Attending this particular show for the sixth time, the term I came up with to describe this show is "Super Regional," meaning that being held at the Orange County Convention Center, it is a sensible, affordable, manageable and very worthwhile choice for all Eastern U.S. distributors.
I have watched the steady growth of the show, most noticeably in the last 3 years where this year there were NO major supplier absentees among the exhibitors. The VERY extensive education program offerings by some of the industries' leading experts during the "Education Day" of the show as well as exhibit days on the show floor itself where I was able to earn a total of 9.0 education credit points during the event.
Popular themes that were much talked about throughout the event were the ongoing struggle to maintain profit margins, a more comprehensive "consultative selling" by distributors to better guide our customers, expanded "value added" service offerings by distributors to increase our professional worth, and the RAPIDLY advancing impact of technology on all we do.
I look forward to using all of the knowledge and obtained at the conference to help our customers have the best product offerings and experience this year with All Star.
