Nationwide Jewellers
This year’s IJF is one of celebration for Nationwide Jewellers as the company marks 25 years’ business in New Zealand.
“Saturday evening we are hosting a cocktail function to celebrate 20 years of taking members to Antwerp to buy diamonds. Sunday night is our annual awards presentation dinner, at which we will be celebrating 25 years of trading in New Zealand,” managing director Colin Pocklington said.
“In our VIP lounge at the fair, we have exclusive suppliers, a wide range of diamond workshops, seminars, and experts providing one-on-one free consultancy sessions.”
Some of Nationwide’s vast presentation at the fair includes demonstrations from Jewelsure and JewelScan, Counter Sketch and SmartPro. Industry experts will also be on hand to provide information on consumer financing, selling coloured gemstones, human resources and public relations seminars, branded jewellery workshops and discussions on synthetic diamonds.
Nationwide diamond workshops will also take place, with Bill Sechos running hands-on grading classes and seminars across Saturday and Sunday. The events have proven to be a great success since their establishment in 2001.
“Attending the Fair allows us to communicate new initiatives with a large number of members. We usually register over 300 people for the weekend,” Pocklington said.
“We are most looking forward to catching up with members and presenting some very good solutions to the very difficult trading conditions that the industry has been experiencing.”
Showcase Jewellers
Members of Showcase Jewellers are in for a week packed with exclusive guest speakers, networking opportunities and vineyard tours at its buying group conference, managing director Carson Webb said.
“We have a conference this time every year to bring together our members to do business, train and network before the Fair,” he said.
“This year we are going to the Hunter Valley. We are different to other buying groups in that we are a member-owned group. Our members voted to go out of the CBD this year, so we are heading out to the Hunter Valley to trial the getaway.”
The conference will host keynote speakers Friedman Group’s Kassandra Lewis and David Brown. Podium USA, ALTR Created Diamonds and Effy New York are exclusive visitors at the conference ahead of IJF.
Webb explained that it has been a pretty tough few years for the industry “but we are feeling incredibly positive about the year ahead and we are keen to get our share of the market back and are keen to accept this challenge.”
The five-day conference that includes the group’s annual general meeting kicks off Sunday 19 August and runs through until Thursday 23.
Leading Edge Group Jewellers
Aside from its annual Christmas buying event, running Wednesday 22 to Friday 24 August, Leading Edge Group Jewellers (LEGJ) has an enormous schedule in the days leading up to the IJF.
General manager Joshua Zarb said members would meet in Sydney ahead of IJF to participate in a number of activities and seminars aimed at maximising productivity during its conference.
“We are offering various sponsorship packages to assist suppliers in promoting their businesses to the membership throughout the entire three-day conference period,” Zarb said.
“We are changing up our members buying event this year by offering suppliers the opportunity to book educational time-slots to host small training sessions to launch new products and ranges.
“Our LEGJ marketing team will be setting up our own education area where suppliers can stop by for a demonstration of our new custom catalogue program, ecommerce platforms and communication tools in order to assist our supply partners maximise the services offered by LEGJ to assist them throughout the coming year.”
LEGJ members will be treated to a number of keynote presentations throughout the three-day conference, including a special presentation from Google strategic partners manager, Jamie Dagostino.
Commsec’s Craig James will host another feature keynote on the state of the nation and future of small business in Australia for the members during the training day on Friday.
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