Rubber Stamping is a simple but creative hobby that can make anyone feel like an artist. With a quick, yet effective demonstration, your customers will be anxious to buy—and often they want everything you show them. In this demo-nar, you will learn the latest stamping techniques to help build incremental sales in your store!

Judi Watanabe, of Judikins Inc. will teach you popular stamping techniques and easy demonstration strategies. A variety of resources will be shared for productive and inspiring Make n' Takes or classes you can offer in your store.

Plus…all attendees will use color cardstock and learn to create a colorful background with various metallic embossed rubber stamped images.

The infamous 4th Quarter: the time of year that represents the largest percentage of total year retail sales. Miss the 4th Quarter and you miss the boat. But not this year! After this seminar you’ll be armed and ready to rock `n roll with traffic-building, door-spinning, no-cost, low-cost promotional events penciled in for the Golden 4th Quarter months of October, November and December. But we want you to really shine, so we’re throwing in events for September 2009 and January 2010, too!

Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender will share retailer-tested, tried and true MAJOR and MINOR In-Store EVENTS & Promotions, Marketing Ideas and PR Plans for each of the above months. You’ll receive a Promotional Planning Calendar you‘ll fill in as we go along; PLUS all the how-to instructions, ad slicks, templates, store meeting notes, and more you’ll need to thrill your customers and drive your competition crazy.

This seminar is the next best thing to having KIZER & BENDER working in your store! 4th Quarter Calendar is loaded with “Non-stop Traffic-Building, Profit-Producing, Attention-Grabbing, Sales-Generating, Competition-Miffing, Customer-Winning Retail Promotions you just can’t afford to miss!™”

Plus…This seminar will be followed-up at CHA Winter 2010 with enough events, promotions, marketing and PR ideas to keep your store’s momentum going through summer 2010!

In this presentation you will learn advanced techniques for working in Photoshop to create designs for your business. In this seminar you'll learn the latest tips to take your skills to the next level and design papers, stamps and other items for the craft market.

You will learn how to:

Work with Illustrator images in Photoshop

Leverage Photoshop Smart Objects to create editable and customizable designs

Create mock ups of your designs onto flat and curved surfaces

Turn step by step photos and photos of your final designs into magazine ready art

Create publishable templates from hand drawn sketches

With over 2.1 million members worldwide and 87.5 million in gross merchandise sales in 2008, no one can deny Etsy is leading a new wave of small business owners through revolutionary channels of business growth, by connecting artisans and craftspeople around the world with consumers who want to buy unique items directly from their makers.

Known for grassroots marketing campaigns and innovative discovery tools, Etsy has grown from the strength of viral marketing, spreading its’ brands message through social media and networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and blogs. Etsy is a model not only for this technical innovation and grassroots marketing, but connecting with consumers through what matters most to them.

Join us for this informative presentation on Etsy’s mission and model, and hear from CEO, Maria Thomas, about the strategies that have fueled their success, including:

How to create a strong relationship with your consumer through your brand’s message

How to use social media strategically to grow your business

Where the new wave of consumers buying “handmade” can be found

Don’t miss the opportunity to be inspired by this success story and learn effective ways to reinvent your consumer connections!

Here’s the thing: If you’re willing to do just 1% more than your competition is willing to do, you’ll find the bigger share of the business. In tough economic times, many retailers have a tendency to hold back and adopt a “wait and see” attitude. These are the retailers less likely to weather the storm.

And then there are retailers who look for opportunity in tough times; retailers who are willing to dive into waters their complacent competitors tend to avoid. They find ways to move forward, tapping every available resource along the way. And they don’t spend lots of extra money to get the word out about their stores. These are the retailers to model in tough economic times. Join Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender for plenty of door-spinning ideas to jump-start your business.

You’ll learn:

TECHNIQUES to attract new customers and bond with the old.

PROVEN METHODS to get customers to choose your store over the competition.

IDEAS to entice shoppers to visit your store again and again.

STRATEGIES to involve your associates in your path to success.

BEST PRACTICES to increase your add-on sales potential.

TRICKS to romance your merchandise and sell more stuff.

Plus…a host of other Street Savvy Strategies™ to increase your sales and improve your profits!

Media Relations during an economic boom can be challenging, with a growing consumer base and ever-expanding retail options, competition is fierce and it’s hard to know the best market for your message and products. Throw in a down economy, skittish consumer, and shrinking newshole into the mix – and it’s become more difficult to deliver your message.

Join us at this panel discussion to learn the about the most impactful tools and techniques required to deliver and control your message with the media. Hear from leading PR firms, industry media insiders, and new consumer outlets on how you can succeed in this challenging environment.

