Thomas Briant is executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets. NATO’s toll free number is (866) 869-8888 and the association’s Web site address is www.natocentral.org.
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[ NATO PREVIEW]
A touch of class
Inaugural Gala Awards Dinner to highlight 2006 NATO Expo
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The theme for the National Association of Tobacco Outlets’ 2006 Conference & Expo is “Driving Growth ... Profits, Products & Practices” and the show, the second that will be held at the expansive Las Vegas Convention Center, will get off with a bang on Monday, March 27, with the inaugural NATO Industry Gala Awards Dinner at the Flamingo Hotel Ballroom in Las Vegas.
The Gala Awards Dinner has been designed to bring back a time-honored tradition of other national tobacco-related trade associations, as well as celebrate the five-year anniversary of NATO.
Admission to the semi-formal event is free, but by invitation-only. It will begin at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by a dinner banquet with a four-piece orchestra providing musical accompaniment. The program for the dinner banquet will include presentations by Tom Briant, NATO’s executive director, and Velma Hartley, NATO’s president, as well as the announcement of the annual NATO Pinnacle Award winners.
After the pomp and circumstance of the Gala Awards Dinner, the NATO Expo will get back to its own roots, which is providing attendees top-notch educational opportunities, as well as access to a trade-show floor featuring the top companies in the tobacco industry, many of whom will be offering show specials to show-goers. New this year is that all of the seminars and trade-show activity will be held over two days, instead of three.
Two seminars have been scheduled for Tuesday, March 28. First, Bonnie Herzog, tobacco analyst for Smith Barney, returns for her annual “Industry Overview” breakfast. It is an opportunity for attendees to learn what’s happening, what’s going to happen and what you and your colleagues are saying from Herzog’s industry surveys.
Also on the 28th, Terry Gallagher, president of The Cigarette Store Corp., and Frank Armstrong, co-owner/managing member of Blue Ridge Tobacco and Candle Outlets, will lead a discussion specialty cigarettes. Specialty cigarettes are a high-margin category and provide immediate opportunities for retailers.
Gallagher and Armstrong are experienced retailers who will share employee training material and show how to use events to promote the specialty cigarette category for.
The next day, Harold Lloyd, president of Harold Lloyd Presents, will moderate a “Controlling Shrink” discussion at the hot buffet breakfast. The concept of “shrink” centers on the idea that, by design or accident, retailers are losing profit through uncontrolled shrink. Whether it’s the dyed-in the-wool thief, an educated clerk or a system error, shrink damages the bottom line.
Lloyd will show attendees where the holes are in the profit bucket and give tips, tricks and ideas on how to plug those holes.
The final seminar of the show is called “Share & Compare” with Lloyd again moderating. The seminar will show how the use of improved technology can help retailers better manage the financial aspects of their stores. This will be an interactive session with attendees having the opportunity to key individual store sales and expense information into a handheld computer that will calculate the metrics and show each store how it compares to others at the workshop.
Retailers from all trade classes will be welcome at the Share & Compare seminar, but only tobacco outlet retailers will be active participants. Tobacco outlet operators who do participate will receive a printed report after the Expo, broken out by geographic area.
The Expo trade show will be open on both March 28 and 29 with show hours for both days set from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. As always, the trade show will feature the New Product Showcase, as well as a number of special giveaways. |
