GMDC Announces Plans for 2012
Dave McConnell, president and CEO of the Global Market Development Center, unveiled the strategic direction and initiatives that the organization will pursue in 2012.
“The core strategy for 2012 will continue to be focused around enhancing the experience and value of our GM and HBW marketing conferences along with expanding how GMDC delivers value to our members throughout the year,” McConnell told Center members at a gathering in New York this week. “Our conferences continue to grow and are regularly referred to in the industry as the most productive workdays of the year. Over the past couple of years, we have evolved the conferences with the addition of Senior Executive Conferences, which are 40-minute meeting formats held in private suites. These longer meetings facilitate more strategic dialogue and compliment the 10- and 20-minute Controlled Casual Conference format.”
McConnell noted that GMDC continues to focus its initiatives around enhancing connectivity by delivering the most effective and efficient way for retailer and wholesaler executives to meet with their supplier counterparts to explore ways in which to grow their businesses. In 2012, the association will be introducing new ways for its members to connect before, during and after its conferences by leveraging existing and emerging communications technology.
Beginning in 2013, GMDC will be flip-flopping its two annual marketing conferences, with the Health Beauty Wellness event moving to the spring and General Merchandise to the fall. “This change is member-driven, as the belief is that this calendar shift more effectively supports the seasonal nature of both sides of our business,” McConnell said. “We anticipate that this shift will create even more engagement with both events.”
The New York-based Global Market Development Center is the premier global trade association dedicated to serving General Merchandise and Health Beauty Wellness, promoting critical connectivity to grow and expand member companies by uniting members through business building events and opportunities and enriching their thinking through education and training, consumer and business insights, and information resources.