Calendar of Events
2008 NEW YORK DESIGN SCENE GRAND TOUR May 17 to 20, 2008 A weekend of design trends, networking & shopping in New York. Go to www.withit.org for more information and to register.
DALLAS MARKET EVENT Friday, June 20, 2008 9:30 am Presentation on trends by Kelly Peterson, Hearst Integrated Media. Dallas Market Center, 1st Floor of the World Trade Center
AMERICASMART ATLANTA TRENDS SEMINAR Friday, July 11, 2008 8:00 am-9:00 am Trends seminar with continental breakfast.
2008 EDUCATION CONFERENCE "The Future's in Our Hands" August 12-14, 2008 Charlotte, NC Go to www.withit.org for more information and to register. |
Welcome New Members
Ginger Call Furniture Transport Group Conover, NC
Serena Cole
DUXIANA
Dallas, TX
June DeLugas Consultant Clemmons, NC
Nora DePalma
Building Profits, Inc.
Cumming, GA
Jessica Leigh Dockery
Century Furniture
Hickory, NC Jamie Gragg MMPI High Point, NC
Kerrie King art-prints-on-demand.com New York, NY
Heather Lyons CIT Commercial Svc Charlotte, NC
Rita Malek George Little Management White Plains, NY
Emily Morrow
Shaw Industries
Dalton, GA Jeane Shurtliff aspenhome Phoenix, AZ
Agatha Siegel Redpoint PR New York, NY
Nancy Snyder Grange Furniture Sudbury, MA
Maybelline Te Student - Art Institute of Charlotte Charlotte, NC
Sharon Wu Palu Ltd. Seattle, WA
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Sign up Today To Attend the Most Affordable Leadership Conference! Featuring Leadership Keynotes By: World-renowned futurist Andy Hines, Social Technologies, with the "Top 20 Global Trends"
9/11 survivor and Oprah guest, Leslie Haskins, Leslie Haskins LLC "Creating Something Greater"
Doty Horn, National Director of Color and Design for Benjamin Moore Simplicity 2009: National and International Color Trends
Sev Ritchie, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for RS Means Managing Your Online Reputation: What are they saying about YOU?
Jerry Cohen, senior partner, Cohen, Tauber, Spievack & Wagner, P.C. What You Need to Know to Make it a Win-Win Partnership: Licensing Success
Sally Erickson, Vice President of International Finance for Sealy Reading and Interpreting Financial Statements for Leaders
Roseanne Amoils, Certified Professional Coach, CPCC Coaching for Executive Leadership Performance
NEW-20 ROUND TABLES LED BY INDUSTRY EXPERTS- GET YOUR SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ANSWERED Provides the priceless opportunity to brainstorm with experts in focused groups for best in class solutions.
CKET FOR AN IPOD TOUCH |
Creative Briefs by Stephanie Lowder
Color & Flowers Were Fun, But It's Back to Black. Come fall, fashion will follow the downward spiral of home values and investment portfolios, as designers embrace a dark palette and severe silhouette. Also, notice black in beauty and home markets everywhere now: crystal, nail polish, jewelry, ribbon and lighting. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director, Pantone Color Institute: "Black is always the color people rely on most often in tough times, especially if they're going to spend on big-ticket items." Recession Black, time.com, Apr 23 '08.
No Ask, No Get. Of 2500 professional women polled, fewer women asked for a raise, perk or promotion in the last 12 months compared to 2006 (51 vs. 54 percent) although the stakes were even higher. Of those who asked, 79 percent got a raise (up from 72 percent). Professional Women Tell All, Pink magazine, May/June '08.
Yes, You Have To Wear Makeup. "Both man and women are seen as needing to be rated as attractive in order to have credibility. However, women must be perceived as more attractive in order to be considered credible. What to do: try to present a favorable impression and dress gender appropriate for the occasion, or expect the repercussions if you choose not to do so." Dr. Nina-Jo Moore, co-author, Nonverbal Communication: Studies and Applications, professor/dean at Appalachian State Univ.
30-Something Female Shopper. Among other market groups more easily understood, women in their 30s don't fit easily into a simple, vertical marketing group. What they do share: time-crunch, massive product research before purchasing, purchases based on corporate green practices, mix of cheap & chic fashion as long as each appears authentic (sic: it is what it is and doesn't pretend to be something else). Research by Marie Claire magazine and Pam Danziger, Power of the 30-Something Purse, AdAge, Apr 14 '08.
Which Brings to Mind, Earth Day at ABC Carpet & Home. The furniture emporium in Manhattan, which has been repositioning itself from old-line retailer to progressive eco-furniture outlet, started on Earth Day to plant a tree in Kenya for every piece of furniture bought from its Goodwood program. ABC is conducting the program with Wangari Maathai, a 2004 Nobel laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, which has planted more than 40 million trees throughout Africa. Thanks to Michael Cannell and his blog at dwell.com. By the way, doesn't Your City need some trees?
