IRCE 2018: The Essential Guide

Heading to the IRCE 2018 is a large and important step an online retailer can take to make sure that they are top of the latest technology, trends, and techniques to grow their business.

What is IRCE?

The Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition is an annual gathering of the biggest names in ecommerce, e-tail, and providers that help them run efficiently. You’ll see merchants, vendors and suppliers, payment and software providers, and journalists that cover the industry, and many more in attendance. This is the conference’s 14th consecutive year running, and this year they are expecting well over 10,000 attendees. It’s going to be packed!

IRCE is hosted at McCormick Place West in Chicago, IL, from June 5-8. The big days are Wednesday and Thursday, but the conference goes for 4 days.

“IRCE is your one-stop-shop for all of your e-retail needs.”
- IRCE (source)

Of course, the SkuNexus team will be there. You can find us at booth 918.

So, here’s how you can prepare for IRCE, and get the most out of your time in the Windy City.

Let us know you're coming and we'll save some swag for you!

Before You Go to IRCE 2018

The most important thing you can do before going to any big event is to understand why you’re going. Many ecommerce businesses will want to be in attendance, a lot of times because they feel compelled to go.

But, what are they actually hoping to get out of it?

Different employees may have different approaches - marketing vs operations vs logistics. Each may need a different track, be interested in different sessions, and need a tailored approach.

Plan Your Goals for IRCE 2018

Plan your goals with your whole team. They should relate to your business goals, and then create specific objectives for each department or team member. Tickets to IRCE 2018 are just under $2,000 - more if you buy the day of - so make sure you know what that investment is going towards.

Imagine the day after you get back from the conference - what will you tell your boss that you’re going to do? How is that going to help the business? Without a solid litmus test, you might be shooting for the wrong goal.

Write them down. In your phone, on the back of your hand, or a sticky note. But make sure they are written down!

Our goal is to change the way that businesses are thinking about their order management software, and expect a higher standard from the software they use to manage their operations.

Remember - the goal of the IRCE itself is to bring together ecommerce and internet retailer professionals and companies to move the industry forward. It’s bigger than any of us, but we all have a part in it.

Practice Your Elevator Pitch

You should be able to crush it in 60 seconds, but you’ll also need a version that’s about 15 seconds long. (Some people will start to wander quickly, and you need to be able to adapt on the fly.)

I’ve found that I’ll come up with my best elevator pitch after practicing it a few times. It’s best to have a handful of bullet points, and see how they come out organically each time you go through the pitch.

Eventually, you’ll figure out how to say it quickly and easily, based on who you’re talking to, what they care about, how much time you have, and other factors.

It’s almost the same way you explain it to your family.

Plan Your Time by Using Tracks

From Amazon to Marketing to Omnichannel, there are many tracks available for attendees, and some are more targeted than others. You can choose a track for yourself, or create one from scratch. I’d recommend you start with one, then customize it based on what you know, what you want to know, and what time you have available.

Pack Light (and Right)

Most likely, you’ll be spending most of your time in the convention center. You’ll be on your feet for quite a bit of it, so make sure you’ve got comfy shoes. Balance your comfort with your overall dress by going to dress casual with comfortable spring boots or fashionable sneakers.

If you’re anything like me, you have a handful of gadgets that are always with you... and always need a charge. Include a portable charger in a small bag that can fit anywhere, and you’ll always have enough juice.

While You’re at IRCE 2018

There’s a lot to do here! Four days - two of them made up of workshops and breakout sessions sandwich two full days of exhibitions, keynotes, and much more. Here’s how you should spend your time at the conference:

Keynotes and Special Guest Speakers:

Dave Gilboa is the Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Warby Parker. They've grown from a small startup in Philly and just raised $75 million in Series E funding.  He'll be giving the opening keynote on Wednesday at 8:30 AM.

Seth Godin is one of the most interesting men alive, one of the most followed business speakers in the world, the author of 18 bestselling books, and the author of a new blog post every day.  He'll be giving a special presentation on Wednesday at 9:00 AM.

Alon Cohen is the President and Co-Founder of Houzz, a website about home design that connects contractors and professionals with homeowners. He'll be talking about digital innovation at 8:15 AM on Thursday.

Mariah Chase is the Chief Executive Officer of Eloquii, an online provider of women's plus-sized apparel. She'll be talking about the marriage between data and design at 8:45 AM on Thursday.

Sessions at IRCE 2018

There’s a ton of sessions available this year - over 300. You can’t possibly go to them all, so choosing the most important ones should be based on your goals. The folks over at BigCommerce have done an excellent job covering some of the sessions in great detail*.

