Education and Events

Education is a continual process. True leaders are constantly learning and searching for new ideas -- both from within and outside their own industry. RILA is fortunate to have members that are engaged in the process of developing the most comprehensive and thought-provoking programs for its conferences and events. Through conference steering committees, members -- retailers and suppliers -- contribute to the planning and programming of RILA conferences. They also serve as advisory boards on issues within their specific disciplines.

RILA's 2008 events -

The Leadership Forum 2008 took place in January at the Ritz Carlton in Naples, Florida. The forum offered top industry executives an opportunity to discuss key issues facing the industry, network with their peers, and learn—both from invited experts and from one another. The Leadership Forum is an invitation-only event and is open exclusively to top executives from RILA retail and product manufacturer members. In order for service suppliers to attend, they must reach Partner status. Next year's event will be held at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples, from January 25-27.

Logistics 2008 had record-breaking attendance once again with more than 900 attendees. This is the only Logistics Conference dedicated to education for all segments of retail. There were 100+ retailer and product supplier companies representing all segments of retail. The conference kept a strict ratio of 1:2 of retailers and product suppliers to exhibitors. Logistics 2009 will take place February 8-11, at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas, Texas. For information on exhibiting or sponsoring, please click here.

Loss Prevention, Auditing & Safety 2008 took place April 29 – May 2, 2008, in Dallas, Texas. We kept the 1:1 ratio of retailers and product suppliers to exhibitors at the conference. The conference contained a separate safety track for executives interested in safety sessions exclusively. Next year’s conference will take place in Orlando, Florida, May 3 – May 6. Please click here for more information on exhibiting or sponsoring.

Customer -Centric Stores Webinar - On June 3, RILA hosted a webinar sponsored by SAP during which Paula Rosenblum, managing partner for Retail Systems Research, presented the findings from RSR's recent survey on "Customer-Centric Stores." Louise Kennard, director of staffing, budgeting and expense controls for The Bon Ton Stores, provided a case study demonstrating how the research reflected current efforts of the retailer. Verlin Youd, senior vice president of global trading industries for SAP, wrapped up the presentation with information on what is available today to help retailers stay ahead of the competition. Part II of the webinar, “Customer – Centric Merchandising,” will take place on August 7, 2008.

Download a copy of the presentation.

To listen to a recorded version of the presentation, visit https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/rila/view and enter the following information:

    Subject: Customer Centric Stores 
    Recording ID: 249BFD-1
    Attendee Key: scz]G!6