Let Readers Know What You're Doing that has the power to change the home furnishings dynamic. Email me.
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WOW LEADER Cathie Black
Interview by Stephanie LowderWhen you're in an industry led largely by men, one has to navigate barriers and boundaries carefully. You have to constantly be picking your battles, and at every point thinking about the end game. Ask yourself, what is the game that I want to win? And it can be done. There are women at every level out there today, and I think we are the ones who are going to be changing these companies. And our consumers are women, so we can take it back to the consumer, we can use that as a sort of wedge. And as women we can show we have some insight into that viewpoint, and that viewpoint should be a big part of product development, sales, what the retail environment looks like, everything.Don't be stifled by rules. Once I invited Bill Clinton to be a speaker at an event. His speaking fee is very high, and I knew what it would cost, but I also knew the value of his speaking almost didn't have a price on it. What he said didn't have a literal connection to our business, but it provided an injection of energy and spirit in our associates that was without price. Everyone was excited the next day and energized and whispering in the hallway about what they'd heard him say. Afterward, my boss asked me what we paid, and I said, "I can't tell you what we paid him, I mean the cost is probably buried in three budgets." And he looked at me. Now keep in mind I had been with the company seven or eight years. I wouldn't recommend trying that if you were new and didn't have a proven record of contributing. But the point is: don't be stifled by rules. Rules are to be broken. I don't mean on an ethical level. It is important that people want to do the right thing and realize the company expects them to do the right thing on an ethical level. But it's a leader's job to instigate change, to be an agent of change, or else others won't innovate and nothing will happen. You want the kind of people who keep on charging ahead. I tell people to go on and start a little project, then you can present the idea to the boss and you'll have something to show. If it doesn't work out, you can always ask forgiveness. If you get a negative response, you can always say, "I'm sorry, I didn't know that was so important to you." For entry level and even for a more senior person, mentoring and networking, formal and informal, are very valuable tools, very valuable. It's important to have people outside, people you respect, people with track records of great success. It's important to have relationships where you can find experience, knowledge, and friendship. For 20 or 30 years, I have kept the same circle of people I talk with. Do I talk to them on a weekly basis? No. But I know they'll always take my call. I'll have lunch with each of them once or twice a year. I think it's terribly important, particularly for women, and particularly in an environment that's largely male. It's worth the time and energy to have these respected friends with track records. And they are real relationships. It's all about relationships. Having a mentor is a benefit, not a solution. We really are the only ones who can change ourselves. Getting to the table is about making sure you have the confidence to believe that your contribution is worthwhile and meaningful. It's not necessary just about being included in formal meetings; it's very important to try to be included in informal gatherings. And you can always go to them, you can ask. You can say, "I want to be seen as a real player in this company, I want to make a real contribution." It's about having guts.My style is a little less formal. We have an open door policy. I make my own phone calls. I write my own emails. If someone needs something and I'm busy, they know they can always see me in 20 minutes. Especially when times are hard, as leader you want to see and be seen. People want to see you in there working with them, they want to know you don't just talk the talk, but you walk the walk. Especially in the world we're in now. I call it trench warfare.The first thing I look at in corporate financials is the bottom line. And not as compared to budget, but compared to last year. I mean I want to look ahead, but first I want to know, are we ahead of last year?Not everybody has to be a star, but we always want to be finding and training and developing the best people we can and taking advantage of their full talent. I like that idea that says an "A's" hire "A's," 'B's" hire "C's," and you cannot drive a business with "B's" and "C's." The publishing industry and your industry are driven by talent - talented, creative people. Whether in marketing or editorial or any other part of the business, we want people who want to make a difference, who want to take risks, who want to be innovators, people willing to be out there on the edge. Not watchers, but doers. There's no place for complacency. Some people are born with stronger leadership traits, but there are many kinds of leaders, and people can always become a more effective leader or manager. Through training, and by learning from our mistakes, we can always be better. What I want to learn next is how we can best create a magazine and website that can move content from one to the other seamlessly and make for the reader the most valuable experience. I believe the magazines we publish today - Country Living, House Beautiful, O At Home, Veranda - are very useful, very inspirational, very valuable to readers. I think readers feel "this is my friend, this is where I can relax, this is where I can imagine, this where I can come up with ideas." I honestly believe magazines will be around for as long as we can imagine. In the boardroom, if there are all men, I think to myself, if this were a more balanced room, a more diverse room, it would be so much more productive. If you have five people on a team and three of them are alike and the other two are alike, you don't learn much. And it's not a lot about today; it's a lot about tomorrow. You want on your team the most informed people, the most diverse people, and the best thinking you can get, because we need to be thinking a lot about tomorrow. If you're going to a conference, don't ever go without thinking about who's going to be there and asking yourself, who do I want to have dinner with? Make an appointment. Because too often it happens, especially for women, that you find yourself at one of these cocktail parties, and the little groups break up and go off by themselves and you find yourself standing there alone. Or you go off with colleagues from your own company, which is also not a very good idea, unless there is a company agenda planned. What you want is a larger circle of information.I'm curious. I want to know about everything. Right now I'm reading - I won't say finishing, but I'm reading six or seven books. One is The Book of Ruth, a mystery by Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet who came there from being restaurant critic at the New York Times. I want to know about that transition in writing. Also Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions , by Dan Ariely. I heard him speak recently, and I want to know how this happens.CATHIE BLACK is president of Hearst Magazines and author of Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life), an instant bestseller. |
WithIt Announces 2008 WOW Award Nominees
The WOW Awards annually recognize business leaders that have contributed to the success of the home furnishings industries. Each distinguished honoree has at least five years of industry experience and has demonstrated significant impact on his/her company and/or the industry.
