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Special
Report
Education
Explosion
Now there is twice the opportunity to learn more.
Editor’s Note: For seven years, industry expert and D&WC
columnist Cheryl Strickland has sponsored the Custom Home Furnishings
Educational Conference and Trade Show. The conference has grown
every year since its beginning. The first show had 150 attendees,
five instructors and eight vendors. Last year’s event had 800
attendees, 43 instructors and 145 vendor booths.
This year the conference is experiencing an education explosion
as it expands to two locations: one in the south (Greenville, SC,
August 4 to 8) and one in the north (Philadelphia, PA, September
29 to October 3). In this Q & A, Strickland provides all the
details:
D&WC: A national trend in trade shows recently
is declining attendance. Why has your conference and trade show
continued to grow and be a success?
Cheryl Strickland: First
and foremost our event is an educational conference. There’s
always a need for good education for both the beginner and industry
veterans. Because I and my teaching staff have been involved directly
in the business for so many years, we understand what people in
the custom home furnishings industry need. We know the challenges
they face because they contact us to help them. Over the years,
we have become acquainted with so many experienced people in the
industry. Fortunately, most of them are also willing to share, and
they care about the people in our industry. This caring attitude
is so important and is what makes our conference so special.
A unique feature that makes our conference so popular is the presentation
of hands-on classes. Camcorders project the instructor’s demonstration
onto monitors placed around the room so that all attendees can see
the smallest detail. Many of our classes provide hands-on opportunities
for attendees to actually make a treatment or try out a technique
themselves.
Another very big advantage is that our conference is affordable,
not only for the attendees but also for the vendors. Our goal has
always been to keep the prices low. We are going into our eighth
year, and we have never raised the price to attend.
Another key ingredient to our success is our vendor hall. We experienced
phenomenal growth last year and increased the number of vendors
by 50 percent over the previous year. The booths are very affordable
for our vendors. I think another big reason for vendor growth is
that our attendees are people who are seriously looking for resources
to buy and not just people walking through to have a look around.
We will continue making changes to fit attendees’ needs. We
listen very intently to what they want. We try very hard to set
a mood for the conference that is caring and giving and very genuine.
There is a lot of hugging going on and some attendees make industry
friendships that last for years.
D&WC: Why did you decide to
offer two locations?
Strickland: Immediately after the 2003 conference, we
analyzed the attendee data and discovered that attendees came from
four foreign countries (England, Japan, Bahamas, Canada) and from
45 states. But we realized that even though we had such a widespread
draw, the greatest majority of the attendees were from southern
states. After the disaster of September 11, fewer people are flying.
There are many people in northern states who are missing the opportunity
of coming to our conference. So to serve their needs, we decided
to have an additional conference closer to them.
D&WC: Why did you choose Philadelphia?
Strickland: Because one-third
of the population of the United States is in a big circle covering
the northeastern section of the country and Philadelphia is about
smack in the middle of that circle. It would be convenient for people
from all over Pennsylvania. It is also easy for people from New
Jersey and New York to get to Philadelphia. It is a little farther
for New Englanders, but many of them routinely come to New York,
Philadelphia and New Jersey because of all the activity in those
areas. The bottom line is that we believe that we can reach and
serve the educational needs of so many more people by bringing the
conference to them.
D&WC: Would there be any advantage
to coming to both conferences?
Strickland: Absolutely! There
are so many networking opportunities that aren’t exclusive
to just one conference. Coming to both conferences would allow attendees
to see, meet and learn from twice as many people. Networking is
a big part of our conference. Attendees really enjoy meeting other
people and learning from them: how they got started, what their
shortcuts are, what their tips are.
Also, we offer 74 classes to choose from, with 12 classes going
on at the same time. Time may not allow attendees to take all the
classes of interest at one conference. Because the curriculum will
be the same at both locations, attendees can come to the other location
and take the classes that didn’t fit into their schedules at
the first show.
D&WC: What new benefits have been
added this year?
Strickland: The “Education
Explosion” will have many new features to offer participants
this year.
1. The conferences this year will feature a new Showcase Gallery.
Trade show attendees love to see and photograph beautiful custom
furnishings. This Showcase Gallery will include numerous full-size
innovative window treatments, bed coverings, accessories and small
vignettes.
2. The four-day conference has always been held on Thursday through
Monday. By request from many of the attendees this year the two
conferences will be held Wednesday through Sunday, which will still
encompass a weekend, but does not flow over into a second work week.
3. Another special feature is the Window Treatment Extravaganza,
a fashion show that I personally will be presenting during the lunch
hour on Thursday. There will be a variety of full-sized treatments
to photograph. I will also share how they were made.
4. The popular 20-minute vendor demos will return to the conferences
and will be free during the vendor hours. Since the 20-minute vendor
demos have been so popular, the conference will offer new one-hour
expanded versions, called Product-Oriented Classes presented by
a few of our noted vendors and suppliers. These detailed classes
are taught during regularly scheduled class times. Attendees sign
up for these specialty classes just the same as they would any other.
The classes will feature details about how to use and work with
the vendor’s products and will have a particular focus, such
as details on how to laminate roller shades or mastering software.
5. Due to many requests received from past attendees, we’ve
added more professional design classes and will be featuring well-known
design instructor Carol Chop. We will offer once again the Windows
of Opportunity class with Margi Kyle sponsored by Hunter Douglas.
This is a free, bonus class for any attendee, but attendees must
pre-register.
The conference will once again feature our unique Working Workroom™,
a completely operational workroom with sewing machines and workroom
equipment set up in the center of the vendor hall. A 10-foot worktable
will be available where attendees can get hands-on experience trying
out vendor products and see step-by-step demonstrations presented
by instructors from the Custom Home Furnishings School.
Complete details for this year’s shows are available on the
conference Web site: www.chfconferences.com.
A complete brochure can be requested by calling (828) 686-3185;
(800) 222-1415.
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