High Point Market Makes Planning Easier With Event Calendars

This year, planning which events to attend during High Point Market just got easier with their Social Events and Educational Events calendar!

Deciding which social and educational functions to attend during Furniture Market is always challenge. These calendars are an amazing tool to keep you in the know and on time!

Here are just a few Highlights from each day thanks to High Point Market  website. Please visit the Social Event / Educational Events Calendar for the full daily listing of events)

Friday ::

 

High Point Market Kick-Off Party

When: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Where: Center Stage, Between the Transportation Terminal & Showplace

Summary: The official kick-off to High Point Market Week presented by IHFC, Market Square & Suites, Showplace, Plaza Suites, Furniture Plaza, National Furniture Mart, Hamilton Market, 200.320.330 North Hamilton. Sponsored by: Shelba D. Johnson Trucking, Ashley Furniture, Furniture Today and Home Accents Today.

Saturday ::

 

Breakfast in Bed with Leslie: Waking Up to the Power of Social Media

When: 10 AM – 11 AM

Where: Market Square, Antique & Design Center – Mezzanine Level Seminar Space

Summary: Featuring Leslie Carothers, The Kaleidoscope Partnership. Sponsored by Pandora de Balthazar. There’s one topic currently befuzzling the minds of designers, retailers and manufacturers everywhere: How do you measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media? Does it really work to get new sales? Secure new clients? Attract media attention? If you’re wondering whether your investment is truly paying off, join social media expert Leslie Carothers for a rousing wake-up call on social media metrics. Chock full of insight, specific tips on how to measure a program’s effectiveness, and real-world examples on how to connect the dots between sales, client acquisition and the kind of media exposure that leads to further financial opportunities, this presentation will kick off your Market and get your social media strategy on track faster than a double-shot espresso. Complimentary breakfast served.

 

Industry Mixer

When: 4 PM – 7 PM

Where: IHFC, The Phillips Collection IHFC – C 202, sponsored by ASFD, ART, SFC, YHFP, WithIt

 

Meet Rachel Ashwell – Shabby Chic® Founder

When: 4 PM – 6 PM

Where: Miles Talbott, 1690 English Road

Summary: Come early and receive a signed copy of Rachel’s newest book, Shabby Chic Inspirations and Beautiful Spaces. Cocktails and hor d’oeuvres.

 

IMC Opening Night: featuring the B52s

When: 7 PM – 9:30 PM

Where: Center Stage, Between the Transportation Terminal & Showplace

Summary: Please join International Market Centers (IMC) as we make our debut at the High Point Market with a concert and celebration co-sponsored by the High Point Market Authority. IMC will present The B-52s, the World’s Greatest Party Band.

 

Sunday ::

WithIt Educational Breakfast

When: 7:30 AM – 9 AM

Where: IHFC, IHFC Green Wing, 11th Floor, Ballroom A

Summary: “The 10 Things You Need to Know About Apartment Therapy”, presented by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. Maxwell is an interior designer, author and the founder of Apartment Therapy Media, a network of blogs devoted to helping people make their homes beautiful, organized, and healthy. Today, Apartment Therapy is the web’s leading source for all things design and the most-trafficked blog in the design space. Maxwell’s talk is a compelling history of his personal story, the humble beginnings of the brand, and a general roadmap for understanding design and the role it plays in our lives. Sponsored by IHFC and WithIt. Breakfast and Seminar are free of charge. Reservations are required by email (please see event page for email details) or www.withit.org.

 

Dwell Studio’s Christiane Lemieux – Growing a Business in Today’s Digital Age

When: Noon – 1:30 PM

Where: IHFC, Green Wing, 11th Floor ballroom B

Summary: Dwell Studio founder Christiane Lemieux will delve into how today’s small businesses can get ahead and compete with the big brands by being creative with the resources they have and the free technology available to everyone. The key to growing a successful business in today’s economic, digital and sonsumer-driven age with topics ranging from sourcing to marketing to media and design trends. Sponsored by IHFC and IFDA, Carolinas Chapter. $20 includes lunch. Advance registration recommended. Reservation is secured upon receipt of payment. Mail check to IHFC, Attn: Holly Allred, PO Box 828, High Point, NC 27261. You can request a credit card authorization form via email. (Please see event page for email details)

 

David Easton Book Signing

When: 3 PM – 4 PM

Where: Market Square, Safavieh, Suite 120

Summary: Renowned architect and interior designer David Easton and rug maker Safavieh will introduce Easton’s new Indian Sojourn collection of ikat carpets for Safavieh Couture with a celebration and book signing on Sunday, October 23, 2011 from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. The designer will sign copies of his latest book, “Timeless Elegance” at Safavieh’s Market Square showroom, Suite 120. Wine and Indian-inspired refreshments will be served, and Easton will present the collection with insights into his extensive studies of weaving crafts in Silk Road Cultures.

