BRA Retail Summit

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BRA Retail Summit V

April 30 - May 4, 2008
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sponsorships Available for Retailers Interested in Attending!

Click here to obtain a registration form.

Manufacturers and vendors click here to register.

BRA would like to extend an invitation to retailers to join us for the BRA Retail Summit 5 in San Juan, Puerto Rico - April 30th – May 4th, 2008. All members of the association, including retailers, manufacturers and vendors who are Associate Members, are encouraged to attend. The attendee list is growing, the agenda, comprised of a mix of surf, skate and snow related presentations and roundtables has been released, the activities confirmed and the surfboards shipped. The only thing missing is you!

BRA will provide a unique educational opportunity for board sport retailers as well as panel discussions with manufacturers on issues facing the action sports industry.

• Attend interactive workshops and round table discussions with other specialty board sport retailers and manufacturers from the action sports industry.
• Learn the latest retail strategies and technologies from industry experts to help you brace for potentially tough economic times.
• Take a pre-sunset catamaran cruise, dine at the Revealing Rainforest, visit the Bacardi Rum Distillery, tour and shop in Old Town San Juan or enjoy the many other natural amenities offered by the island.
• Attend panels, presentations and seminars on topics ranging from diversifying and merchandising product to inventory management to increasing web traffic to industry demographics.
• Network with other retailers, manufacturers and other industry professionals.
• Bring your family and enjoy the pool, private beach, spa and other hotel amenities offered by the Caribe Hilton.
• Receive action items that you can immediately take home and implement to save dollars and increase margins.

The BRA Retail Summit, designed for specialty board sport retailers, includes State of the Industry presentations by Global Wave Ventures, ActionWatch, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association (SIMA) and SnowSports Industries America (SIA). In addition, retailers will have the opportunity to participate in discussions with each other on topics such as skateboard merchandising, surfboard selling techniques, driving web traffic to an e-commerce site and marketing. The goal of the Retail Summit is to provide like-minded specialty board sport retailers from across the country the opportunity to get together for three days to focus on issues facing our niche market. In addition to the obvious benefits - sun and surf - this year's Retail Summit will address a variety of issues facing the board sport retail industry.

Don't miss the opportunity to network with some of the sponsors in attendance like Quiksilver, Santa Cruz Surfboards, Surf Expo, ASR, and GSI to name a few. Be sure to join the entire group as they tour the Rio Camuy Caves, the Bacardi Rum Distillery and dine in some of the best restaurants San Juan has to offer, all while staying at the beautifully luxurious Caribe Hilton property.

Click here to print the registration form. Fax completed registrations to 910.509.3181.

BRA Retail Summit V Agenda

DAY ONE - Wednesday, April 30th
• Registration 1-5 PM
• Welcome Reception 6 - 9 PM

DAY TWO - Thursday, May 1st
• Breakfast 7 - 10 AM
• BRA Board Meeting 9 AM
• BRA Welcome 10 AM
• State of the Board Sport Industry Presented by Global Wave Ventures 10:30 AM
• Maximizing the Value of Your Store Data and Industry Data Presented by ActionWatch 11:15 AM
• Retail Education Program Presented by 3Point5 12 PM
• Lunch 12:30 PM
• State of the Surf Industry Presented by SIMA 1:30 PM
• Pre-Sunset Catamaran Cruise with Cocktails 3 - 6 PM
• Cocktails and Dinner at the Revealing Rainforest 7 - 10 PM

DAY THREE - Friday, May 2nd
• Breakfast 7 - 10 AM
• Surf Manufacturer Panel 10 AM
• State of the Snow Industry Presented by SIA 11 AM
• Lunch 12 PM
• State of the Skate Industry Presented by IASC 1 PM
• Skate Merchandising Roundtable 1:45 AM
• Tour of San Juan and Rum Distillery 3:30 PM
• Cocktails and Dinner 7 - 9 PM
• San Juan Bar Crawl

DAY FOUR - Saturday, May 3rd
• Breakfast 7 - 10 AM
• Tradeshow Roundtable Led by Surf Expo and ASR 10 AM
• Tapping into 30+ Male and Female Consumer Market by Propaganda HQ 10:45 AM
• Developing a Successful Year Round Private Label Program Presented by Global Wave Ventures 11:30 AM
• Lunch 12:15 PM
• Avoiding Stagnation – Head in Sand Mentality Presented by Global Wave Ventures 1:15 PM
• Eco-Nomics – Retail Focused Environmental Initiatives 1:45 PM
• EXTRA CREDIT – Web Development Presented by Sage Island 2:30 PM
• Industry Poolside Party 3 - 6 PM
• Dinner and Awards Reception 7 - 10 PM

DAY FIVE - Sunday, May 4th
• Breakfast 7 - 11 AM
• Check Out 12 PM
• Safe Travels Home!

