SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (BRAIN) — Interbike has announced details of the annual Industry Breakfast that it is presenting in conjunction with PeopleForBikes and the National Bicycle Dealers Association on Tuesday, Sept. 18, the opening day of the show.
Joining the previously announced keynote speaker, John Venhuizen, the president and CEO of ACE Hardware, is Tim Blumenthal, president of PeopleForBikes. Blumenthal and his team will introduce a new PFB initiative called Ride Spot and moderate a panel discussion titled "Powerful Business-Building Strategies to Get More Kids and Adults Riding Bikes."
The panelists for the breakfast session are: Brandee Lepak, Austin McInerny, and Robert Ping.
Lepak is the owner of Global Bikes, the founder and executive director of Trips for Kids Phoenix, and board chair of the National Bicycle Dealers Association.
McInerny has served as president of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, the largest youth mountain biking organization in the United States, since 2012.
Ping, the national executive director of Trips for Kids, is a youth bicycling expert and social equity advocate who has facilitated pedestrian-and-bicycling initiatives in more than 50 communities.
"The challenges facing the bike industry and bicycle retail are complex," Blumenthal said. "PeopleForBikes strives to address them in a variety of ways. For example, we've worked closely with retailers to develop a new program, Ride Spot, to help them better engage with the 29 million Americans who ride a bike fewer than five days a year. The panel we're presenting at the Industry Breakfast will focus on other proven strategies to get more kids — and ultimately adults — out on bikes."
Following the PeopleForBikes presentation, Venhuizen will deliver a keynote address titled "How Brick and Mortar Businesses Can Win the Battle for Relevance and Consumer Preference," in which he shares how ACE Hardware Corporation's 5,000-plus independent storeowners compete and win against the Goliaths of the retail world. His presentation is the first of three sessions in the IBD Summit at Interbike — a new retail education track that is offered free of charge to registered attendees of the show.
To accommodate this expanded content, the Industry Breakfast has a new two-hour format in 2018. As always, attendees are encouraged to arrive early. Doors open at 7:15 for the first-come, first-served event, which includes a complimentary hot breakfast and is capped at 700 attendees. The program starts at 8 and concludes shortly before the trade show opens at 10 a.m.
