Editor’s message 20 Eglinton Ave. West, Suite 1800, Toronto, ON M4R 1K8 (416) 256-9908 | (877) 687-7321 | Fax (888) 889-9522 www.CCentral.ca PRESidENT, ENSEMblEiQ CANAdA Jennifer Litterick | jlitterick@ensembleiq.com Group Brand Director - CONVENIENCE Kathryn Swan | kswan@ensembleiq.com ViCE PRESidENT/GENERAl MANAGER - EVENTS Michael Cronin | mcronin@ensembleiq.com Editorial EdiTOR, CSNEWS CANAdA Jane Auster | jauster@ensembleiq.com EdiTOR, Octane Kelly Gray | kgray@ensembleiq.com ONLINE EDITOR Nikki Lockington | nlockington@ensembleiq.com TRANSLATION | Danielle Hart advErtising salEs SALES REPRESENTATIVE Elijah Hoffman | ehoffman@ensembleiq.com National Account Manager Jacquie Rankin | jrankin@ensembleiq.com SAlES & EVENTS COORdiNATOR Claudia Castro DESIGN AND production Vice President, Production Derek Estey | destey@ensembleiq.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Michael Kimpton | mkimpton@ensembleiq.com ART DIRECTOR | Christian Lemay Director of Marketing Alexandra Voulu | avoulu@ensembleiq.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Lina Trunina | ltrunina@ensembleiq.com WEB OPERATIONS MANAGER Valerie White | vwhite@ensembleiq.com CORPORATE OFFICERS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN | Alan Glass ChiEF EXECUTIVE OFFiCER | David Shanker Chief Financial Officer | Dan McCarthy CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER | Joel Hughes
Chief Innovation Officer | Tanner Van Dusen Chief Human Resources Officer | Ann Jadown Executive Vice President, Events & Conferences Ed Several
SUBSCRIPtion services Subscriptions: $65.00 per year, 2 year $120.00, Outside Canada $100.00 per year, Single copy $12.00, Groups $46.00, Outside Canada Single copy $16.00. Email: ycm@convenienceu.ca Phone: 1-844-694-4422, between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST weekdays Fax: 1-844-815-0700 / Online: www.ccentral.ca/subscribe
Make the most of a
great opportunity Are you ready for the industry’s main event? Toronto’s Convenience U CARWACS Show is Canada’s largest industry gathering for all things convenience, forecourt and car wash. Here are five tips to help make the most of this remarkable networking opportunity. Be prepared: Do your homework well in advance. Attendees should look over the booth listings and circle those exhibitors they want to see. Then drop them a quick e-mail to let them know you are coming. If you have a new product or service, send out e-mails a month before the show to generate interest and use social media to push the envelope further. Maximize your booth time: Create an in-house shared calendar so that those at the stand can tell attendees when various sales and marketing people will be at the booth. Schedule as many meetings as possible beforehand and work to increase the number of interactions from previous years at the show. Come early and leave late: The booth team should be on deck 30 minutes before the trading floor opens. This is a good time to discuss battle plans and iron out any kinks with displays, scanners, or other technology. At the end of each day traffic often slows and this is a time when people are less harried with the busy atmosphere of the show. Use this time as an opportunity to speak at greater length with attendees. Attend the networking events: The Convenience U CARWACS Show offers numerous occasions for casual gathering with awards ceremonies, games, break out sessions, and industry tours as well as luncheons and breakfasts. This is where business relationships are made and new contacts are discovered. Plan to work the room and meet as many people as possible. The settings are casual, but the intent is serious business. Follow up: You’ve made good contacts and had meaningful interactions at the show. Don’t let these opportunities fade. Reach out to people who took the time to visit your stand and say thanks as well as carry through on conversations about future business. Use social media to tell your network about your success at the show and include photos.
LICENSING AND REPRINTS Please contact Wright’s Media | ensembleiq@wrightsmedia.com 1-877-652-5295 CONVENIENCE STORE NEWS CANADA / OCTANE is published 6 times a year by EnsembleIQ. CONVENIENCE STORE NEWS CANADA / OCTANE is circulated to managers, buyers and professionals working in Canada’s convenience, gas and wash channel. Please direct inquiries to the editorial offices. Contributions of articles, photographs and industry information are welcome, but cannot be acknowledged or returned. ©2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, including photocopying and electronic retrieval/retransmission, without the permission of the publisher.
kgray@ensembleiq.com
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March / April 2019
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