need now. We need the right speakers willing to share concrete details of their experiences and insights. And we need to cram in as much substantial content as we can to make this conference worth your time and money.

Many of our sessions are panel discussions for this reason, so we can get a variety of retailers with distinct voices to weigh in on the topics at hand. At this point in the summer, the VMSD editors and I are getting ready to reach out to the people on these panels to zero in on what's going to be covered and how. It typically takes several conference calls and flurries of e-mails, but it's well worth it to keep the sessions targeted and meaningful. We do our best to ensure that each speaker offers something unique to the discussion.

And then, when the day comes and the session gets under way, the conversation invariably takes fascinating turns when the audience gets involved. Attendees bring up questions or points of view that we hadn't considered during our prep work, and our panelists get to ponder and debate something they've never discussed with one another. And guess what?

It's really fun. Brain-stimulating, career-building, perspective-shifting fun.

--Kristin