Web 2.0 will be one of four major topics at the upcoming Plumb Club Forum @ FIT 2008 on March 2-3 at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. The forum’s theme is “The Changing Landscape of the Jewelry Industry.”

“In addition to learning the latest developments in Internet marketing, the forum will also focus on corporate social responsibility, hot issues in the diamond and gemstone pipelines, and opportunities in the world of fashion,” said said Ofer Azrielant, Plumb Club treasurer and the event organizer.
 
The by-invitation-only conference will attract executives and buyers from the largest U.S. retail jewelers, mass merchants, department stores, leading independents, and alternative channels

“Internationally recognized technology experts will be among the featured Web 2.0 speakers at the Forum. They include:

Don Tapscott has authored or coauthored 11 widely read books on technology and business. His most recent book—Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything—is an international bestseller. has appeared on the The New York Times and Business Week bestseller lists, and has been translated into 19 languages. He is chief executive of New Paradigm and an Adjunct Professor of Management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. His talk, “Dialog vs. Monolog,” will reveal the relevancy of consumer-generated media and help retailers understand the latest advancements in building trusted and engaging environments that attract these new influencers.

Seth Godin was called “the Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age” by Business Week and was recently chosen as one of the top 21 speakers for the 21st century by Successful Meetings magazine. He is the author of nine books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change and work. They include Permission Marketing, which Fortune Magazine named as one of their Best Business books; The Big Red Fez, a guide to improving Web sites; and Purple Cow, the number one marketing book on Amazon in 2003. The founder and CEO of Yoyodyne, the industry’s leading interactive direct marketing company, which Yahoo! acquired in late 1998, Godin worked as VP Direct Marketing at Yahoo! before leaving to become a full-time speaker, writer, and blogger. He holds an MBA from Stanford. He will talk about “Surviving the Information Deluge: How Remarkable Companies Are Thriving in a 360 °, Always On, Million Channel Universe,” which will examine the critical trends at the intersection of culture, technology, and global society. 

Mitch Joel is president of Twist Image – an award-winning Digital Marketing agency based in Montreal, Quebec. Marketing Magazine dubbed him “Canada’s Rock Star of Digital Marketing,” and in 2006 Onalytica, a UK-based research firm named him “one of the most influential authorities on Blog Marketing in the world.” He is a marketing and communications visionary, interactive expert, Blogger, Podcaster and “believer in doing the impossible.” He will provide a tactical session on what retailers need to know about Blogging, Podcasts, and Wikis, and why it matters. Joel is a board member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau Canada and is active with the Canadian Marketing Association and Co-Chair of their National Convention and Trade Show. He serves as an executive for the National Advertising Benevolent of Quebec and an instructor of the CMA eMarketing professional certificate course. He is frequently called upon to be a subject matter expert for CTV National News, CBC Newsworld, Marketing Magazine, Strategy, The Globe & Mail, The National Post and many other media outlets. He is presently writing his first book, Six Pixels of Separation – How Marketing Connects in a World Where We’re All Connected.

In addition, a panel of prominent retailers, including Steve Larkin, Sr. VP, E-Commerce, at Zale, Bernie Feiwus, Sr. VP, Catalog and Internet, JCPenney, and Mike Gottfried, Business Manager Luxury/Retail, Google, will discuss retailing in the age of Web 2.0.

The Plumb Club announced last month that Carly Fiorina, the former chairman and chief executive office of Hewlett-Packard, will speak about managing change in the age of technology.

The Plumb Club Forum is being sponsored by its members and other companies and organizations that serve the jewelry industry. Retailers who wish to attend should contact a Plumb Club member. For a list of members, visit http://www.plumbclub.com/member-list.htm.

The Plumb Club, founded in 1983, is a coalition of leading manufacturers spanning all facets of the jewelry and diamond industry with the common denominator of being “best in class.” The 46 Plumb Club members account for approximately $8 billion in wholesale jewelry sales.

JCK