Two New Sessions for VM+SD Conference

The VM+SD International Retail Design Conference (IRDC) has completed its 2005 conference program with the addition of its final two breakout sessions.

John Greening, associate professor at the Medill Graduate School, Northwestern University, will present a session entitled �Retail Today: Everything Communicates.� Greening, a former advertising executive and in-demand speaker, will discuss how in-store communications can reinforce retailers� brand images, and how retailers can strengthen that communications with every store visit, by applying techniques from behavioral marketing and data modeling. Greening spent 27 years at the ad agency DDB Chicago, as director of client services and director of the Anheuser-Busch account in the U.S. You have his team to thank for Spuds McKenzie, the talking frogs and �whasssupp?!?�

And a select group of retail veterans from the VM+SD Editorial Advisory Board will conduct an open-ended, freewheeling Ask The Experts session. The panelists — Rick Burbee, creative director, Sears Holding Corp.; David Milne, director of store design and construction (apparel), Limited Brands; David Palachek, director of visual merchandising, Smith & Hawken; and Ken Pray, coordinator, store design, The Kroger Co. — will interact with the audience on a variety of subjects, such as: the role does design play in retailers� strategic plans; and how decisions are decisions made, and programs implemented, in large retail organizations. Mostly, though, those subjects will be jumping-off points for any subject of interest to conference attendees. Nothing will be out of bounds.

IRDC, the store design industry's premier educational and networking event, takes place Sept. 21-23, 2005, in Chicago�s Fairmont Hotel. IRDC is a hotel-based educational event especially programmed for designers and builders of retail environments. The conference features general sessions with keynote speakers, concurrent break-out sessions, roundtable discussions and numerous net-working opportunities including the IRDC Party: Cool Jazz Night at Marshall Field's, Chicago's legendary department store.

To register to attend, or for more information, go to www.irdconline.com.