Happiness Awaits at NACS Show Opening Session

NACS Online
May 14, 2013

Acclaimed business leader and best-selling author Chip Conley will help kick off the NACS Show at the Opening General Session on October 13.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – This week is “NACS Show Week” — with every day featuring news about prominent and influential NACS Show General Session speakers, surprises we can’t wait to share with you about the expo or networking events entirely new to the NACS Show.

Here’s the second announcement of more news to come this week: Chip Conley is headlining the Opening General Session!

Acclaimed business leader and best-selling author Chip Conley has been named as an Opening General Session speaker for the NACS Show, which takes place October 12 to 15 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Conley will speak during the NACS Show Opening General Session on October 13. A best-selling author and acclaimed motivational speaker, Conley also is the founder of Joie de Vivre, California’s largest independent hotel company and America’s second-largest boutique hotelier, with more than 40 unique and award-winning hotels, restaurants and spas.

Through insights from his best-selling book, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow, Conley will share with attendees how they can motivate employees, customers and investors through peak experiences that address their higher, unspoken needs. The findings from Conley’s landmark book are taught in business schools and in hospitality management programs around the country, and Conley has been an in-demand speaker from the main stage at TED to the creative studios at Pixar to business schools across the country. His job title, chief “emotions” officer, reflects the passion of his newest book, Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success.

Conley has been honored with the top awards in hospitality including the 2012 Pioneer Award, the highest accolade in the industry. The San Francisco Business Times named him the Most Innovative CEO among business leaders across all industries and Joie de Vivre the 2nd Best Place to Work in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley region, an area known for innovative workplaces. In 2010, Conley was invited to speak at TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design), a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation and formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.” His presentation is available for viewing online.

“We are very excited to have a speaker the caliber of Chip Conley open the 2013 NACS Show. He will give you the tools to both grow your business and grow as a person, all while achieving that perfect work-life balance,” said NACS Vice Chairman of Convention Pat Lewis, partner of Oasis Stop ’N Go LLC, headquartered in Twin Falls, Idaho. “The rich content and takeaways from our Opening General Session demonstrate why the NACS Show is so essential to our industry.”

The NACS Show is ranked as one of the 50 largest annual trade shows in the United States. Full registration, which includes admission to the general sessions, educational sessions, expo and the welcome reception, is $295 for NACS retailer members and $495 for other retailer attendees. One-day registration also is available ($195 per day for NACS retailer members and $295 per day for other retailers). These super-saver rates are available until July 31.

NACS has negotiated competitive room rates for approximately 30 hotels in proximity to the Georgia World Congress Center. Early submission of housing requests will increase the likelihood that attendees will be able to stay at the hotel of their choice within the NACS Show housing block. Equally important, most of these hotels have access to the shuttles for transport to and from the Georgia World Congress Center.

The 2013 NACS Show will feature a 392,000-net-square-foot exposition with 1,050 exhibiting companies — of which 150-plus companies are new to the NACS Show. In addition, the NACS Show will feature three days of general sessions and 53 educational sessions. Reflecting the growing international scope of the NACS Show, the general sessions will be once again translated into Portuguese, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, and select educational sessions will be translated into Portuguese and Spanish.