Where is John Stanley?

August and September are always busy months in my life. It is the time of year that the airlines enjoy a lot of my company.

This trip starts on the Gold Coast in Australia for a conference and then I move on to Chicago and the I.G.C. University workshops at the I.G.C. Trade Show. This is year five of the trade show and Jeff Morey and his team have done an excellent job of creating a world leading trade show and conference. I will get the opportunity to meet Paco Underhill at the conference .Paco is the guru on how we shop and his book “Why We Buy” is compulsive reading for all retailers. At this year’s conference he will be promoting his new book and the research that he has carried out into women’s shopping habits.

Then it is across the Atlantic to Warsaw in Poland. This will be my third visit to Poland in twelve months. This is a great country to work in with retailers really looking forward and developing new opportunities in the market place. I then travel south to Prague in Czech for four days working with a retail group that I started working with last year. They work as a promotional group and have stores spread across the country. On this trip I will be presenting two conference sessions and working on site with the retailers.

For a number of years I have presented at the Milflora Conference in Padua ,near Venice in Italy .This has become one of my favourite venues. I know the group well and enjoy that cappuccino on the street watching the world go by once I have given my presentation.

Italy is followed by the UK and then Canada for conferences. As I mentioned this is two months when I keep the airlines in business.

I am sure I will meet many of you on the journey around the world.

I will be updating you with news and the latest trends in retailing as I go.