JA Seminar Schedule

Education Seminars at JA New York Winter Show
Jewelers of America and America’s Best Jeweler Education Programs
Presented by America’s Best Jeweler and Jewelers of America, the JA Retail Learning Center enables retailers to integrate buying and learning. Conveniently located on the show floor (in the back of the 1900 – 2000 aisles), the Learning Center has incorporated multiple, diverse learning environments.

Sunday, February 28

10:30 - 11:30 AM

America's Best Jewelers Peer Panel 1: Online Media Best Practices
Moderated by Whitney Sielaff, National Jeweler Editorial Director and ABJ Social Network Administrator

Join your fellow jewelers in a discussion of how they're maximizing use of today's available online tools, from social networking to microblogging and, of course, company Web sites.

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

America's Best Jewelers Peer Panel 2: Inventory Strategies for 2010
Moderated by Whitney Sielaff, National Jeweler Editorial Director and ABJ Social Network Administrator

Coming off the holiday 2009 season, learn and discuss how fellow jewelers are positioning their inventory, from category management to price points to overall spend and size.

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

America’s Best Jewelers Retail Awards Presentation
Luncheon and award presentation are by invitation only. For more information or to register visit www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/abj

2:00 - 2:45 PM

Getting the Most Out of Your Precious Metals Refiner
Presented by: David Siminski, Sales Director for United Precious Metals Refining

What you don’t know about choosing and working with a precious metals refiner might be costing you thousands of dollars per year and might be placing your valuable scrap at risk. When it comes to protecting this critical component of your jewelry business, there are some simple do’s and don’ts that, when followed carefully, will improve efficiency and maximize profits. In this economic climate, can you afford not to become an expert on dealing with a precious metals refiner? This seminar will provide you with the information you need to make the right choices.

3:00 - 4:00

The Be Back Bus Isn’t Coming Back
Presented by Brad Huisken, Principle, IAS Training

Don’t miss this fun and motivational seminar on uncovering and overcoming the various objections that customers give to salespeople. When a customer says, “I’ll be back” or “I need to think about it,” the customer isn’t really going to come back or think about your sales presentation. Something else is going on in the customer’s mind and the salesperson needs to figure out what the real objection is in order to save or make the sale. Oftentimes the true objection is to the price, and the customer is embarrassed to say that the product is out of his or her price range.
Attend this seminar and learn effective, customer service-driven methods to handle objections and close more sales than ever before!

4:00 PM

ABJ member cocktail reception


Monday, March 1

10:30 - 11:30 AM

America's Best Jewelers Peer Panel 3: Staffing and Human Resources in the Current Market
Moderated by David Peters, Director of Education and Member Services, Jewelers of America

Discuss strategies with fellow jewelers on how to maximize return on your staff investment and how to deal with issues such as staff sizing and compensation.

11:45 AM - 12:45 PM

America's Best Jewelers Peer Panel 4: Business Plan for First-Half 2010
Moderated by David Peters, Director of Education and Member Services, Jewelers of America

As we turn the corner from the toughest year in memory, learn how your colleagues are planning to maintain healthy cash flow and bottom lines.

1:00 -2:30 PM

Identifying the CAD/CAM Solutions That Are Right for Your Business Panelists: Doug Kerns of Gemvision, Rich Motto of CAD Blu, Randy Hayes of Artisan CNC

Today’s computer-aided-design and computer-aided-manufacturing tools are more powerful than ever before, providing jewelers with the ability to custom design and manufacture a piece of jewelry, perfectly fitting the taste and pocketbook of their most exacting customer. But how is a jeweler to know which CAD or CAM products are right for his or her business? Stories abound of jewelers investing thousands of dollars on products or systems that have gone under-used or even unused because they were given inadequate information prior their purchase. Attend this seminar and learn how you can avoid these costly mistakes.

2:45 - 4:00 PM

The 5 Silver Bullets to Productivity Improvement
Presented by Brad Huisken, Principle, IAS Training

This seminar will help you better understand how to effectively manage your people to increase productivity. A Jewelry store cannot be managed based on opinions it must be managed based factual information, that being statistics. Numbers and statistics don’t lie. And people do what you inspect not necessarily what you expect.
This seminar will unlock the mystery of what you need to inspect and how to empower your staff to run the business the way it should be. It is the consistent application of sound business principles that will enable a company to grow and flourish. You learn about the 5 Silver Bullets, a unique program designed to unlock the mystery of why some companies are fun and productive places to work and others are not.
In today’s retail environment, the only thing that separates one company from the competition is its people. The main responsibility of a storeowner and/or manager is to provide the sales staff with the tools and benchmarks needed through accountability, non-negotiable standards, incentives, consequences, training, and knowledge. Doing this can only achieve higher levels of success.

4:00 PM

ABJ member cocktail reception

For a complete and current listing of presenter bios, please click here

Visit www.Jewelers.org for more information about Jewelers of America and learn how to apply to become a member.

This peer-to-peer program will give retailers access to the metrics and key business practices that translate into high achievement and success in the retail jewelry business. For more information or to register visit www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/abj

Please contact David Peters, davidpeters@jewelers.org for more information on the Jeweler's of America Education Seminars or if you are interested in speaking at the JA New York Shows.