HIRI gathers for industry understanding

The Home Improvement Research Institute will host a day-long conference next month in Oak Brook, Ill., focusing on subjects ranging from valuations on Wall Street to trends in home renovation.

The group’s annual fall conference, titled “Understanding the Future For Home Improvement,” will be held Oct. 15 and is open to HIRI members and non-members. The venue is the Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus.

"Companies in our industry need quality information now more than ever," said Fred Miller, executive director of HIRI. "The kind of quality information we're going to have at the conference is important to help the industry navigate in troubled times."

The agenda features seven presentations:

• Future trends in home improvement; presented by J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich Partners.

• The rise of shopper marketing; presented by Peter Hoyt, founder and executive director of the In-Store Marketing Institute.

• The impact of the green movement in home improvement; presented by Smith of Yankelovich Partners.

• Six degrees of renovation: home improvement market segments; presented by Allen Hogg, manager, consumer goods and services, band and communications division of TNS.

• A Wall Street view of the home improvement market; presented by Joshua Rosenbaum, executive director, global industrial group of UBS.

• The Hispanic consumer market for home improvement products; presented by James Gillula of Global Insight.

• Aging in place -- what it means for home improvement; presented by Louis Tenenbaum.

The deadline for an early registration discount is Sept. 12, and the hotel room discount expires Sept. 22. The deadline to register for the conference is Sept. 30. For more information, visit www.hiri.org.

HIRI is a non-profit organization managed by Lebhar-Friedman, publisher of Home Channel News.