Feb 8, 2017

FranConnect's Takeaways & Giveaways from #IFA2017

Written by Tracey Moon

This was clearly not your father’s IFA

If you were at IFA, you know what I mean. The IFA staff knocked it out of the park, from a sophisticated, fresh design for the event experience to the well-organized and efficient movement of 4000 people from place to place. The energy was well choreographed, especially when Robert Cresanti, IFA President and CEO, led the audience through a virtual political action activity. It left us with the undeniable observation that there is a focused effort to recruit the franchising community behind a common cause  the preservation of the business model that is the largest job creator in the U.S.

Oh, and how about that Twitter feed? Is the franchising community ready to embrace social media as a means for networking and sharing ideas? I hope so because we were trending in Las Vegas for #IFA2017  a first in history for the community.

Getting involved is no longer optional

As Cresanti and Aziz Hashim, outgoing chair of the IFA, said during the general session kickoff, there has never been a more important time to get involved and support the IFA. You are part of a community of 733,000 franchises that employs 7.6 million people in the U.S., and according to Hashim, franchising is the single largest vocational school in the world. These statistics are staggering and just another reason to get involved and preserve a business model that helps so many rise and achieve success for themselves and their families.

The IFA campaign series @OurFranchise is one way to make things happen. Reach out to your franchisees, go visit them, take pictures, and tell their stories. Personal stories are the most powerful way to gain support and recognition from an audience, and our audience is watching – both consumers and politicians. Don't simply be a bystander.

Explore how franchising contributes to the economy.Image by International Franchise Association


Field operations will always be about building relationships

During "The Franchise Operations Challenge” panel, four of the top chief operating officers in franchising discussed how they continue to transform and improve their field operations. 

The Franchise Operations Challenge: Helping Your Franchisees Improve Performance

They all agreed that the success of each franchisee is paramount to the longevity and overall success of a brand. The new challenge is how to leverage technology to drive the right behavior at all levels of the organization without losing the personal touch between franchisor and franchisee that is so important.

During a survey taken of the 200+ audience, we learned there are still critical areas of improvement for field teams:

  • 43% said that field consultant communications and visit frequency is not enough to achieve goals.
  • 54% say that their field consultants don’t know which activities have the greatest impact on overall company success.

Each of the leaders on the panel identified the importance of intelligence through analytics to identify areas of improvement and allow quicker course correction in the field.

To find out exactly how Nestlé Toll House Café is using technology to build a killer operations team, join our webinar with Shawnon Bellah on how they implemented an effective field operations tool. 

Reserve Your Spot


15 minutes of fame dished out by FranConnect


The FranConnect team added to the excitement with three raffles during exhibitor hours. Our big winners were tweeted out and received their Amazon gift cards on the spot!

FranConnect provided some awesome giveways at IFA 2017.


FRANJAM rocked the house with the Funky Hippies


What a party! FRANJAM 2017 was the biggest, loudest, happiest event of the week. Here are a few fun photos in case you missed the fun.

The Oxi Fresh team at IFA 2017.The Oxi Fresh Team

FranConnect teammates at FRANJAM, the best party of IFA 2017.

FranConnect and customer "Just Between Friends" at IFA 2017.(L-R) Shannon Wilburn, Co-Founder and CEO of Just Between Friends; Christopher Fountain, CEO of FranConnect;
Tracey Moon, VP of Marketing of FranConnect

FranConnect at FRANJAM, the best party of IFA 2017.

FranConnect and customers at IFA 2017.(L-R) Shannon Wilburn, Co-Founder and CEO of Just Between Friends; Christopher Fountain, CEO of FranConnect;
Tracey Moon, VP of Marketing of FranConnect; Brad Fishman, CEO of FishmanPR

FRANJAM, the best party of IFA 2017

About the author

Tracey Moon

Tracey Moon is the Vice President of Marketing at FranConnect. She is an accomplished senior global manager with a history of positive organizational impact for technology software and services companies and has led strategy planning and execution, product positioning, product launches, and all other aspects of marketing. Tracey received her Executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management and is active in her community having serving on several nonprofit boards.