 

American Furniture Hall of Fame Induction Banquet

When: 6 PM – 10 PM

Where: IHFC, Green Wing, 11th Floor International Ballroom

Summary: Each Fall Market, we induct industry leaders into the American Furniture Hall of Fame, the furniture industry’s highest honor. Cocktail reception begins at 6pm, dinner at 6:45pm. Tickets are $125 a piece. To purchase tickets, please call 336.882.5900 or purchase online at www.furniturehalloffame.com

Monday ::

Reception with Kathy Ireland

When: 11 AM – Noon

Where: IHFC, Pacific Coast Lighting – M430

 

“Modern Design in the 21st Century” by Dwell Editor Amanda Dameron

When: 6:30 PM – 8 PM

Where: 220 Elm, Leif Petersen Showroom 328

Summary: Appetizers and cocktails followed by the Dwell presentation.

 

ASFD Pinnacle Awards Banquet

When: 6 PM – 9:30 PM

Where: IHFC, Green Wing, 11th Floor ballroom

Summary: Winners in 16 home furnishings categories will be presented by Furniture/Today and Guest Retailers at the 16th Annual ASFD furniture design awards dinner. For more information: info@asfd.com or www.asfd.com

 

UPCYCLE Textile Runway Show

When: 7 PM – 9 PM

Where: Market Square, Courtyard

Summary: In conjunction with Dstripped Magazine, ITMA – producers of SHOWTIME, and Market Square & Suites, we’re putting on a fashion show like no other! Designers from the apparel, footwear, jewelry, furniture and set design industries are collaborating to showcase their talents. Come see these designers’ creative solutions light up the runway with recycled fabric swatches. Join us for live entertainment, food, beer and wine.

Tuesday ::

Julia Rosien of Social North – “The Digitally Savvy Retailer – Using Emerging Technologies to Engage Shoppers (and sell more stuff!)”

When: 9 AM – 10 AM

Where: IHFC, Green Wing, 11th Floor ballroom B

Summary: In 2011, consumers can know as much about your products as your sales staff before they step foot inside your store. Your business survival depends on creative and inexpensive initiatives for you to leapfrog past the competition and grab the spotlight. Do you know how to break through the clutter and capture your customers’ attention? Fortunately, a virtually limitless supply of new technologies, tools and networks are available. Social Media Strategist, Julia Rosien, will help “demystify” some of the more exciting new technologies like location-based marketing and social media marketing. It’s not rocket science but it is the smartest way to get and keep your competitive edge. “If you’re not doing business online, you’re just not doing business…” ~ Julia Rosien. Complimentary Continental Breakfast Provided. No reservation needed.

 

Currey Honors ASID

When: 4 PM – 6 PM

Where: IHFC, Currey & Company, M-110 Streeet Leve

Summary: Currey takes time on Tuesday to honor and support the American Society of Interior Designers. National ASID Board members will be on hand from 4 to 6 PM to answer your questions about ASID and to provide extensive information on this very important organization. Italian food & wine will be served –music will be a provided by Four For One Jazz Quartet and Martha Bassett & Friends.

 

Wednesday ::

“Market Trend Wrap-Up” Presented by Jenny Heinzen York – Home Accents Today

When: 9 AM – 10 AM

Where: IHFC, Green Wing, 11th Floor ballroom B

Summary: The editorial team from Home Accents Today spends each High Point Market seeking out all the latest product styles and trends. Editor in Chief Jenny Heinzen York leads this exclusive review of the hottest trends from the October 2011 show. Complementary pastries and coffee provided. No reservation needed.

 

Designer Luncheon

When: Noon – 2 PM

Where: French Heritage, Inc., 1638 English Road

Summary: Spend some time with Henessey and Jacques Wayser as they introduce over 60 new items for market and enjoy a Classic French Lunch in our Bistro. 336-882-3565

 

Courtyard Cookout

When: 7 PM – 9 PM

Where: Market Square, Market Square Courtyard

Summary: Pull up a chair and kick back under the stars and join us for our traditional Market cookout. Connect with colleagues enjoy food, drinks and live entertainment on the last night of Market!

Thursday ::

 

Complimentary Buyers Breakfast featuring Starbucks Coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts

When: 8 AM – 10:30 AM

Where: 330 S. Wrenn St.-The Platinum Building, Platinum Decor

 

 

Complimentary Buyers Lunch

When: Noon – 2 PMWhere: 220 Elm, Leif Petersen -328; Jesper Office – 324; Linon – 202; Outer Limits/TemaHome – 311 

What #HPMkt events are you most looking forward to?

