STI: PopStats - Research Conference General Agenda

March 24 - 26, 2010

The following is the final agenda for the STI: PopStats Research Conference and User Forum - 2010. All events will take place in the Stephen F. Austin's Ballroom, unless otherwise indicated. You may also check with the Stephen F's Day Planner located in the lobby. Please note that topics and times are subject to change without notice.

As in previous years, this year's agenda will be comprised of five major initiatives or series. With each series focused on a major theme

• Research - The research series is a compilation of discussions and demonstrations by major retailers and developers of what they are doing at the home office or in the field to better understand their markets from a research perspective.
• Theoretical - In past conferences we asked the audience if they would like to see more topics that were more theoretical in nature. The overwhelming answer was yes! Therefore, topics relevant to market research but perhaps still on the drawing board will be presented for the audience to contemplate and discuss.
• Methodology - By far the most popular series last year was methodology. Here we reveal the intricacies of our methodology in developing the STI product line. This is not an infomercial! But, rather a detailed discussion of what makes our technology 'tick'. We believe the more the end-user understands the technology and it's assumptions the better they are prepared in using it.
• Technique - The technique series looks at specific research techniques. Techniques can range from the mathematical (indexing) to the practical (GIS).
• Management - The management series focuses on issues that affect the role of the research manager and tools he can use that will help his department flourish.

The following is the final agenda for the STI: PopStats Research Conference and User Forum - 2010. All events will take place in the Stephen F. Austin's Ballroom, unless otherwise indicated. You may also check with the Stephen F's Day Planner located in the lobby. Topics and times subject to change without notice.

Listed below is a general time schedule of the conference.

Tuesday - March 23, 2010

• 6:00 - 8:00pm Pickup conference materials - Second Floor Lobby (look for the STI: PopStats Banner)
  
  

Wednesday - March 24, 2010

• 7:00 - 8:30am Continental Breakfast (Breakfast tacos and assorted pastries)
  
  
• 8:30 - 9:00am Welcome and Opening Comments, Lesley Woodring, Synergos Technologies, Inc (STI)
  
  
• 9:00 - 10:00am "What's New and Major Initiatives Taking Place", Robert Welch, STI
  
  A general overview of what's new at STI; products under development; and finally, a little insight as to what we are working on for the future.
  
  
• 10:00 - 10:30am Morning Break (Beverage service/Light snack)
  
  
• 10:30 - 11:30am Increasing Store Traffic Among the $4 Trillion Women's Market, Miriam Muley, Author, "The 85% Niche"
  
  Today, women are a dominant buying group, influencing upwards of 85% of all product and service purchase decisions. This hidden power represents over $4 trillion in buying power. Knowing how to develop effective merchandising and sales strategies targeting women is key to growing sales with this powerhouse consumer group. Mirian Muley, CEO and author of "The 85% Solution," will provide compelling demographics, consumer insights, and effective merchandising strategies to increase store traffic among women.
  
  
• 11:30 - 1:00pm Lunch and Networking
  
  
• 1:00 - 2:00pm LGBT - Marketing to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Market, David Morse, Author, "Multicultural Intelligence"
  
  There is great diversity - and opportunity - among LGBT consumers across the U.S. But there are also specific dos and don'ts that are vital to marketing to these consumers. Author David Morse will present an overview of this market segment, including qualitative and quantitative market research conducted by New American Dimensions. The discussion will include results of a market research study conducted on the LGBT market.
  
  
• 2:00 - 3:00pm Evolution through Revolution - An Enterprise-wide GIS Solution, Jillian Beydilli and Ben Farster, Walgreens
  
  Walgreens has long used geospatial technology to pursue the best locations in convenience retailing, including more than doubling its store count over the past decade. While this has been a key component of its site location strategy, the company's competitive edge has been achieved through a wide range of GIS, demographics, and spatial analytics. In fact, today, these techniques have become an enterprise resource across the company. Jillian Beydilli and Ben Faster will share the evolution of GIS at Walgreens over the past 10 years up to its company-wide use today.
  
