IFA’s Convention – Not Conventional at All! Howard Bassuk Would you really need an excuse to go to Miami Beach in late February or early March? In most parts of the Northern Hemisphere, that’s the time when winter can be its harshest. It’s riddled with short days, cold blustery nights, bone chilling temperatures, dark clouds, and freezing precipitation. The combination is enough to make anyone yearn for the sultry summer breezes of July. So, for those people wearying of winter weather, the prospect of going to Miami Beach for the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) annual convention had a double lure. I have no doubt that a lot of people attending the convention were looking forward to the weather as much as to the meeting. Over the years, I’ve been to lots of conventions of one kind or another. For some conventions, it is the weather and not the convention itself that made me anxious to attend. I bet you have been to some like that too. I’m happy to say that I just attended a convention that was so good, I didn’t even think about the weather. From March 3rd – March 6th, I attended the 39th Annual International Franchise Association Convention in Miami Beach. Not every convention for any organization can be a great one, but in my opinion, this one was. Maybe others had the sense that it would be too. After all, there was record attendance with over Twelve Hundred Attendees! How good was it? It was so good that many of the attendees I spoke to (including myself) never went outside to soak up the sun! What made it so good? For me, it was a host of things. This convention like other recent IFA Conventions welcomed and sought not just franchisors and suppliers, but also franchisees. It also was packed with good information, fun events, a bustling trade show, and wall to wall networking. But, more than anything else, what made this conventions so great, and what seemed to separate it from some of its predecessors was the passion and frequency of a message that I heard repeated, over and over, from speaker after speaker. The message? Franchisors and Franchisees were working closer and closer together, the relationships were getting stronger and more collaborative, and the net result was a true win-win for all! The opening keynote speaker was Mr. David Novak, Vice Chairman and President of Tricon Industries. As many of you may know, Tricon is the company that includes Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC and that emerged as a separate entity when it was spun off from Pepsico. Tricon, (which we were told stands for the 3 Icons of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC) has 30,000 restaurants worldwide, and is moving towards 40,000! Mr. Novak set the tone of the convention by doing some simple math. He said that in a good franchise system, 1 plus 1 equals 3! Huh? His point was that when the franchisors and the franchisees work together as partners, the result is far greater than the sum of its parts. He talked about his experience, first with KFC, and then with all of Tricon, and how Tricon had realized that by making their franchisees more a part of the process, more involved in the solutions, and more appreciated as business partners, the whole atmosphere within the organization had improved! He pointed to increasing profits for both the franchisees and the franchisor to go along with improved working relationships. Mr. Novak also reflected back on a time within their system when he felt that 1 plus 1 had equaled less than 2. He said that if the franchisees and the franchisor did not work effectively together, believing that they shared a common goal, 1 plus 1 equaling less than 2, rather than 1 plus 1 equals 3, became the math. His message was clear. Franchising is truly a partnership that works best for each party, when it works best for all parties. It was an inspiring theme. It touched on an issue that many of us know about business in general. We were told that Tricon plans to re-franchise more and more of their company stores, putting more of the business back into the hands of the franchisees. We were also told that Tricon would encourage franchisees from KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut to buy franchises in any and all of the Tricon concepts. It was a very important message to hear. We’ve all heard of concepts like Total Quality Management (TQM) and other inclusive and enlightened management styles. We’ve come to realize that today’s great companies whether public or private, franchised or not, do best when everyone is part of the process. Being inclusive is the key, and it was great to hear the results that could be garnered from even long established brands when everyone starts to pull together better. Perhaps most importantly, Mr. Novak was not the only person to carry that message. In yet another general session (a general session is one that can facilitate all the convention attendees), three separate franchisors each spoke about how they were managing well known franchised companies from adversity, back to prosperity. The companies included two names that we all grew up with, Howard Johnson and A&W and another (Molly Maid) that many of us have become familiar with more recently. The CEO’s of each, Mary Mahoney, Sidney Feltenstein and David MacKinnon spoke clearly and eloquently about both the problems that they had had, and the solutions that they had found. Each of the three companies talked about how they had changed their organizations that were having difficulty, and turned them back around so that they were experiencing vibrant growth and increased profitability.  