By Reginald Tucker Riding the wave of a wildly successful virtual conference held last fall, Broadlume has announced plans to hold an in-person, retailer-focused event on the water at the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota, Fla., Nov. 17-19. The event, dubbed FloorCon 2021, is being positioned as a celebration of the independent flooring retailer.
“FloorCon 2021 is going to be the first time that we’re holding this event in-person,” said Jeff Bieber, vice president of marketing for Broadlume. “We’re doing a complete hotel takeover, so when you’re on the property it’s going to be networking central. From the minute you walk into the Hyatt, you’ll immediately know that this is unlike any other trade show. Our goal is to elevate the standard for flooring industry events while creating an even stronger community.”
In terms of the format and content of the event, FloorCon 2021 will encourage active participation among attendees. “Dealers go to a lot of shows where they’re forced into different tracks and all sorts of environments or situations that are not necessarily beneficial for the dealer,” Bieber said. “This is designed to be a truly retailer-centric show. It’s going to be an immersive conference. The goal of most trade shows is to extract the most value out of attendees. FloorCon 2021 aims to flip that script. Dealers will leave Sarasota with a competitive advantage and the playbook to immediately grow their business in 2021 and beyond.”
Naturally, FloorCon 2021 will also feature a heavy digital marketing technology component—an area that falls right in line with Broadlume’s wheelhouse. “The goal is to encourage retailers to embrace as much digital technology as possible,” Bieber said. “We will also be revealing some brand new technologies that we’re super excited to show off to the dealers. These are technologies that will help improve the customer experience, both online and in-store.”
Come one, come all
Broadlume—whose sister companies include FloorForce, Creating Your Space, Bridgeway Interactive and FlooringStores—stressed the fact that the conference is open to all specialty flooring retailers. “We’re not just prioritizing FloorForce, Creating Your Space dealers or anyone who is in the FSU programs,” Bieber explained. “Even if they don’t have any affiliation to us, we want to bring dealers in and show them all the incredible things that can help move their business forward.”
To encourage greater retailer participation in FloorCon 2021, Broadlume is offering early bird registration tickets. Broadlume is also offering sponsorship opportunities.