2012 Schedule

Day 1 - Tuesday, September 25, 2012

• IDEA Industry Standards Committee (ISC) Year-in-Review Session

  8:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  During this meeting, committee members will discuss the 2012 Year in Review and future initiatives. All members and those interested in joining the committee are welcome to attend.

• IDW Manufacturer User Group - Beginner/Intermediate

  Lynn Sheppard, IDEA and Tom Brown, Epicor

  1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

  This user group is designed for manufacturer users who are new to the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) and are looking for a basic understanding of how to populate their product information to the electrical data synchronization platform. Attendees will be introduced to new features, the various methods and file formats to load data into the IDW, as well as the industry standards and scrubbing rules that help manufacturers improve the quality of the data.

• IDW Manufacturer User Group - Advanced Power Users

  Lynn Sheppard, IDEA and Tom Brown, Epicor

  2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  This user group will demonstrate new IDW features and focus on advanced topics such as how to: research and fix data load errors, communicate your data status to the channel via IDW, report and analyze your data in IDW, and leverage the Utilities Workstation to edit your data on the spot – new features added in 2012! There will also be an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback to the IDW development team so that you can help shape the next product release. Attendees of the beginner session are welcome to stay and learn more in this advanced session!

• IDW Distributor User Group - Beginner/Intermediate

  Lynn Sheppard, IDEA and Tom Brown, Epicor

  3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

  This user group is designed for distributors who are new to the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW). It will provide a basic overview of the type of product information that is available in IDW and the various methods for extracting and leveraging the data to expand your business. This session will cover topics such as new IDW features, account setup, manufacturer authorizations, and the options to export the data in a format that is usable in your internal business systems.

• IDW Distributor User Group - Advanced Power Users

  Lynn Sheppard, IDEA and Tom Brown, Epicor

  4:00 PM – 5:00 PM

  This advanced user group is for experienced IDW users who want to gain a broader understanding of the tools available for analyzing and working with the product information in IDW. This session will examine topics such as new IDW features, reporting, item research, and custom mapping. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback to the IDW development team so that you can help shape the next product release. Attendees of the beginner session are welcome to stay and learn more in this advanced session!

• Tech Fair and Welcome Reception

  5:30 PM - 9:30 PM

  Kick off the Forum the right way by familiarizing yourself with technologies that can help you “Reunite. Rethink. Recharge.” your company. Buffet dinner and drinks provided.

Day 2 - Wednesday, September 26, 2012

• Breakfast

  7:00 AM – 8:00 AM

• Tech Center

  7:00 AM – 5:00 PM

  The Tech Center is a mini-tradeshow where technology companies meet with attendees to provide education on how to cut costs using more efficient processes. The Tech Center will host breakfast, lunch and breaks.

• General Sessions

• Opening Keynote: The Art of Vision

  Erik Wahl, internationally recognized graffiti artist­, author and entrepreneur

  8:00 AM – 9:15 AM

  The best sustainable edge in business is the ability to differentiate yourself from your competition. Through this entertaining and highly practical program, we will uncover new ways to make your organization more creative, innovative and profitable, but more-so, help your employees to see the need to become better storytellers within your company and towards your industry. Professionals at all levels, who embrace innovative strategie­s, can achieve superior levels of performance by creatively and visibly differentiating themselves from the competition. No matter what kind of organization—from small companies to large corporations—employees at all levels will better embrace the future by becoming more innovative, more productive and ultimately more profitable.

  Wahl redefines “keynote speaker” by incorporating on-stage painting as a visual metaphor of his core message. His paintings auction from $7,000 – $27,000, and Forum attendees will help us decide which charitable cause will get the proceeds. Find out more about Wahl>

• Morning Boost – Tech Center

  9:15 AM – 9:30 AM

• Executive Panel: Drawing a Line of Sight from E-Biz to the Corner Office

  Executive Panel

  9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

  Senior executives from various perspectives in the electrical supply chain will expand on Wahl’s keynote by drawing a line of sight from the eBusiness initiatives we implement day-to-day to the bottom line results they encounter at the top. They’ll discuss ways to differentiate your company by leveraging industry eBusiness solutions and demystify the myth that industry standards commoditize our products. The impact of new buyer behaviors and expectations will also be addressed, and our panelists will provide tips on how to effectively communicate the need for new eBusiness projects to senior executives internally as well as with trading partners.

