Furniture First Sets Symposium Agenda

March 31, 2014  by in Furniture Retailing, Industry, Special Events   

The event will be held May 12-14 at the Harbor Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The theme for this event, “Waves of Change, Oceans of Opportunity,” was inspired by the location for the meeting as well as the current retail climate.

Members will participate in peer-to-peer and vendor-led networking sessions, attend presentations given by retail experts, and learn from inspiring keynote speakers.

 The group’s symposium last year in New Orleans was Furniture First's most successful meeting to date. It broke all of Furniture First’s Symposium attendance records and was enthusiastically received by members and vendors alike.  “Following the success of our last Symposium, 2014 is on track to be even better,” said Bill Hartman, president of Furniture First. “Member attendance is up 12 percent over last year, and vendor attendance is up 43 percent. Increased interaction among our member retailers and vendor partners is the focus of events like the Symposium, and the programming is designed to encourage it.  Our dealers come away with new insights, tools, and ideas as a result of these exchanges.”

To help promote and organize the event, Furniture First has built a Symposium microsite. This Web site, built in-house by Furniture First staff, highlights the meeting agenda and session descriptions, provides guest speaker bios, lists local restaurants and attractions, and allows members to register online.