These past weeks, we have seen the nation begin to reopen. Retailers, restauranteurs, and a wide variety of businesses are attempting new approaches to accommodate customers who have entirely new expectations.
Yet, for direct sellers, the wind is at our back: the global health crisis did not close the channel.
Rather, direct selling companies have proven our channel’s versatility and agility as consumers come to accept distributors as local, independent business owners within their communities.
Companies have found new ways to empower their distributors through virtual meetings with company founders and leaders. Party plan companies have developed new merchandising approaches that have taken virtual, in-home parties to a new level. We have all sharpened our focus on the need to provide the insights and tools that help ensure distributors properly characterize product and earnings claims.
Direct selling’s agility has empowered the millions of independent distributors to continue serving their customers and communities from their homes across America and the globe.
And as we approach DSA ENGAGE 2020: Direct Selling’s @Home #GlobalCommunity Experience, we all have so many new insights to share.
DSA ENGAGE 2020 @Home will continue the DSA team’s efforts to ensure that member companies and their independent sales force remain armed with the resources they need to deal with the current crisis. The event aims to help us all envision how we, as a community and as individual brands, will work in the changing environment that lies before us.
The event will kick-off on June 4, with a solution-based expo featuring the industry’s premier supplier partners and 20+ on-demand educational sessions.
Then, on June 9, individuals can tune in as we live-stream three-hours of industry-led content.
Inspiring messages to help us reset and reimagine will be delivered from industry favorites Amanda Gore and DeWitt Jones along with keynote presentations and CEO
discussions offering insights from leaders about the range of approaches their companies have taken.
The event will also offer topical sessions led by company executives and their teams on the areas of digital transformation, social media, legal and compliance strategies, and finding the resonant messages that make sense with these unprecedented times.
DSA ENGAGE Educational Sessions on Demand will include newly produced company case studies presented by DSA member company executives, supplier-led solutions
sessions, Direct Selling 101/Boot Camp sessions, and recordings from the popular VISION 2020: DSA Sales & Marketing Conference 2019.
DSA knows that in the age of social distancing, and as our nation works toward getting back to business, virtual events such as DSA ENGAGE 2020 @Home are a necessity.
We also know that these virtual experiences are only temporary and that they will never replace in-person events. These are indeed extraordinary times.
We have learned and continue to learn so much. We have adapted and continue to evolve. Now it’s time to ENGAGE, and I hope you join us so that we can envision what’s next and help ensure that our #GlobalCommunity is #StrongerTogether.
Melissa K. Brunton is the Senior Vice President of Education & Marketing Services for the DSA