• “Reunite. Rethink. Recharge.” to Paint a Colorful Future

  Bob Gaylord, President & CEO, IDEA
  

  10:30 AM - 11:00 AM

  Ever feel like your weekly routine is becoming too predictable? Each year we reunite at the Forum to find ways to add some color to our companies so that they’ll stand apart from the rest when customers evaluate all their purchasing options. IDEA’s President & CEO will wrap up the morning general sessions with stories of how eBusiness is rocking the electrical industry and will give an overview of new resources you can leverage to paint a more colorful future for your company.

• Networking Lunch

  11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

• Breakout Sessions

• Lunch Sessions

• Lunch Session: One Distributor's Success Story on Utilizing Product Information for a Competitive Advantage

  Mike Gilbert, Heiler Software
  

  12:00 PM - 12:50 PM

  Recognize the changing competitive landscape in today’s information intensive world. Come listen to how one distributor is managing increased product information to lower costs, increase revenue, and improve customer loyalty. Learn how to use rich content to become a ‘trusted source’ and to increase ‘stickiness’ (make it easier to do business with your company because of the content you offer).
  

• Lunch Session: Social Media to Social Business

  Sal Huerta, NetPricer
  

  New trends in social media and mobile web apps have forced us at look at how we think about and run our businesses. Customers are creating the new digital culture and shifting our business landscapes. Learn why social media is so valuable and how it may replace your current web site as the source for company information. Social Media will become Social Business. How will you integrate social media into your business model?
  

• (A) Sessions

• iConex: Text-to-EDI Solution

  
  

  1:00 PM - 1:50 PM

• Broad View Data Analytics

  Steve Bieszczat, Scot Schaufelberger; Epicor/Vista

  The growing sophistication of distribution management systems coupled with increasing standardization of product and sales data and has made it possible to pull together data from broad sections of the marketplace, clean and organize it and perform analytics on the data as if it was coming from a single source. Steve will demonstrate examples of several data warehouses that provide manufacturers and suppliers in the automotive aftermarket and the architectural paint industry a consolidated view of their diverse and independent customer bases. In addition he will discuss initiatives in the electrical industry that parallel what is happening in similar industries.

• Connecting the Links of the Supply Chain

  Jason Archbold, Border States
  

  A product moves through the supply chain from manufacturer to distributor to customer. It has worked that way for ages and will continue to do so for many more. Catalog content and product information should also flow along the same path, but often this information is poorly developed, incorrect, or simply insufficient for the customer’s needs.

  There has been a push to improve and enhance the product information, and the call is coming back up the supply chain from your customer. They now demand excellent and fully descriptive product information seamlessly from the manufacturer or distributor. How do distributors relay that demand back to their manufacturers? How do manufacturers respond?

  The tools are in place with the Data Management Platform (DMP) and the UNSPSC attributed schema. Let’s take a look at how a manufacturer and distribute can use the tools to successfully meet this emerging customer need.

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• (B) Sessions

• What do Standards Mean to You?

  Mary Shaw, IDEA
  

  2:00 PM - 2:50 PM

  Standards - That word standards keeps popping up around the industry, from eCommerce to data to marketing. But what does it mean and why should you care?

  The Electrical Industry Standards - EDIPro guidelines, the Product Descriptor Database, the Industry Schema, to name a few – are all created for and by the electrical channel. You will learn firsthand how these standards can work for your company, and why your voice is important.

  Understand how standards (there’s that word, again) impact your business, and the consequences that happen if you are not involved, and don’t follow standards.

