The Best of NRF

By Joe skorupa
By the time you read this the NRF Big Show will be a little more than a week away and you will have already confirmed registrations for two must-attend events – Super Saturday and Rock & Roll Retail. Super Saturday is hosted by RetailROI, the industry’s best not-for-profit organization, and Rock & Roll Retail is hosted by RIS News, the industry’s coolest media network. If you aren’t registered for these events you need to get on the stick. Here’s why.

First, RetailROI (the Retail Orphan Initiative), is the best thing to happen in retail since the invention of the abacus. Since its inception three years ago, RetailROI has raised and distributed more than $374,000 in grants to charities that make a huge impact on vulnerable lives who need it most.

The event is free to retailers and all sponsorship money goes directly to organizations involved in orphan care, adoption support and foster care.
The list of speakers includes Bill Beaumann of REI, David Levitt of The Children’s Place, Vicki Cantrell of the NRF, Gary Williams of wRatings, Deborah Weinswig of Citi Investment Research and Jeff Roster of Gartner. Plan to show up on January 14 by 9 am and stay until 4 pm in the PwC Auditorium at 300 Madison Ave. For more information contact info@retailROI.org or visit www.retailroi.org.

Rock & Roll Retail is also in its third year and, to connect the two events, a portion of the proceeds for the coolest event at NRF goes to RetailROI. Rock & Roll Retail would be a great experience for no other reason than to hang out with 200 retailers in the B.B. King Blues Club in Times Square, but the fun is magnified by listening to retailers play and sing their butts off in a battle of the bands. Trust me on this: they will dazzle and amaze you.

The music goes from 9 pm to midnight on Monday, January 16, and admission is free to retailers. But you can’t get in unless you register by going to www.risnews.com/2011-Rock-Roll-Retail.

I know some people are going to the NRF Big Show to see tech vendors, President Bill Clinton and IBM’s Watson AI computer. That’s understandable. But there’s a big world outside of the convention center. Check out these two events to enrich your NRF experience and provide some help to others.