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Industry to key in on survival at Key Biscayne

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, November 18, 2001

HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — If tough times are the true test of leadership, furniture industry executives have had plenty of opportunities this year to develop their leadership skills.

A challenging business climate, coupled with a string of high-visibility retail failures and ongoing consolidation, has tested even the best executives.

Furniture/Today's Leadership Conference, Dec. 5-7, will tackle the industry's toughest issue — survival — with two keynote speakers and a variety of panel discussions. "Survival of the Fittest" is the theme.

The event also will provide plenty of the networking sessions that conference attendees traditionally rate highly. And it will give the furniture industry a chance to honor some of its best and brightest.

Retailers of the Year Keith Koenig and Kevin Koenig of City Furniture will be saluted at a Dec. 5 dinner. John D. Bassett III, president of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture, will be honored at the Manufacturer of the Year dinner the following evening.

The invitation-only conference will be at a new venue, the Ritz-Carlton at Key Biscayne, Fla. About 200 leading retailers, manufacturers and suppliers annually attend.

Retailers at last year's conference represented a combined buying power of $7 billion.

Patrick Lencioni, the first keynote speaker, will talk on "Surviving the Pitfalls that CEOs Face." An expert on organizational development, Lencioni is the author of two best-selling business books, "The Five Temptations of a CEO" and "Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive."

Another featured speaker will be Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a respected retail industry consulting and investment banking firm. For more than three decades he has helped retailers reinvent themselves to grow profitably. His topic will be "The Secrets of Retail Survivors."

A panel of some of the industry's biggest manufacturers, including Ron Wanek of Ashley, Bob Maricich of Century, Pat Norton of La-Z-Boy and Art DeFehr of Palliser, will tackle a variety of key issues. "Does Size Matter?" is the theme of that panel.

The changing face of furniture markets also will be addressed. An executive with the proposed Las Vegas furniture market will give an update on that market. Representatives of markets in San Francisco, High Point, Toronto and Tupelo will be on hand to talk about what they are doing to enhance their markets.

An "Ask the Analysts" panel will give the audience a chance to get the latest insights from industry experts Jerry Epperson, Joel Havard and Margaret Whelan.

DuPont economist Robert Fry will present his 2002 outlook for the furniture industry.

A panel of e-business survivors will assess growth prospects in that category, and analyst Peter Butenhoff will outline some of the lessons to be learned from a study of "How Imports Altered the Fabric of the Textile Industry."

A special feature of the conference will be a presentation on The Home Office of 2010, which will include furniture prototypes. Graduate students at North Carolina State University are producing the presentation.

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