WILLOW GROVE, Pa. — While the show will go on, it’s going to be a bit delayed.
The second annual Fall Fest Expo — a virtual educational conference designed to bring information and ideas to drycleaning owners and staff members — will take now take place Jan. 19-21, rather than the originally scheduled Dec. 1-3.
The event, now called WinterFest Expo, will still be titled Today’s Plans Build Tomorrow’s Profits. It is co-sponsored by The Northeast Fabricare Association (NEFA), Pennsylvania and Delaware Cleaners Association (PDCA) and the South Eastern Fabricare Association (SEFA) in cooperation with the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI).
“While we had a strong registration and interest level, there was growing concern for these registrants to fully participate in the event,” says Peter Blake, executive director of NEFA, SEFA and MAC. “We had numerous requests from participants to move the program past the holiday season. With owners and managers stretched so thin in this labor market, sometimes to the breaking point, they were concerned about their ability to get the maximum value from the program. They loved the idea of access to recordings, but we all realize the impact is not the same.”
While it wasn’t an easy decision, Blake believes it was the right one for the associations and the participants.
“We really weighed the needs of the attendee with the return on the investment for the sponsors and attendees alike,” he says. “We realized it was in everyone's best interest to move to January when the holiday pressures will be less. I think the program will have more meaning and will be more impactful when people can be fully engaged.”
Blake noted that the schedule and the lineup of speakers and presenters is expected to stay the same, with only the dates changing. All those who registered are automatically registered for the new dates, as well, and the registration links are still valid and will not change.
For more information, contact Blake at [email protected] (phone: 617-791-0128), or Leslie Schaeffer at [email protected] (phone: 215-830-8495). Updates will also be available at the sponsor’s websites: nefabricare.com, pdclean.org and SEFA.org.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].