The International Fabricare Institute is aiming for a sure bet at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas this year when it hosts its 2nd Annual Five-Star Management Seminar on February 13 and 14.

The theme will be “Management Techniques for Today’s Drycleaner.” Similar to last year’s symposium, the focus of the program will be primarily on issues that larger-scale drycleaners face; however, all members are invited to attend.

“Members who missed last year’s Five-Star seminar won’t want to pass up on the chance a second time,” IFI CEO Bill Fisher said.

Mary Scalco, senior vice president of IFI, concurred. “This was extremely popular with the 78 cleaners who participated last year, and we’re looking forward to doing it again. Those interested in attending are strongly encouraged to reserve their slots as soon as possible.”

The agenda for 2003’s conference was developed based on feedback from last year’s attendees and a survey of IFI’s Five-Star members on which topics are important to them.

On Thursday at 8 a.m., things will get rolling early with an educational seminar from route expert Rex Carrigan of Carrigan Consulting who formerly worked as the general manager of Whiteway Cleaners in Nashville, TN.

His discussion, entitled “I’ve got a truck. I’ve got a driver. Now what?” will delve into the mysteries of how to grow delivery routes through the use of door-to-door selling.

From 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., attendees will have an opportunity to meet with other industry members who have successfully diversified their businesses in a session called “I’ve got a stained wedding gown, smoke-filled drapes, and moldy carpet in a lockbox. It’s time to diversify.”

Following lunch, there will be an opportunity at 1:30 p.m. to learn about the attitudes of drycleaning customers with “‘Can’t get no satisfaction’... Is this the tune your customers are singing?”

Chris Edwards, owner of A Cleaner World, will discuss how he used vital information contained in the results of the FabriCare Foundation’s 2002 Dry-cleaning Usage & Consumer Attitude Survey to his advantage.

The day’s educational offerings will wrap up at 3:15 p.m. with a roundtable session called “Hey buddy, what’s your problem? Together we can try to solve it.” Attendees will be able to speak with their peers on the topic of their choice... complaining customers, troublesome employees, or whatever else is weighing heavily on their minds.

After a full day of seminars, IFI will host a cocktail reception on Thursday evening from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

On Friday morning, customer service specialist Laura Barron will talk about improving employee attitude and boosting morale at 8:30 a.m. Her program, entitled “Are we having fun yet? If your employees are having fun, your customers will be smiling, too,” will run about 90 minutes.

At 10:15 a.m., “Share-and-Tell” will offer cleaners a forum to talk about how they’ve attempted to change the way their employees think and the effects those ideas have had on their business financially.

Cost for the two-day event is $299 per person for IFI members only. Registration forms will be in IFI’s January Fabricare magazine and IFI’s web site, www.ifi.org.

Hotel accommodations have been reserved at the Paris, Las Vegas at a discounted room rate of $149 per night for seminar attendees for Wednesday and Thursday nights. To reserve a room, call (888) 266-5687 by January 13 and identify yourself with IFI.