Bedding Conference to focus on retailers

David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 28, 2011

MaasHIGH POINT — Bedding retailers can polish their playbooks at Furniture/Today's sixth-annual Bedding Conference.

The three-day event is set for May 4-6 at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Hotel & Resort in Aventura, Fla. It features a full educational program, a retail awards dinner, and several opportunities for networking - the same elements that have made the Bedding Conference one of the top events each year for bedding retailers, producers and suppliers. A full house is expected.

The theme of this year's conference is "Polishing the Playbook: Skill Sets for Retail Bedding Success." Speakers will address several key issues facing bedding retailers.

Dr. James Maas, an authority on better sleep issues, will deliver the keynote address. Maas, a longtime professor at Cornell University, speaks on sleep topics to audiences around the world. His latest book is "Sleep for S u c c e s s ! " The title of his talk is "Everything you must know about sleep but are too tired to ask!"

Another featured speaker will be Delia Passi, CEO of Medelia Inc. and an expert on the power of female consumers. She has developed a training program designed to help retailers better connect with female consumers. Also featured will be Bob Lietz, president of Advertising Concepts of America, who will review some of the top mattress ads of the past year. His talk is titled "The Advertising Playbook."

Maas' talk is sponsored by Paramount Sleep, while Passi's session is sponsored by Hickory Springs, once again the headline sponsor of the conference. Lietz' talk is sponsored by Therapedic International.

Social media issues will be discussed by Dan Schecter, vice president of sales and marketing for Carpenter's consumer products division. He is responsible for Carpenter's social media programs, and oversaw the launch of the "Two guys and 600 pillows" video that has gone viral with more than 3.7 million views on the Internet.

Three panel discussions are planned for the conference. Representatives of three top furniture stores - R.C. Willey, Art Van Furniture and El Dorado Furniture - will discuss the strategies they use to grow their mattress business. The other panels will feature top bedding specialty stores and executives of the top bedding brands.

Craig McAndrews, an executive with Houston-based Mattress Firm, one of the nation's largest bedding specialty retailers, will lead an interactive session in which he will identify strategies for success that retailers can pursue this year.McAndrews

A highlight of the conference will be the gala dinner on May 5 honoring four Retail Giants of Bedding.

For more information on the conference, go to www. furnituretoday.com and look for the link at the top of the page to the Bedding Conference. The conference has its own Web page, where key details are presented.

Heather Grant, Furniture/ Today's conference & events manager, is coordinating registration for the conference and other details. She can be contacted at (336) 605-1061 or at hgrant@sandowmedia. com.