• Connecting with DMP

  Melissa Longnecker and Josh Given; IDEA
  

  You have heard of DMP, but want to know more about how to leverage its connections. How do I connect my company and information to DMP? How do I use it to connect with my trading partners? How can I leverage the platform to meet other business needs? In this session you will learn about DMPs' various communication paths and processing mechanisms. We will also provide information to help you educate your company on the value DMP brings to your organization, and discuss implementation options.

   

• To Be Announced

  
  

  
  

• Afternoon Boost

  2:55 PM - 3:10 PM

• (C) Sessions

• The Road to Automation & the DMP

  Lorraine Mott, Samer Shehade, Scott Feldbush and Jeff Glaeser; Cooper Industries
  

  3:10 PM – 4:00 PM

  This breakout session will include an overview of the course Cooper and its divisions took to build a data automation process with the goal of providing the most accurate and concise product and pricing information to the IDW. Cooper will discuss the path taken on this implementation, how they teamed up with IDEA to publish data to the DMP, and became the first manufacturer to automate (machine to machine) syndication to the DMP. This M2M process assures their customers that the data they pull from the IDW is “Cooper Certified”, accurate and automated.

• Attributes and Descriptive Information

   Mary Shaw, IDEA
  

  You’ve heard about the schema and the need for marketing attributes. Now come hear how you can provide them. We’ll show you tips and trick on how to find information within your own business system that you may not realize is already there.

  We’ll demonstrate how you can provide input on the development of both the UNSPSC category codes set and the Electrical Attribute Schema itself.
  

• IDX User’s Group

  Barbara Prince, IDEA
  

  The IDX provides subscribers with powerful tools and options to efficiently utilize your EDI infrastructure, and open up EDI to a greater cohort of your trading partner community. This year IDEA has added functionality to the IDX tracker which allows users to render EDI documents into a format suitable for the lay reader. Your customer services reps or accounting staff can look up electronic documents and view them in a easy, simple to read format. Another new feature of the IDX lets users schedule delivery of EDI data by document type, enabling you to schedule large data files to be delivered at non peak usage times in your network.
  
  Hear how the IDX custom mapping service along with our EDI Managed Services program can enable you to grow your eCommerce department without increasing head count or adding resources. Come see the new features available to IDX subscribers and learn how we can help you achieve a more efficient eBusiness program!
  

• (D) Sessions

• The Electrical Industry Takes Action Against Counterfeits

  Brett C. Brenner
  

  4:10 PM - 5:00 PM

  Counterfeiting is a serious and growing problem for the electrical industry. Electrical product counterfeiting endangers your brand, your profitability, and the lives of your customers. In the U.S., total intellectual property rights seizures have increased 325% during the past decade. Consumer electronics/electrical devices were the top commodity seized in 2011, surpassing even footwear. Yet, a survey by the Gallup Consulting found that less than one-third of Americans realize that electrical products, like extension cords, are counterfeited. The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) has launched a multi-faceted, sustainable awareness program to combat electrical counterfeiting on behalf of all industry stakeholders. Operation: ACT – Stop Electrical Counterfeiting focuses on the health and safety concerns related to counterfeit products, drawing the correlation between genuine products and reliability. ESFI is working with consumer, industry, association, and government stakeholders to build upon existing anti-counterfeiting programs and efforts, while insulating individual brands and marks from being negatively associated with unsafe counterfeit products. This presentation will provide an overview of Operation: ACT’s strategy and program objectives, as well as introduce opportunities for attendees to help drive this industry initiative. United in our efforts, the electrical industry can successfully combat the growing menace of counterfeit electrical products worldwide.

• Industry Schema Optimizes Your Web Storefront

  David Starr, McNaughton & McKay
  

  Manufacturers have taken great strides in populating marketing content in the IDW. Learn why that content is so important to your distributors. Hear how UNSPSC codes, images, catalog descriptions, and product attributes are used in a distributor’s web storefront.