There are going to be workshops on:

• Tuesday (8:30 AM – 4:45 PM)
• Friday (8:00 AM – 1:15 PM)

And the main exhibition and other breakouts will take place on:

• Wednesday (8:15 AM – 4:45 PM)
• Thursday (8:15 AM – 4:45 PM)

Check Out Sponsors and Exhibitors

Now this isn’t just a shameless plug to check us out at Booth 918, there are a lot of sponsors and exhibitors that are going to have something incredible that can take your business to the next level, double your profits, and other crazy-sounding things. Some of them might even be true.

Make sure you spend some time with them - they wouldn’t be around if they didn’t think they could help you.

Pre- and Post-Conference Events

Aside from the day to day sessions and breakouts and exhibitors, there’s a lot to do later in the day.

There are many sponsored events happening during the conference, but there are also a ton going on before and after. Not all of these will be listed on the main site, however. The latest the official schedule shows is the cocktail reception, which goes until 6:30 PM.

If you’re looking for something special, then you’re going to have to find it the old-fashioned way. These events are perfect for a less formal gathering of food, drink, and casual-yet-still-business-focused talk. Chicago is a great place for these after-hours events as well, with many great locations available within a few minutes.

We’re co-sponsoring an event at Wrigley Field on Tuesday, June 5th. The Cubs are playing the Phillies, and we want you to come. Space is limited though, so make sure you talk to us or Nexcess to reserve your spot as soon as you can.

Transportation is provided, and starts at 6:05 PM. The game starts at 7:05 PM, so make sure you’re on time!

Let us know you're coming and we'll save some swag for you!

Networking and Growth

Sessions and sponsors are great, but networking with other attendees at an event like IRCE is a once-a-year opportunity. You may meet someone who had your position, or will have your position. It’s a great way to find a mentor or compare notes with another professional.

According to the IRCE website, the types of people attending are going to likely fall into a few categories:

• Marketing People for retail/brands
• CEOs and owners of SMBs
• Executives from enterprise retail businesses
• Wholesale businesses
• Non-profits, educators, and analysts for the Industry

Which means that you probably fall into one of those groups as well… so you can definitely learn from someone else that’s going to be attending.

Make sure you get their business cards! You’re going to want to scribble some notes on the back of them. It’s old school, but it works. If that’s not for you, take pictures of images and tag them.

Get (a little) Swag

Everybody loves swag, but don’t get distracted by it. Don’t bring too many bags with you, they’ll get heavy and you’ll have a hard time sitting down and getting comfortable with your sacks of loot.

Most importantly, remember that most swag goes right into the trash.

Download the IRCE App

IRCE is providing an app for everyone that’s going to the conference. You can use it to keep track of your sessions, events, keynotes, sponsors, to check-in in places, and to stay connected with other attendees.

It’s probably one of those apps you’ll delete quickly, but it’ll be useful on-site.

Don’t Forget to Have Fun

There’s a lot to experience at 2018’s Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition - it’s four packed days of ecommerce, technology, learning, networking, and fun. The last one is important because if you’re spending several days in a place far from home, that’s it’s worth it, and you have good memories.

After You Get Back From IRCE 2018

The next couple days after a conference always feel kind of funky. Here’s how you can get the most out of them and put what you’ve learned into action.

Document What You’ve Learned

If you have an internal wiki, a business partner, or a professional group, or any other employees, make sure you share your learnings. After all, the purpose of the conference is to spread knowledge.

Most conferences will have professional notetakers, slide decks, or videos available for all attendees free of charge. Bookmark or download them to learn from the sessions you didn’t attend, and remember the details from the ones you loved.

Write down what you think the most important takeaways are. Things you’ve learned that you didn’t know. It might be a statistic, for instance:

10% or more of orders that ecommerce businesses process are completed manually, with some companies saying as high as 50% of orders are processed manually.

That’s an alarming statistic for sure. But what are you going to do about it?

Implement What You’ve Learned

Learning is good, but if you don’t implement what you learned, you’ve wasted your time and money.

Take that statistic and make a plan of action. Find out if that statistic applies to your business by asking around. If it does apply to you, you need to do something.

Maybe you’ll evaluate a new system that you saw at the conference. Maybe you’ll sit with the team doing the processing, picking, or packing to find out if there’s a change you could make on the ground floor.

This is the most important step, otherwise your company has gained nothing from the conference.

Reach out to Providers

Did you find a sleek new marketing platform that can bring back some of your abandoned cart revenue? Or a shiny, new ecommerce platform?

Not every exhibitor at IRCE is going to have something you want, but some of them may have exactly what you need.

Go to IRCE 2019

You’ll probably know within the first day whether or not you’re going to want to return in 2019. IRCE is the biggest and most comprehensive conference for internet retailers, and next year’s promises to be even bigger.

As of the publishing of this post, IRCE is just a few short weeks away. Leave a comment below on what you’re going to do to get ready for the conference!

Remember - we’ll be at Booth 918 and at the Cubs Game on Tuesday night. See you there!

*Sources: 
https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/irce/