Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2012 | Page 43

Friday morning

Team.” Moderators and panelists led attendees through the
sessions and lively Q&A discussions. Topics covered sales and
development areas such as sales process automation, benchmarking, profiling, legal ramifications, and international expansion. After the first round of sessions, attendees broke for
lunch in the Exhibit Hall and one more opportunity to meet
suppliers and connect with each other before moving on to
two more concurrent sessions in the afternoon.
The day wrapped up with an hour of business solution
roundtables addressing more than a dozen topics related to
franchise sales and development. The evening offered a welcome chance to kick back and enjoy the annual STAR Awards
banquet at nearby Maggiano’s Little Italy, honoring this year’s
champions in franchise sales and development (see page 46).
Following the dinner, dozens of attendees trooped down to
Loco’s to listen and dance to the music of the Franchise AllStar Band.

The final day of the conference kicked off with breakfast and a
panel of four successful multi-unit franchisees discussing how
they have grown their organizations and what they look for in
franchise brands. Aziz Hashim (Popeyes, Subway, Checkers/
Rally’s), Sean Falk (Great American Cookies, Mrs. Fields Cookies, Pretzelmaker, Salsarita’s), Mike White (Dunkin’ Donuts),
and Michelle Deraney (Great American Cookies, Pretzelmaker)
delivered straight talk to the audience on everything from how
they research new brands to how those brands can do a better
job of communicating.
The final session of the conference was devoted to the allimportant topic of money, specifically, who’s getting capital
these days, and how. FRANdata’s Darrell Johnson moderated
a large and diverse panel, offering his own perspective as participants provided a diverse array of possible funding sources
and solutions.
Next year’s Leadership & Development Conference is already on the planning board and will return to the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta. n

Franchiseupdate Issue I V, 2012 

Grow Market Lead

14th Annual Leadership & Development Conference

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