There are a handful of events during the year that I truly look forward to attending. One is the INDEAL Champion Conference. I love the Champion Conference because it is one of the few annual events that truly moves the needle.

The event last week brought together INDEAL Champions and manufacturers, which INDEAL calls its Brand Partners. For the first time, the event was held in Chicago at THE MART, a central location that is easy to travel to and familiar to many in the design world because of NeoCon.

What the INDEAL Champion Conference teaches me each year is that when these two groups come together, magic happens. When they connect at the Champion Conference, progress is made on many of the industry’s toughest problems.

In the past, the INDEAL Champion Conference was held at beautiful resorts, often in warm locations. For the first time, it was held at THE MART in response to surveys from past conferences where Champions asked for a more product-focused gathering. The venue did not disappoint. Many more manufacturers got involved in this year’s conference and the Champions were happy to wander the halls of THE MART for personalized tours and one-on-one connections to the INDEAL Brands.

THE MART has become a fantastic venue for events of this size. Its WorkLife meeting center acted as a hub and location for speakers, which included a keynote from ThinkLab’s Amanda Schneider and attendees were able to gather in the INDEAL Connection Hub on the 10th floor. And instead of holding a product expo in a stale hotel conference room, INDEAL’s Brand Partners were able to throw open the doors of their showrooms and show off all their products in the best possible light.

There are two sides of the equation that makes INDEAL successful for Dealers and Manufacturers. For Dealers, membership in INDEAL means deeper discounts and added rebates, lower operating costs, a more focused approach to non-aligned purchasing and a well-developed network of peers from all major alignments that offer support and a lively idea exchange. For Brands, INDEAL creates a pipeline to hundreds of the top office furniture Dealers in more than 750 locations across North America.

Though INDEAL fosters communication between the two camps throughout the year, the Champion Conference is where the two sides annually connect in person.

Exchanging ideas is key to INDEAL’s success. That’s where the Champion program comes in.

The Champion program was created to help dealerships maximize their member benefits by assigning an internal point of contact as their resident INDEAL expert. Champions share the knowledge they learn about utilizing the program’s platforms, services, and connections with their team.

The INDEAL Champion Conference is where a lot of that learning is distilled and shared. It is a two-way street. Champions tell INDEAL how they can better support them and INDEAL helps the Champions take advantage of all the platform has to offer.

Attendees learned about all the latest INDEAL updates, but most say the most important part of the Champion Conference is the time spent learning from their peers. It is an open conversation and many new to the conference are surprised by the open give and take.

It is through events like the Champion Conference that the industry truly learns how to move forward.