• Simplify your Message via Video

  
  

  
  

• Forum Night Out – "Go Big or Go Home Night Out "

  6:30 PM – 9:30 PM

  Everything’s bigger in Texas. The stadium, video screens, hats, belt buckles, beer glasses, sun glasses... you get the point! Join us for a mega night of fun, amazing food and networking. Texas promises not to disappoint!

Day 3 - Thursday, September 27, 2012

• Breakfast

  7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

• General Sessions

• General Session: TBA

  8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

• Richard Buzun Award Panel and Presentation

  9:10 AM - 10:00 AM

  Past Richard Buzun Award representatives will give attendees an inside look into the initiatives that helped their company get recognized as an eBusiness leader in the electrical industry. This is your chance to ask questions and catch up with past winners before the 2011 awards are presented.

   

  The Richard Buzun Award for Leadership and Innovation in eCommerce is named after the late Richard Buzun, the second IDEA Chairman, and former President and CEO of Siemens Energy & Automation. An electrical manufacturer and distributor company will be honored for their ongoing work and dedication to eBusiness best practices. Past winners include OSRAM SYLVANIA, Leviton Manufacturing, Viking Electric Supply, Van Meter Industrial, Rockwell Automation, Graybar, Crescent Electric Supply and ERICO. 

• Morning Boost

  10:00 AM - 10:15 AM

• Breakout Sessions

• (E) Sessions

• Bands of Excellence

  
  

  10:15 AM - 11:05 AM

  
  

• Turn your Data into a Mobile App

  
  

  
  

• Generate Buy-In for Data Initiatives

  
  

  
  

• Networking Lunch

  11:05 AM - 1:00 PM

• Lunch Sessions

• Lunch Session: Empower Your Sales Team with "Device Independence"

  John Hoelz, RepFiles, LLC
  

  12:00 PM - 12:50 PM

  ­

  "Device Independence". Using the latest applications and mobile devices, learn how you can have everything you need for the sales process with you at all times, without depending on a single operating system or platform.­

• Lunch Session: Understanding the Data Behind Pricing

  Dan Barlow, epaCUBE
  

  Distribution recognizes the need to develop talent for pricing within their organizations. Owning this core competency is now critical for survival. Many distributors have historically outsourced this capability, but are now ready to adapt this skill set internally and own the most important component to their customer relationship. In this session, we will discuss the transactional datasets used for pricing analysis and provide an understanding to the importance of blending knowledge with data to derive accurate pricing for your customers. We will point out potential pitfalls in pricing that lead to commercial issues, and discuss the use segmentation to derive contextual performance models.

• (F) Sessions

• Tablet Selling

  1:00 PM - 1:50 PM

  The IRD User Group was formed for IRD-CERICOMX users to directly engage with Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) experts from IDEA as they provide knowledge and best practices for being successful in synchronizing data through the GDSN. It provides a platform to discuss the enhancements that have been rolled out in the last year as well as what is on the roadmap for upcoming releases. In addition, attendees can further their education about synchronizing with various trading partners, get help troubleshooting specific issues and network with industry professionals.

• Is Your Website Invisible? Use SEO to Boost your Web Traffic

  
  

  
  

• To Be Announced

  
  

  
  

• (G) Sessions

• Pushing Data Downstream to the Contractor

  
  

  2:00 PM - 2:50 PM

  
  

• Roll Your Sleeves up and Clean up that Data

  
  

  
  

• To Be Announced

  Joe Raventos, President, Sales Management Plus

  Learn how integrating IDW data can help you quickly ramp up a CRM solution and empower your sales and marketing team to proactively target accounts and effectively manage sales opportunities. Using the latest technologies, including smart phones, tablets and PC’s, your team – inside and outside the office – can all be on the same page with an integrated data solution. This high-value educational session will benefit all members looking to harness their current customer base and leverage technology and data as a competitive weapon for their sales teams.- For All
  

• Prize Giveaway Drawing - Must Be Present to Win

  3:00 PM - 3:15 PM

• Attendees Depart - See You Next Year!

  3:15 PM