In this seminar, you’ll learn:

How to create strong relationships with key trade publications

How to secure media coverage in an increasingly competitive landscape

How to adjust your message to address the new breed of consumer/trade publications

The role of emerging social networks and news coverage

Retailers, are your class sizes down? Do you want to turn a profit with a weekend of in-store classes? We can show you how!

The digital camera has created a new customer with new challenges that you can profit from - provided you offer the right products and services. Your customer would rather learn how to use their computer to scrapbook from you, than try to follow a tutorial with confusing technical terms like “rasterize the vector layer.” Join Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, Cindy Wyckoff, and Patty Debowski, renowned scrapbook retail store advisor, who together will show you how to offer profitable, product-selling digital and hybrid scrapbooking classes that will appeal to:

Customers who claim they aren’t scrapbookers, but have closets full of photos and camera cards

Men who don’t want to “scrapbook” but want their ‘travel’ photos to look nice in albums

Busy and overwhelmed traditional scrapbookers who think they have no time to scrapbook

The new generation of social networking youth who aren’t accustomed to traditional crafting.

Learn to unravel the hidden potential that lies within the retailer’s walls and will provide tools, processes and materials that any store owner can immediately utilize.

The face of crafting changes, the aesthetic of crafts evolves, and the participation in crafting broadens daily, before our eyes. But what doesn’t change is the opportunity to connect with each customer by appealing to them through the mediums they care about most. Do you know the psychology behind motivating your customers to craft?

In this current economic climate, it’s even more important than ever to understand your customer and the role crafting plays in their quality of life. Join this session to hear from iconic voices of the industry as they share their perspective on industry drivers and how to spark incremental sales for your business, you’ll learn:

Why people craft

Which craft segments are growing

What trends are up and coming

How crafters have changed, and what remains constant

Join this timely discussion to discover ways to reinvent your customer experience!

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) has caused considerable consternation for manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers in the craft and hobby industry. With seemingly contradictory advice and interpretaions of the Act circulating in the media, it is important to have a clear understanding of CPSIA’s requirements and the latest regulations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) implementing the Act. This presentation will cover the latest developments, including new implementing regulations, interpretive decisions and enforcement guidance by the CPSC concerning the CPSIA.

Why do some stores thrive while others fail? What makes one store great and another just a place to buy stuff? Easy. It’s the retailer that makes the difference.

Want to improve your business? Then join Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender for a LIVE and Lively Retailer Panel Discussion and learn what it takes! You’ll pick up insider tips from some of the Creative Industry’s Best Retailers on marketing, advertising, effective merchandising, developing crops & classes, how to drive sales through in-store events, and more. Success leaves a trail – this panel discussion will help you choose the right path!

Join web expert Dirk Knemeyer as he shows how to get your business set up to use a variety of important online services, then get the greatest benefit for your company. You will better understand the nuances of social sites you are familiar with now, learn about important new resources, and leave with a good idea how to turn free, easy and powerful web resources into revenue.

Don't miss this seminar to learn how to take advantage of the latest wave of business opportunity on the internet!

Kathy Cano-Murillo, author, artist, product developer and founder of the award-winning web site CraftyChica.com, will lead this one-hour session about what it takes for a designer to launch and maintain a successful site. CraftyChica.com receives more than 2 million hits a month (50,000 - 60,000 unique visitors), and has a combined subscriber list of 20,000+. Learn from this success the techniques and applications an experienced designer can use to stand out from the crowd.

Kathy will share her experiences from launching her site to expanding it to what it is now, including:

Easy, cost-affordable platforms and services to build a site

Devising a mission statement and tone for your brand

What kind of content and topics to include

Incorporating blogs, video, Twitter feeds and photo streams

Tips on sizing and storing photos

Overview of layouts, ads, special features

Budgeting time to keep up your site

Cross promoting with other sites such as Facebook and MySpace

Explantion of hits vs. unique visitors

Plus…all attendees will receive take-away guidelines to web-building resources.

The CHA Attitude & Usage Study found that one reason people craft is because it relaxes them and relieves stress. Researchers are also finding this to be true: Crafts are not only fun, they’re therapeutic. During this financial downturn, manufacturers, retailers, and customers need them more than ever, for the comfort they provide.

This interactive seminar by Nancy Monson, author of the book Craft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes, will describe how you can help your customers benefit in various ways. In this seminar you will learn:

How to match your craft to your personality and stress type

The unique value of rhythmic and repetitive activities such as knitting and sewing

How crafts and other hobbies can ward off feelings of loneliness and isolation and help caregivers reach elderly loved ones

Why the process of crafting is as important as the final product

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about this important message for your customers!