2015 MSA Retail Conference & Expo Set for April 17-20 in Hartford

Four Days of Conference Sessions and Expo Buying from Over 200 Select Vendors for Nonprofit and Independent Retailers

The Museum Store Association (MSA) will hold its annual Retail Conference & Expo April 17-20, 2015 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, Conn. The 2015 MSA Retail Conference & Expo offers four days of dynamic learning sessions, learning excursions and opportunities to network with 300 museum store professionals and more than 200 select vendors who offer products and services for nonprofit and independent retailers.

Conference sessions will be presented by today’s leading thinkers in nonprofit and for-profit retail who will share knowledge about the latest topics in nonprofit and small business retailing. Sessions include Open To Buy Workshop, Retail Boot Camp, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Retailers, Sales Guaranteed: The Only Four Things You Need to Know to Improve Museum Store Sales, Perspectives On Fair Trade, 29 Tech Tools to Create Cool Content for Social Media, Looking at Business Through Your Customers’ Eyes and eCommerce A to Z: Selling the Museum Experience Online.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by Roderick Buchanan, director of buying at the British Museum Company; and award-winning National Geographic and U.S. Army combat photographer Dick Durrance. Session presenters include Paul Flickinger, former vice president at Event Network; authors Olga I. Mizrahi and Beth Ziesenis; retail consultants Kevin Mullaney and Andrew Andoniadis; Stuart Hata, director of retail operations at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; and David Rekuc, marketing director at Ripen eCommerce and contributor to Entrepreneur magazine.

“Retailers often find themselves doing a balancing act every day, performing a variety of functions and responsibilities,” said Jama Rice, MSA Executive Director/CEO. “They balance inventory control, staffing, merchandising, displays, financial management, marketing and even event planning, and at the same time they must stay apprised of all that’s happening at their institutions and stores. The 2015 Conference & Expo will provide tools to help balance the balancing act.”

The four-day event includes conference sessions, admission to the Expo, networking events and select meals. MSA Retail Boot Camp along with a one-day Expo Pass is available for $299. Learning excursions to the Preservation Society of Newport County Mansions, and the Mark Twain House & Museum and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center can be purchased separately. Special conference rates are available at the Marriot Hartford Downtown. Registration, hotel and travel information museumstoreassociation.org.

Now in its 60th year, the Museum Store Association is a nonprofit, international association dedicated to advancing the success of nonprofit retail professionals in extending the brand and contributing to the bottom lines of their institutions. MSA serves over 1,500 members in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Asia and Europe. With eight regional chapters, MSA offers products and services for the retail industry including the Nonprofit Retail Professional Certificate program; ShopTalk, MSA’s online community; monthly webinars; programs and networking events at regional trade shows; and publications including the 2014 Retail Industry Report.