May 1-4, 2013 • Durham, North Carolina
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The ARCS annual plant tour and meeting takes place in Durham, North Carolina, May 2-4, 2013. The theme for 2013 is Business Trends and Bends in the Road Ahead and features a slate of great speakers who will share their invaluable insights on both technical topics and business growth strategies. Paired with a tour of Karastan’s® rug mill, Business Trends and Bends is a can’t miss for business owners and managers.
Wednesday, May 1
6pm: Dinner and Talk at Pettyjohn's Cleaning & Restoration. The Pettyjohn's and Karastan® mills invite attendees to a Carolina barbeque dinner and talk by Bruce Snell author of Breaking Through the Four Barriers to Quality. Enjoy some good food and good company while learning about the systemic barriers that are keeping your business from soaring. Transportation NOT provided.
Thursday, May 2:
 Tour of Karastan® mills. Since 1928, Karastan has made some of the finest machine-woven rugs. We travel by motor coach to their facility and take a private guided tour of the operation that has made so many of the rugs we clean.6PM: Welcome reception at The Persian Carpet, Inc. The Persian Carpet is the family business of Doug & Nelda Lay. Starting in 1976 in the rented corner of an antique store, the Lays grew The Persian Carpet into a full line rug sales and service operation. They generously are opening their doors for our welcome reception. Transportation provided
Friday, May 3
Doug Lay, well known in the oriental rug industry, offers both his own wholesale lines nationally as well as in his regional retail operation, The Persian Carpet, Inc. in Durham, North Carolina. A retired professor of anatomy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Mr. Lay speaks to us on customer buying preferences with slides and a presentation on older and reproduction rugs.
 Award winning social media strategist Chris Reimer gives a presentation on how to best utilize social media to attract and retain customers. After becoming a CPA, Chris served as Chief Financial Officer of several organizations around St. Louis. In 2007, he started a funny t-shirt company called Rizzo Tees and began marketing his shirts (and himself) on Twitter (where he now has over 56,000 followers). A Facebook fan page soon followed and then two blogs. The lessons learned by marketing Rizzo Tees exclusively via social media allowed him to make the improbable leap from CPA to his current position as vice-president of social media for the design firm Falk Harrison.
 Justin Woodard, third generation owner of Woodard Cleaning and Restoration in St. Louis, MO presents "Improving Dry Room Efficiency". Woodard’s worked with Cambridge Engineering to develop a system that monitors their dry room conditions. Together they designed a complex series of monitors that measures all variables in the drying process and streamlined it to a single-switch system. No matter how many rugs are in the room or what types of rugs they are, you turn on the system and it turns itself off when the rugs are dry. The lessons learned along the way can help anyone trying to dry rugs more efficiently.
Day two of Trends & Bends concludes with a series of guided roundtable discussions on topics from EPA regulations to dealing with problem rugs. Members are encouraged to bring their issues and learn from their fellow members what has and has not worked for them in their own businesses.
Saturday, May 4
The annual meeting of members of the Association of Rug Care Specialists will be held Saturday morning.· Outgoing association president Bill Foulds speaks about the state of the association and the treasurer delivers his annual report.·Finally, we recognize the outgoing members of the board of directors and announce the results of the election of new directors.
A representative from Karastan® delivers their vision of changes, adjustments and trends coming in the rug market's future. From color trends to design and fiber selection, this talk presents a rare opportunity to hear about the future of rug manufacturing from a company with a long history of shaping the rug market.
Anissa Starnes is regional development director for the ubiquitous e-mail marketing company, Constant Contact. ·Ms. Starnes brings over 20 years of experience helping small businesses with customer communication to her talk on how to best utilize e-mail marketing to create sales for your small business.
Itinerary and speakers subject to change
Members $800 (before April 1)
Non-Members $1,300 (includes one year of ARCS dues for new members)
Register Online Now OR Download Registration Form
 Hotel Information
Marriott Research Triangle Park
4700 Guardian Dr.
Durham, NC 27703
Phone 919-941-6200
Event Code M—V57EDO
Rate is $120/night (subject to availability)
The official hotel of Trends and Bends is the Marriott at Research Triangle Park in Durham, NC conveniently located near Raleigh Durham Airport (RDU) in the heart of Research Triangle Park. Delight your palate at Newton's restaurant and lounge offering innovative American cuisine. With stylish decor and state-of-the-art conveniences like high-speed internet access and 42 inch flat screen HDTVs equipped with Marriott's plug and play system, our rooms offer exceptional value among Raleigh-Durham hotels. Our Durham hotel also features a 24-hour fitness center and a deluxe indoor pool. This Research Triangle Park hotel in Durham, is near a wide selection of spas, golf courses and premium shopping at the Southpoint Mall.
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