Darcy Miller
"Bridal Stationery Trends 2010"

 

Ms. Miller’s role at MSLO includes television appearances on the company’s nationally syndicated television program, The Martha Stewart Show. In addition, Ms. Miller is an adviser on all content for the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine; Martha Stewart Weddings books;  www.marthastewartweddings.com, which features her own blog – The Brides Guide; and the development of Martha Stewart Weddings merchandise.  

Ms. Miller is also heavily involved in the promotion of the Martha Stewart Weddings brand via interviews and appearances for radio, television and print ads. In 2007, Darcy led a team that collaborated with NBC’s Today Show on the “Today Throws a Martha Stewart Wedding” series; the series included on-air appearances and planning for the segments, ceremony details and reception. She has also appeared on Extra, The Insider, CBS’s The Early Show, ABC World News Now, and various local news programs, as well as cable television specials, including the Lifetime channel’s Weddings of a Lifetime series, Style Network’s wedding specials and radio interviews with WOR-AM’s Joan Hamburg.  

Ms. Miller is the author and illustrator of Our Wedding Scrapbook, published in December 2004 by HarperCollins Publishers. She is also a frequent lecturer on all aspects of the weddings industry at a variety of venues nationwide and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Wedding Industry Professionals Association (WIPA).  

Darcy Miller is the Senior Vice President and Weddings Editorial Director for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (MLSO). She is responsible for overseeing every aspect of the weddings brand across all Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. business segments, including publishing, broadcasting, internet and merchandising. She has been actively involved with Martha Stewart Weddings since the first issue in 1995. The magazine is currently published four times a year and each issue circulates to more than a million readers. 

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Peggy Post

"Wedding Invitation Social Etiquette Rules for Today's Modern Couples"

Peggy Post, Emily Post’s great-granddaughter-in-law, is a director of The Emily Post Institute and the author of more than twelve books. Peggy’s books include the 17th edition of Emily Post’s Etiquette; Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette; “Excuse Me, But I Was Next…” and How to Handle the Top 100 Manners Dilemmas and The Etiquette Advantage in Business (written with Peter Post).

 

Peggy writes a monthly column in Good Housekeeping magazine as well as serving as a contributing editor for USA Weekend. A well-known spokesperson, she has worked for such clients as MasterCard, Yahoo!, American Express, and Florida Citrus.

 

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Caroline Kennedy
"Trend Watch 2010: What’s New, What’s Now, & What’s Ahead"
 

Caroline Kennedy is editor-in-chief of Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine, one of the industry's leading publications. She has gained a broad perspective on the gift, home décor and stationery industry -- its trends and the ever-changing landscape of gift retailing - during her 25 years on the magazine.


Her writings for the monthly print magazine and the magazine's Web site, www.GiftsandDec.com, and e-newletters keep readers in touch with industry news and trends. And through her personal blog, “Dancer in the Aisles” on GiftsandDec.com, she provides readers with a more personal side of news, events and even her own life.


In addition to her writing and editing responsibilities, she travels extensively for the magazine walking the trade show aisles and reporting on gift markets across the country and around the world.

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Stacie Francombe
"Building A Better Bridal Business Through Social Networking & Media"

Stacie Francombe is the founder and CEO of Get Married Media, a national, integrated tri-media wedding planning resource that reaches passionate brides on television (WeTV), online (www.GetMarried.com) and in print (Get Married magazine).   With the launch of Get Married magazine in January 2010, Stacie  serves in the role of editor-in-chief.

With the start of Get Married’s season three on WeTV (airing Saturdays at 9:30 am ET/PT), Stacie also took on the mantle as the TV host.  With the new format, network and focus on the bride, the show required a host with a dedication to the wedding genre and a connection to brides as they discovered and expressed their unique bridal style. 

With more than a decade in broadcast television news, an entrepreneurial spirit and a lifetime passion for all things bridal, Stacie worked as both a producer and writer for both CNN International and TBS.

Smart businesspeople focus on the things they have the power to change, not whining about the things they don’t.  – Seth Godin. 

Whether he realizes it or not, online marketing blogger and entrepreneur Seth Godin is channeling a 2,000 year old idea first articulated by the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus. Perhaps because the great Stoic and teacher of Marcus Aurelius was born a slave, he espoused a common sense approach to life: There are two kinds of situations: those you can control, and those you cannot.  

It is important to remember that you may not be able to control certain situations, but you are always in control of how you respond to those situations. Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl put forth the same idea in his classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, in which he pointed out that even concentration camp inmates who had lost all their worldly goods and human rights had not lost the ability to behave with decency and kindness towards another human being. Not even the brutality of the Nazis could keep one person from giving another person his last piece of bread. 

What’s all this philosophy got to do with running a business in 2010? In case you’ve been really busy, we're still climbing out of a tough economy. And all political rhetoric aside, I don’t see many bright prospects for a raft of small business-friendly legislation coming out of Washington, D.C.  

So what to do? 

§         First, accept that everything has changed. Americans are spending less and saving more. They are going to the cobbler instead of buying new shoes. This recession is not the end of the world, but it is the end of a long boom, and it requires us to re-think everything about our business.  

§         Second, ask yourself some hard questions about what is working, and what is not. The danger is in underestimating how much change is necessary. Under-responding could be fatal to your company. 

§        Third, accept responsibility for making the change. No one else is going to do this for you. You didn’t make the mess, but no one else is going to bail you out or make everything alright. Not the government, not your customers, not your mom. 

§        Fourth, take immediate short term action to shore up your balance sheet and preserve cash. There has never been a better time to be independent of your bank.  

§         Fifth, make a strategic plan. Take a good long look down the road and plan for the future of your business. Focus on investing for the long run, and on sustainable growth. Differentiate your company from the rest. Make it easy for customers to identify your value proposition.  

At Midori, we have cut costs, simplified processes, focused our offerings, strengthened our balance sheet, and reaffirmed our core values. We are actively and creatively planning for our future: new products, new ideas, and new ways to delight our customers. We are not focused on what we cannot change. We are focused on what we can. And we are inspired and grateful.