In each case, they pointed to better, more inclusive relationships with their franchisees as one of the biggest keys to their improvements. The results that they had achieved were really exciting. Mr. Sidney Feltenstein, who heads a group that bought A&W a few years ago, talked about how A&W, a chain that was once bigger than McDonalds, had gone from a high of over 2400 open units to as few as 600. Today, the chain has once again surpassed the 1,000-unit mark and is growing and expanding again. Mr. Feltenstein talked about how by including A&W’s franchisees in decisions including everything from changes in menu items to altering restaurant décor, the chain had become more unified, more responsive, more profitable, and more dynamic! He made the seemingly obvious point, that a franchisor does better when the franchisees do better, and that when franchisees see how they can improve their businesses and are part of the process, they become willing partners in changes, modernization, and even in spending money to improve their stores! Perhaps the most personally inspiring of all the presentations came from Linda Burzynski, President of Molly Maids who took inclusion even one step further. With her family looking on, Mrs. Burzynski talked about how she had learned to value the employees of the franchisees as much as she valued the franchisees, and the franchisor! The presentations were not only inspiring, and thought provoking, they seemed to be signposts for the future. I was struck by the fact that message after message, and presentation after presentation touched on the same theme… inclusion improves everybody’s business! And then, in what seemed to me to be the completion of an ever widening circle of inclusion was the announcement that for the first time ever, a franchisee, Mr. Steven Siegel (owner of Watermark Donuts, a Dunkin Donuts Franchisee) had become part of the executive committee of the IFA, and would, in the next few years, become the Chairman of the Board of the International Franchise Association! Roll that around on your tongue…the future Chairman of the Board of the International Franchise Association, long known as an organization dominated by franchisors would be a franchisee. WOW! In addition, and as always the convention was loaded with great informational sessions. It seemed to me, whether it was my imagination or not, that this time they seemed to be both richer in content, and more plentiful in number. There were opportunities to attend sessions on everything from cutting edge technologies, to lead generation. In fact, there were so many worthwhile topics offered to attendees that even though I started early in the morning, and kept going until well after dinner, I just couldn’t do all the things I wanted to do. It may sound trite to point out that no business can afford to be stagnant, but in many cases, even if you know you need more information its hard to be able to get access to the experts and the expertise that you want. However, because this convention was open to all members of the franchise community, everyone, from every segment of franchising had access to the knowledge, the experts, and the networking! This convention had so much information, so many industry experts, and such great diversity that anybody in the franchise industry, regardless of whether they were franchisee, supplier, or franchisor, could get valuable help, tools and insights. Like other attendees that I talked to, I particularly liked the Roundtables. The Roundtable session literally include dozens of round tables that seat no more than 15-20 people. Each table discusses a different topic, and each table has at least one facilitator who has expertise on, and who coordinates, but doesn’t control, the discussion on the topic being covered. In the past I have been a facilitator at these roundtables, but at this convention I was free to attend any that I chose. I had great difficulty in making my choices (time constraints permitted me to attend only two). Listening to what others had to say at these sessions, and hearing the interplay of ideas at each table was great. Despite being tired from all the activity of the previous days, I came away regretting that there wasn’t more time to spend so that I could have attended more roundtable sessions! Each night when I returned to my hotel room I spent some time preparing e-mails to my associates about what I had learned that day. Normally, I wait until a meeting is over, and then send one message. However, I quickly realized that there was so much to communicate that I simply couldn’t put it all into a single report! I know that sometimes people feel intimidated by large conventions, and big events. However, next year, when the International Franchise Association (IFA) has its convention, you should find a way to attend. If it’s your first time, and you aren’t sure if you’ll know anyone there, bring a friend! If next year’s convention is anywhere close to as good as this year’s and if you’re serious about learning, networking, and staying on top of what’s going on in franchising, you should plan on attending! By the way, next year’s convention is in San Diego. The weather’s not bad there either!