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BRA Retail Summit 4
May 9 - 13th, 2007
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Board Retail Association Summit IV In Puerto Rico
By Cullen Poythress of Transworld Business

The Board Retailers Association held its fourth annual Retail Summit in San Juan, Puerto Rico May 9–13, 2007. A select group of BRA board members and affiliates from around the country headed toward the equator for a long weekend of meetings focusing on the year’s achievements, future objectives, group planning exercises, and discussion forums on key issues facing today’s board retail business. But the trip was much more than just meeting halls. BRA planned a buffet of fun activities including a sea kayak trip, rainforest tours, elaborate dinners, surfing, golf, and plenty of poolside fun.

Newly appointed BRA President Mike Duncan kicked off the weekend by addressing the organization’s growth and achievements over the past year. The group currently has more than 450 retailer members representing more than 1,280 retail doors. BRA also has more than 40 associate members composed of manufacturers and other organizations. Duncan says BRA membership trajectory over the past year has been huge. “Our growth doubled over the last year,” says Duncan. “Not only that, our associate membership nearly quadrupled.” Duncan says the added membership will allow the organization to provide more resources to its members. “We’re now able to offer, not only access to our members, but stats and surveys and other things that weren’t available in the past. It’s allowed us to get better deals with our benefits, too. Our services have grown directly with our numbers.”

Topping the list of initiatives for the weekend was the BRA Retail University—an online educational program designed to help inform and enlighten retail employees about all aspects of the board sports retail business. Still in its planning stages, the BRA board used meeting time to discuss the content of the curriculum, its structure, and how it should be implemented. “The ultimate goal of the University is to be able to certify employees,” says Duncan. The basic Retail University courses will cover everything from sales floor, to management and buying. The program will be offered through the BRA Web site and will be able to be branded by each member’s shop—allowing every shop to have a personalized look to the curriculum.

“The online retail university will provide awareness to integral training methods for all shops, big and small,” says Skate Park Of Tampa Buyer Barak Wiser. “It definitely can’t hurt having a resource that’s easily accessible and will help you train your staff and maybe learn something yourself as a manager or shop owner.”

Duncan says another major byproduct of the University is to create a universal language system—an advantage he says will help create better salesmen and stronger brands. “Having a university where everyone is using the same language to sell products is going to strengthen brands,” says Duncan. With the help of SIMA and the Surf Board Builders Association, BRA has finally completed an official language system for surfboard technology and construction—something Duncan says he wants to do for all board sports. BRA’s Retail University is slated to be completed by the end of the year.

Among several other line item issues the board addressed during the weekend was developing BRA’s official stance on blank and shop branded skateboards—an issue that’s been top of mind for both the manufacturing and retail sector over the course of the year. The group is working on a formalized proposal to be presented to the industry.

The weekend was also time for restructuring. In order to help spearhead the needs of each boardsport BRA nominated specific members to be in charge of each product category—surf, skate, snow, and wake. “We came out of the meetings stronger than we were going in and more united,” says Modern Skate Owner and newly appointed BRA Skateboard Director George Leichtweis. “Roy Turner (BRA’s Former President left big shoes to fill and we’ve had a lot of board members step up and take charge.”

Like many industry summits, some of the most important work got done outside of the lecture halls—talking shop over drinks in the pool, business conversations at dinner, and late night networking at the bar. BRA Development Associate Melissa Clary provided plenty of teambuilding activities for attendees. On the second night of the trip the group was treated to a midnight sea kayak adventure in the Bioluminescent Bay of Las Cabezas De San Juan. The group piled into a fleet of two man sea kayaks and navigated through a mile of dark mangrove swamp until finally reaching an open bay populated by glowing microorganisms that gave the bay an eerie sparkling glow. The following morning members were treated to a morning hike through the El Yunque Rainforest—a 28,000-acre span of jungle that stands as the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forrest System.

Traditionally, the BRA retail summits have been held in conjunction with SIMA’s Surf Summit in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, but According to Duncan the weekend was so successful that the organization plans on continuing on holding its events independently. “We’re going to continue next year in Puerto Rico,” says Duncan. “We’re going to open it up to all members and associate members for next year. It will be a similar three-day event with seminars and panel discussions. It’s really about educating and getting retailers together and let them talk to one another about key issues. Five years ago these shops didn’t even talk to each other. We’ll have a manufacturers day where companies will have the opportunity to address retailers.”

Retailers also agreed that the weekend was a very valuable experience. “Everybody on the board seems more focused on our purpose,” says Leichtweis. “It was a very positive summit for the Board Retailers Association overall.”

BRA Press Release
Check out Transworld's Photos Here