One very happy customer visited us today. Here she is talking to Emily on our booth. “I ordered a lot from your company last season! Great customer service and the orders arrived in two days from England…. I’m impressed.”
Thank you Jennifer from Miss Jackie’s Studio of Dance. Rutland. USA.
Last week I attended, with two of my colleagues, the Catex Summit in London. It was a very interesting and informative day but the highlight was that we were joined by a team from South Devon College who were there to help Toni Kemble and I launch the brand new Direct Commerce qualification. This is a modar distance-learning qualification which leads to a degree validated by the University of Plymouth.
A great deal of interest was shown by many of the attendees and their businesses. Here we are with two of my fellow Catex Board members as well as the team from S Devon College at the Summit.
Kate, Ami and I have spent this weekend at the annual UKA Conference at the amazing Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Hundereds of dance teachers from around the world converged on this incredible (and being restored I am happy to say!) Art Deco building to network, socialise and of course learn new styles and technique of many different dance styles including, this year, Burlesque!
It was great for us to meet new customers as well as catch up with some who have supported us for many years.
We were delighted to be launching a new childrens ballroom dress which we have developed in conjunction with the UKA. This will be compulsary for medal test from October this year. Available to pre-order only at present, they will be available on line as soon as we have stock. Keep checking www.ids.co.uk for details of these dresses and their launch date. They will also be available in our new Diamond Book which is due out in August.
Andrew and Elaine are enjoying meeting lots of our US retail customers at the DRN expo http://www.drnexpo.com/ and showing everyone the ABT (American Ballet Theatre)program uniform and will have plenty to talk about. Remember to visit www.idsdance.com
IDS have been on the road again. This time we started in Wigan on Tuesday 8th February, where Allison and Ami met many customers all planning for their up coming shows or just wanting to see the new lines getting ideas ready for their next show. The venue was superb, set in beautiful grounds surrounded by a lake, very inspirational. A very enjoyable day was had by most as we have had some great responses.
Our Driver Hugh then took the van up to Aberdeen where Kate and Ami joined him to set up for the Friday’s show. We exhibit at the same hotel every year and it is very popular each time. Joined by Andrew and Jonathan, we then hosted a cocktail party for the UKA Highland Gathering, 82 customers got the chance to view our products and talk to a member of the team, whilst enjoying a relaxed evening with their President Anne Green.
We then stayed on to exhibit as part of the UKA conference, where Ami also member of the UKA took part in some of the fantastic dance lectures and seminars.
A very successful week. Here’s to the next.
What a great day we had in a very sunny Wigan for the opening event of our roadshow.
It was lovely to see some familiar faces, as well as meeting lots of people for the first time. We were given some lovely comments about the service that we provide and many who attended were very interested in our exciting new International Dance Teacher Conference which is being held in August at The Royal Ballet School.
Everyone was really excited to see all the new products from this year’s catalogue and said how nice it was to actually be able to see what good quality and value they are! A fun day was had by all and we hope that we will see you again at future events.
There is great excitement at IDS as we pack up ready for our trip to the IDTA London Meeting. Tomorrow we will launch a new logoed uniform for the IDTA theatre grades and we are looking forward to developing our relationship with IDTA teachers from around the world.
Do hope to see you there. Look out for pictures on the blog next week!
It’s that time of year when IDS starts the long preparations to take to the road. The flyers for our annual Roadshow went out last week and Kate Ellis our Showroom Manager is working on which of the thousands of products she will take with her on the van. This year we will be in Wigan on the 8th of February, and Aberdeen on the 11th. We look forward to seeing you there!
Another brilliant UDMA event and a very busy couple of days for us. We have seen literally hundreds of teachers who were thrilled with their goody bags and flowers-follow us on Facebook for lots of pictures.
However the happiest teacher was Kim from Pro Dance Elite who won the entire contents of our booth! Here she is after receiving the good news!
Here we are in New York City! It is very exciting to be here for a few days before we travel on to Chicago for the next UDMA event. Kate and Allison have gone back home to the UK but Ian, Andrew and I have stayed for some business meetings here in New York.
This morning we visited the offices of Dance Media where I was interviewed by Karen Hildebrand who is Vice President and the Editor in Chief of Dance Teacher.
This afternoon we met Anthony Giacoio Jr who is President of the International division of Capezio. We were thrilled and honoured to be awarded the 2010 Dance Stockist Award in recognition of our success in the Dance Community. Here is Anthony presenting the award to Ian and myself in the Capezio store by Times Square. Congratulations to the whole team at IDS!
