Excellence in Laundry conference

[mellofelow]

Thanks for the info. Man, that's a lot of coins to make up.

[chad]

Originally Posted by mellofelow

Thanks for the info. Man, that's a lot of coins to make up.

Yup! Should have been much cheaper... 80 owners is not much.

[mellofelow]

Originally Posted by chad

Yup! Should have been much cheaper... 80 owners is not much.

Correct me if I'm wrong... but the conference is only approximately 3 hours a day for two days. Plus manufacturers and vendors will be present. Does the price including a round of golf at Mission Hills?

[couvsuds]

I think they also consider all of the networking opportunities with fellow store owners and others to be part of the conference experience. Still, $600. Like I said before, throw in travel and lodging, and it's 2 grand. I think I'll pass this time ... I'm going to spend a little bit less going to Wisconsin for Alliance service school in October.

[mellofelow]

Networking is when everyone contributes their experience, ideas and best practice in the industry from personal and regional perspective. Seriously, it's as if my knowledge and input is not worthy? Frankly, the vendors probably will benefit from our perspective just as much as theirs.

As an IT professional, I attend conferences frequently and whiile the vendor, SAP for example, put up an event for their software users to inform new products, releases, and present the health of industry. At the same time, they learnt from attendees about their needs and future direction.

[chad]

Originally Posted by mellofelow

Correct me if I'm wrong... but the conference is only approximately 3 hours a day for two days. Plus manufacturers and vendors will be present. Does the price including a round of golf at Mission Hills?

Good question! I was hoping the turn out would be much better... I want to go because they are targeting multi store owners and that is something I am interested in. At the same time I was hoping to meet some folks that post on this board but I guess many wont be coming out. Its not easy to spend $2k on a 2 day trip these days.

[JohnH]

It is a pretty good chunk of change, but I'm really interested in learning how some of the bigger players put it it all together.

How much debt is too much debt? Is there a tipping point when you should pay all cash or only cash for expansion, or is it better to use leverage as you grow? What are some of the management models in use?

I'm sure there are multiple answers to each of these questions and a dozen others I have, but where else are you going to be able to pick the brains of guys who have already done this?

The other two topics sound pretty interesting, as well. I recently read Robert Spector's book "Mom and Pop Shop." He's a good writer. The book is full of stories about the struggles of small businesses, beginning with his dad's butcher shop. As business books go, it was not filled with much information on running a business, but it was an interesting read. I looked for his book on Nordstrom at my local Barnes and Noble, but they didn't have it in stock.

John

[STOUT]

Unfortunately I have another trade show the following week in a different industry that I am very much interested in going. They offer a 50% discount on first time attendees. Since I qualify and we are trying to get that business more successful, I need to put my energies and money into that trade show for now.
Perhaps next time.