How will you use social media during High Point Market?Want to write a guest post on Furniture Market for Linking Triad? Leave a comment and we will work with you to share your High Point Furniture Market Experience!

 

Yes Weekly and Social Media : Covering Greensboro City Council

Yes Weekly logoYesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing Jordan Green (aka @jordangreenyes) News Editor of Yes Weekly. Many of you may already know that Jordan covers (brilliantly I might add) the Greensboro City Council Meetings via live tweets as a member of the  @yesweekly twitter team.

Why is he live tweeting you might ask? Well in his own words . . . “social media allows me to perform a unique service.” And it’s true.

With traditional print coverage it would take days to get the story out due to print cycle of a weekly paper – but with social media, Yes Weekly is live streaming the discussions of Greensboro City Council as they happen and (hopefully) in the process inspiring a new generation to become more involved in local government as well as spark discussions with older generations who are pressed for time and who are looking to feel informed and engaged via social media.

It takes time to acquire the expertise to become and active citizen“, Green says and adds that “any political coverage starts with the current elected officials – social media helps me share information with our readers immediately.

On behalf of a grateful community – Thank You Jordan Green and Yes Weekly for your commitment to keeping us informed via social media!

Pick up the print edition of Yes Weekly in and around the Triad and stay up to date on local news and events. Connect with them across the web ::

Yes Weekly on YoutubeYes Weekly on FacebookYes Weekly on Twitter

Greensboro City Council meeting can currently be attended/viewed via Channel 13, you can follow the meetings via Twitter (follow @yesweekly) as well at watch it live streaming on your computer (warning for Mac users :: you must have Silverlight installed in order to watch streaming meetings on your Mac.) Be sure to stay up to date on the next Greensboro City Council Meeting  and review past meetings.

You can learn more about Greensboro City Government and Council Members, and if you’re on twitter you can follow @greensborocity for sporadic postings of Greensboro events.

How do you learn about local government news?

How has social media changed the way you engage with your local community?

Social Media, Parenting and (Lack of) Common Sense

I was running around Facebook, as I frequently do throughout the day, when I came across a business page running a contest. Nothing odd there, right? Lots of businesses run contests and incentives to increase their traffic and number of “likes”.

Except this one was different. This Facebook page was for a medical practice that caters to pediatrics.Social Media and Parenting

“So what?” you may say.

Here’s what.

This is the post from the page:

Support your child and their school today by entering them into our  ______ CONTEST! To enter, simply post your child’s name, along with the name of their school. The school with the most entries will win $1,000 for their school! The runner up will win $500 for their school!

Did you catch that? The page was asking for not only the names of the kids but where they went to school.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the parents were doing it! There were entries upon entries upon entries of parents who not only gave up their kids names, but they also where the kids went to school.  The only thing they didn’t do is offer up their kids schedules.

There they were… parents who wouldn’t dream of leaving their child alone or drive around the block without a 5 point harness system were offering their kids safety up all for the chance of winning $1,000 for their schools. Yes it was a nice gesture to give some school $1,000 but seriously? Could we not figure out some other way to collect information than pimping our kids and the names of their schools out?

I don’t fault the parents entirely. A serious finger wagging and “shame on you” goes to the business owner for not thinking this one through. As a marketing professional and consultant I truly hope there wasn’t a self proclaimed “guru” at the helm of this brilliant plan because if so, I would not hesitate to hunt them down and read the riot act.

It honestly all boils down to this…

Think twice and then once again before you offer up your information.  Don’t get me wrong.. I have slipped a couple of times myself. Just last week I tweeted a photo that included my address and didn’t even notice it until a kind, fellow tweeter pointed it out to me. I immediately removed it but who knows how far it traveled in those 3 minutes. My husband checked into our kids school on Foursquare… once. After I pointed out to him that the entire world (okay.. 58 followers isn’t the entire world but still) knew where our kids went to school, it wasn’t long before he quit checking in to anywhere.

Social Media is fun and at this point, it’s a way of life for most.  But we have to remember that we’re getting these services for free because these sites know one thing.  They know that we’re going to offer up a wealth of information and that they in turn, can mine and store that info until they need it a later time.  It’s one thing to “like”  the Crest page because you love whitening strips but quite another to “like” your kids doctors office and give 800 Million users the intimate details such as their names and where they go to school.

The bigger lesson here is to watch what you post, watch where you check in and if your kids are using social media watch what they’re doing every step of the way.