  
• 3:00 - 3:30pm Afternoon Break (Beverage service/Light snack)
  
  
• 3:30 - 4:30 pm Take "Juan" and Call me in the Morning - Hispanics as an Antidote to the Recession, Manuel Delgado, CEO, Agua Marketing
  
  The most recent Nielsen data report that in 2009 U.S. advertising spending in broadcast networks declined by 14%. However, Spanish-language Network TV declined only 4.6% and Spanish Cable TV INCREASED by 37% percent. Manuel Delgado, will provide a dynamic discussion of myths and realities about Hispanics and explain how investing in the Hispanic market is actually the most strategic way to get more bang for marketing bucks. He will share actionable tips for getting Hispanic marketing initiatives on track, using cultural values to connect with this growing market, and avoiding cultural or language mishaps.
  
  
• 4:30 - 5:30 pm The Tale of Three Trade Areas - Asian, Hispanic, Foodie, Don Scott, Retail Research Group
  
  PopStats offers a wealth of demographic data - beyond the population estimates - that allows researchers to drilldown and hone in on ideal populations with precision. In this discussion, Don Scott will explain how his company successfully accessed multiple levels of PopStats data into three market-research scenarios - including to determine which of two trade areas offered greater potential to an Asian grocer, to find what area within a particular MSA was home to the highest percent of Hispanic consumers, and to locate neighborhoods with the highest concentrations of "foodies" for a traditional grocer.
  
  
• 6:30 - 7:30pm "Reception (Open Bar),"
  
  
• 7:30 - 10:00pm "Thank You Celebration Dinner (Menu service),"
  
  

* * *

Soup
Mushroom Bisque with Caramelized Leeks En Croute

Salad
Baby Lettuce Bundle with Cinnamon Poached Bosc Pears, Drunken Goat Cheese Crumbles, and Cabernet Vinaigrette

Entrees
Herb Encrusted Rack of Lamb with Truffle Fingerling Potatoes, Pesto Roasted Baby Vegetables, and Herb Jus

Center Cut Filet Mignon with Oyster Mushroom Risotto, Roasted Root Vegetables and Veal Demi Glace

Lemon Cilantro Encrusted Opakapaka with Sundried Tomato Polenta and Roasted Baby Vegetables

Dessert
Symphony Duet Triangle of praline and chocolate mousse and a roulade of lemon mousse and pistachios

* * *

• 7:00 - 8:30am Continental Breakfast (Breakfast tacos and assorted pastries)
  
  
• 8:00 - 9:00am True Optimization, What's It All About?, Robert Welch, STI
  
  Optimization is a word that has been bantered about every way a marketer can think of. But, actually, from a mathematical point of view there is only one true way to use this word. During this one-hour session Robert Welch will illustrate a set of mathematical techniques that will allow companies to truly optimize their trade areas.
  
  
• 9:00 - 10:00am Defining Store Trade Areas Using Loyalty Cards, MS Bing, and SQL Server 2008, Hartwell Hooper, CVS
  
  CVS has employed three powerful tools to create a unique automated approach for defining store trade areas. The first of these is a rich set of geographic data acquired from both the pharmacy and front store sides of the business. The second is Microsoft Bing, which provides a new approach for managing and visualizing geographic data. Finally, the latest version of SQL Server, which offers a rich set of GIS tools for analysis and data manipulation.
  
  
• 10:00 - 10:30am Morning Break (Beverage service/Light snack)
  
  
• 10:30 - 11:30am Drilling for Dollars - The Neighborhood Market DrillDown, Carloline Valencia, Social Compact
  
  Evidence shows a significant undercounting of some populations, in particular, low-income and minority neighborhoods. This results in an undervaluing of the economic potential of urban communities, many of which are underserved. Social Compact, a non-profit organization that conducts original demographic research in cities across the U.S., has created the Neighborhood Market DrillDown reports, which employ a unique methodology, including drawing from real-time, transactional local market sources and a cash-based economic model. Carolina Valencia will present an overview of this solution, including how it works and how it can help companies reach underserved inner-city populations.
  