Legacy Award Nominees Dianne Ray, Garden City Furniture Emily Kiker Morrow, Shaw Industries, Inc. Peggy Burns, Circle Furniture
Mentoring Award Nominees Ed Tashjian, Century Furniture, LLC Mary Frye, Home Furnishings Independents Association Claire Goldhagen, Robb & Stucky
Education Award Nominees Kim Green, Drexel Heritage Joanne Pier, Consultant Jackie Hirschhaut, American Home Furnishings Alliance
Future Leader Award Nominees Christy DiFoggio, Genre Brand Communications, Inc. Mary Leigh Wallace, RLF Communications Ricki Stark, PROFITsystems
The 2008 WOW Awards dinner will be August 13th. Dinner is included in the Education conference registration fee. For guests, the fee is $90 per person or $2500 for a table of ten.
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High Point Market Scrapbook - Education Breakfast

WithIt welcomed Jaclyn Smith to kick off spring 2008 High Point Market events at the SOLD OUT bi-annual Education breakfast. Left: Jaclyn Smith and Caroline Hipple, HB2. Photo right: Courtesy High Point Market Authority
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Tent Event
 
Left: Leslie Carothers, The Kaleidoscope Partnership; Kathy Bovey, AmericasMart Atlanta; John J Pujol, Enkeboll Designs,Cassandra Brunson, Seven Seas Inc., Elizabeth Ford, Biltmore For Your Home (Sponsor of Event)
Right: Tom Mitchell, MMPI(Sponsor of Event); Cameron Cook, Design Management Company; Randy Ariail, Ariail & Associates Greensboro; Monica Peters, Charleston Forge; Ross Barlett, ViewIt Technologies.
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Student Mentoring
 
Philip Selva, President of Selva Furniture an Italian high end manufacturer, hosted lunch for 76 students from High Point University, Meredith College, North Carolina State University, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Winthrop University topping off the event with a showroom tour.
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The WithIt Trip to Maison & Objet Show in Paris - 2008 by Gale Steves, Open House Productions
Neither the crazy schedules of January could keep the hardy members from WithIt from visiting what is possibly the most exciting home furnishings show in Europe. Celebrating their twelfth year, Maison & Objet has created a unique event in the "homeware" world. 76,000 buyers and 2000 international journalists converge on the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center with its over 3000 exhibitors. While small by High Point standards (only 1.3 million square feet), what makes this show unique and selective are the color, style and display of only the latest merchandise.
What made the timing unique is that the new Mueble Paris show and Maison & Objet coincided. And the Furniture Show (while smaller in size) packed a lot of punch and innovation. The refreshingly small booths gave a grand overview of only the latest merchandise. And space was devoted to young designers on the rise by getting manufacturers to produce their prototypes.
If deciphering or analyzing the influences that will be affect our home decoration behavior is your challenge, then Paris is where you should be. As a sample of what we saw were the shock of the stark white style rooms at Maison & Objet by Francois Bernard, a Parisian home furnishings forecaster.. He explains that "white is the new luxury color and designers can show off forms and structure in white", which, of course, mixes with everything. "It was dazzling", added Elaine Markoutsas of United Press Syndicate.
If that were not enough, the flea markets and sales around Paris beckoned. Staying conveniently at a hotel near the chic St Germaine du Pre area on the left bank, we strolled through the shops on the Rue Jacob and Rue de Bac or over to the Marais area (similar to Soho in New York). At least everyone took advantage of the comfort of the small but plush Hotel Aubusson. Daily exchanges of information and new sources were delivered at breakfast or later in the evening while enjoying the jazz in the hotel lounge.
We returned home to the United States with images of great designs, new friendships, and intent to make this trip to Paris a yearly event for WithIt members.
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