NRF Foundation Student Program 2019

A conference focusing on different aspects of the retail industry.

This month, I had to chance to attend the Student Program, a conference held by the National Retail Foundation prior to their annually held Big Show, an event for professionals in the retail industry.

This was my first time attending a conference which was not primarily geared towards my academic demographic (technology and entrepreneurship). There were about 1500 students in attendance, approximately 300 of which had technology or supply chain focused areas of study.

Prior to the conference, there was an intimate technology track. This series included two keynote speeches, as well as five rotations with sponsoring companies. One session I liked was held by PVH (the parent brand for Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and more), in which they hosted a hands on simulation where we went through the process of brainstorming ideas on how to deal with the problem of long lines on Black Friday. The problem statement was intentionally vague, and after the group produced a myriad of ideas, we worked together to organize them by value and difficulty. Furthermore, we had the additional incentive that one of our ideas would be implemented by next year’s Black Friday. It was a fun activity, and the academic diversity in the room (management information systems, computer science, software engineering, information science, and more) allowed multiple perspectives to contribute to the solutions we came up with.

The conference itself was more intimate than some other conferences I have attended, but not noticeable as all sessions were held in the same hall. Multiple events or sessions were never happening simultaneously, so there were 1000+ attendees in the hall throughout the duration of the event.

I really enjoyed the entrepreneurship panel, it was well planned and the individuals who spoke each had insightful ideas and comments regarding what it really means to successfully launch a company. Each of the speakers had truly different experiences, and their stories complemented each other well. Kristen Miller and Amanda Johnson, the co-founders of Mented, a company prioritizing diversity in the world of cosmetics, had vastly different experiences launching the same company. While Kristen knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur and opened up several companies before Mented, Amanda was found she wanted to be an entrepreneur during her time at Harvard Business School. They both emphasized the significance of taking each experience as an opportunity to add to one’s skill set. They also reiterated the idea that it really matters who you work with, and spoke about how their partnership was essential in their success.

I also really appreciated the mentoring circle which was integrated as one of the sessions. Many executives from all aspects of retail were invited, and went from table to table to groups of students. This experience made the large room feel small and really allowed for smaller groups to engage in meaningful conversation. I got to meet some very kind individuals, who had unique pathways and experiences through their careers. I also benefitted from this experience because meeting several different executives one after another made it easier to see how their responses to similar questions differed based on their experiences.

Overall, I learned a lot about retail companies and careers. Some of the themes that were emphasized throughout the event in various mediums include:

1. Retail companies are very large, and so the impact they make is substantial.
2. Many retail companies are starting to create aspects of their software from scratch.
3. The values and priorities of a brand matter.

This event provided me with an excellent experience and I acquired information on topics I might not have otherwise intended to explore. It was a unique opportunity to be surrounded by students and professionals who were not necessarily in the same field of study of me, and hear their perspectives on a variety of topics.

In the future, I want to attend events and conferences that correspond to subject matters outside of the realm of my focus, as I feel this opportunity gave me the chance to see the impact of technology in a different context.