  
• 11:30 - 1:00pm Lunch and Networking
  
  
• 1:00 - 2:00pm A Tale of Two Neighborhoods: Assessing Cultural Assimilation in Ethnic Communities, Andy Verostek, Sagittarius Restaurants, LLC
  
  Meet Angel Martinez and Angel Martinez. One speaks only English, the other, only Spanish. One is your customer and one doesn't yet know that he wants to be. How can you distinguish between the two and avoid embarrassing (and costly) assumptions that may hurt your chances of building your business with both of them? Through case studies driven by research utilizing PopStats and LandScape technologies, Andy Verostek, Market Planning Analyst for Del Taco and Captain D's Seafood Kitchen, will take you on a demographic and photographic tour of some of Southern California's Asian and Hispanic neighborhoods to shed light on how people with similar ethnic backgrounds interact very differently within the dominant U.S. consumer culture. Understanding the nuances within ethnic communities will help your marketing, operations and executive teams lessen the temptation to jump to false conclusions about how people who may look the same on the surface are actually very different.
  
  
• 2:00 - 3:00pm But is it Relevant? - Understanding Trade Areas, Erica Jones, Dunnhumby USA
  
  How relevant is each trade area to a retailer's business strategies? What is the potential? Is there a connection between the trade area and the retailer? When Kroger asked Dunnhumby, an international marketing consultancy and services company, to help it find answers to these questions, the research company employed sophisticated demographics, GIS, and statistical software to find answers. Dunnhumby will also share some tools in development to help real estate, facilities, engineering, and merchandisers to make more informed decisions regarding store relevancy.
  
  
• 3:00 - 3:30pm Afternoon Break (Beverage service/Light snack)
  
  
• 3:30 - 4:30pm Leveraging Trade Area Information - the Step to Marketing, Cindy Reid, Mapping Analytics
  
  All trade areas are not created equal. They each have a distinct profile. Leveraging each trade area's distinct profile for marketing and merchandising can lead to increased sales productivity. Cindy Reid, with Mapping Analytics, will discuss how companies can segment trade areas and use their profiles to support marketing and merchandising decisions. What's more, she will demonstrate how leveraging market knowledge through data becomes even more critical when organizations are faced with a shortage of research resources.
  
  
• 4:30 - 5:00pm "Requests For Enhancements", Robert Welch, STI
  
  This is a popular brainstorming session in which PopStats users get the chance to suggest and vote on what new developments they would like to see in current STI data products and suggest the development of new data products that would help them better conduct value-producing market research.
  
  
• 5:00 - ??:00pm "Out-on-the-Town"
  
  

• 7:00 - 8:30am Continental Breakfast (Breakfast tacos and assorted pastries)
  
  
• 8:30 - 10:00am STI: PopStats Data Methodologies, Robert Welch, STI
  
  This topic continues the tradition of revealing the basic methodologies in developing STI: PopStats. As mentioned earlier, this is not an infomercial! But, rather a detailed discussion of what makes our technology 'tick.' We believe the more the end-user understands the technology and its assumptions the better they will be able to use it. If you are coming to the conference to evaluate PopStats, this is absolutely a must-see session!
  
  
• 10:00 - 10:30am Morning Break (Beverage service/Light snack)
  
  
• 10:30 - 12:00am STI: PopStats Data Methodologies (Continuation), Robert Welch, STI
  
  This topic continues the tradition of revealing the basic methodologies in developing STI: PopStats. As mentioned earlier, this is not an infomercial! But, rather a detailed discussion of what makes our technology 'tick.' We believe the more the end-user understands the technology and its assumptions the better they will be able to use it. If you are coming to the conference to evaluate PopStats, this is absolutely a must-see session!
  
  
• 12:00 - 12:??pm Closing Remarks,
  
  

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