What “travesties” have you seen along the way in social media? Have you done something that you immediately knew you shouldn’t have?

 

Social Media: How Much Time Do You Spend Online?

I recently posed a question to via Facebook asking, on average, how much time people spend online per week on social networks.

Here are the results thus far. . .

It’s not surprising that the majority of those polled responded with 5+ hours per week. Many citing that there should have been another choice of 11+ hours.

A few who responded are online because of the nature of their business. But to me, that is irrelevant. As a wired society we are all spending more and more time ‘plugged in’, and it will be interesting to see the new usage statistics come out for 2011.

As we all have seen, so much can happen in very short period of time on the web. Case in point : Google+ Growth Rate Shattering Competition. Yep, you read right – it took Google+ only twenty-four days to reach twenty million users. 24 days.

Just a year ago shared in a Mashable post that Social Networking Dominates Our Time Spent Online. Adam mentions that 2010 stats from Nielsen show that sites like Facebook and Twitter account for 22.7% of time spent on the web. And a  2010 study by comScore Media,  shows that the average American spent 32 hours per month on the Internet.

As with any study there will be a ‘heavy users’ group where a small percentage make up the majority of time spent online and since the number of mobile-only households overtook the number of landline-only households in 2009, that means that the average time spent online on sites like twitter, facebook, and now google+, will continue to grow as the global internet penetration rate continues to climb.

Currently 56% of Americans Check Online News Daily with 24% going to four or more unique online news sites daily. Think about it. Where do you get your news? Do you read an article shared by a Facebook friend? How about click a link while you’re on Twitter? The way information travels to us is through our networks. Who we follow, fan or watch.

Check out these 20+ Mind-blowing social media statistics: One year later. It really puts in perspective how much the internet and social media has changed our personal lives and the way we do business.

While researching for this post, I found this Press Release dated 2002, July 12 : Carnegie Mellon Study Reveals Negative Potential of Heavy Internet Use on Emotional Well Being
Though it’s 9 years old, it poses questions and concerns that are still relevant today. How much is too much? Are you monitoring your children’s time spent online? Are you substituting online relationships for interaction with family and close friends?
So how many hours do you spend online per week?
Where do you spend most of your time online? Email, Social Media, Games, Movies or News?
Do you “unplug” on a regular basis?


Top Ten Linkedin Howto’s

  1) LinkedIn How-Tos from Dave Taylor « Linked Intelligence

2) LinkedIn SuperGuide -Tutorials, Tips and Tools

3) LinkedInHow-To Help and Videos – For Dummies

4) Get Ahead on LinkedIn – Wired How-To Wiki

5) Tutorial: How-to Add/Embed Video On A LinkedIn Profile Page

6) How To Merge Multiple Profiles On LinkedIn

7) How to Remove a LinkedIn Connection | Peak Profits

8) 10 ways reporters can use LinkedIn to find sources, track changes at companies

9) HOW TO Optimize Company LinkedIn Profiles for Search & Lead Conversion

10) How to Use LinkedInHow To Information | eHow.com

What HowTo’s Have helped you use LinkedIn more effectively?

How much time do you spend on LinkedIn on average per week?

 

Business Blogs: Inspiration to Grow Your Audience

After reading over Social Media Examiner’s post on the 10 Top Business Blogs and Why They Are Successful – it made me curious as to what business blogs the leaders in the Piedmont Triad enjoy and why you think they are successful.

We each have different needs as it relates to our professions – but we all have one thing in common when it comes to blogging . . . we want to provide relevant content for our readers and hope that they connect with us and continue to come back and comment.

Some of the best ways to learn how to improve your own business blog is to be a devoted reader of other blogs. It could be a plugin that you discover that could be the missing ingredient, a layout or theme that catches your eye or simply a style of writing that really inspires you.

Here are a few links for inspiration to grow your business blog awareness and your eventually your audience.

The 50 best business blogs – Times Online

Small Business Blogs – Forbes.com Best of the Web

Top 10 Business Blogs for Women | Little Pink Book

Top Business and Entrepreneurship Blogs

Top 10 Business Blogs to Bookmark

 

What are your favorite business blogs to read? Why?

Linkedin Reaches New Milestone

Reading over the headlines this morning when I came across this article by Smashing Apps ::

LinkedIn Connects 100 Million Professionals Worldwide (And Counting) To Make Them More Successful (Infographic)

The statistics are pretty impressive. “They are now growing at roughly one million new LinkedIn members every week, the equivalent of a professional joining the site at faster than one member per second.”
Be sure to follow @smashingapps for Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers.
How many people have you recommended Linkedin to?
How much time to spend on Linkedin per week?
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...