It’s the connectors who keep the wheels of commerce turning. And last week, the bustling corridors of THE MART in Chicago played host to a group of individuals who are some of the most vital links in contract furniture. They are the “Champions,” and they gathered for the INDEAL Champion Conference to figure out how to navigate an increasingly complex industry.
There was a lot to talk about. INDEAL, which started years ago as a straightforward purchasing organization has morphed into the third-party growth engine for the industry — a bridge between non-aligned and aligned dealers and the brands that fuel their projects.
The term “Champion” isn’t just marketing fluff. These are the dealer representatives tasked with the heavy lifting; funneling product knowledge and platform updates from INDEAL down to the rest of the dealership. It is a role that requires equal parts technical savvy and internal leadership.
This was the ninth in-person Champion Conference in a decade (accounting for the forced hiatus of the pandemic), and the energy in the room was palpable.
“We’re incredibly proud of the growth of the INDEAL Champion Program, and the annual conference has played an important role in that success,” said Dave Bloch, INDEAL co-Founder and CEO. “Bringing people together in person creates stronger relationships, meaningful conversations, and valuable insights that Champions take back to their organizations to support continued growth. The opportunity to experience products firsthand at THE MART adds another level of impact, making the event even more valuable year after year.”
In years past, this group used to gather in warmer, sunnier locales. But the decision to move the event to THE MART last year and continue it there was a calculated strategic shift.
INDEAL continues to have space in THE MART as well, a showroom it calls the Connection Hub on the 10th floor, which is designed for brand partners, dealers and customers to connect. INDEAL also has the Education Pavilion by INDEAL on the 11th floor. Both spaces feature products from INDEAL Brand Partners. The logic is simple: If you want to discover commercial interiors products, there is no better place than THE MART and it is one of the main reasons INDEAL kept it at the building again this year.
Between formal sessions, Champions toured the showrooms, including some Champions who who were visiting Chicago and THE MART for the first time, where they experienced the breadth of the industry in a way that simply isn’t possible anywhere else. They even took a detour to Fulton Market to check in on the latest from Fellowes.
Beyond the showroom tours, the conference served as a deep dive into the “engine” of the INDEAL platform and two major INDEAL features dominated the conversation. The Dashboard is an online tool designed to help both dealers and manufacturers track sales and rebates with real precision. The Dashboard ensures the INDEAL-manufacturer connection is actually paying off at the dealership level. Brand Partners, the manufacturers who work with INDEAL have a Dashboard of their own where they can make sure dealers are fully engaged with their brands. INDEAL Spaces is where the platform gets creative. It’s a digital library of functional, rendered environments that reflect current trends. More importantly, it’s integrated with CET, allowing dealer designers to save countless hours by starting with a pre-vetted “thought starters” rather than a blank canvas.
Champions also met with each Brand Partner in intimate, small group discussions where the brands had a chance to show them features of their products and services. Champions also discussed common problems and shared tips.
Annah Price, a designer from Dancker spoke about challenges with growing lead times for some products and communication difficulties between some manufacturers and the dealers they work with. “We’re finding that some of the manufacturers that we constantly rely on all of a sudden change our lead times without the normal warnings,” she said. “And there’s no transparency either. I think that’s a big part of it too, the lack of transparency.”
Champions also learned about human-centered design from Jill Alberico, director of learning and workplace strategy at Global Furniture Group.
The INDEAL Champion Conference is a two-way street. INDEAL learns what the “boots on the ground” actually need to be successful, and the Champions head back to their markets with the tools to be more profitable.
As the conference wrapped up Thursday, Champions shared their successes using INDEAL services like Design Services. “We used Design Services to get some product information,” said Lisa Stumm, account manager at Office Pavilion in Honolulu. “I gave them all the information I had on a bid for community college lobby furniture and they provided a lot of different options for me to look at and then we did win that bid.”
Though it is a lot of work, it is a fun conference as well. Most who attended arrived as strangers, representing competing dealerships from different corners of the country. Nearly all of them left as friends.
