Switchback Spring, May 22-24, 2027 in New Orleans, LA
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Switchback at TRE, December 1-3, 2026 in San Antonio, TX
Moderator:
*Additional panelist information coming soon!
The sit-and-fit experience is where run specialty sets itself apart – and there’s much we can learn from the strategies others employ. Running Insight Senior Writer Danny Smith leads a discussion with three retail veterans about the creative approach and tactics they bring to the fit stool. Topics include determining the initial footwear selection, guiding customers toward a confident choice, introducing other complementary in-store products, overcoming objections, confronting showrooming and ushering a sale to close. This session will provide tangible, battle-tested tips for sharpening your game at the fit stool, elevating customer service and strengthening store performance.
Learning Objectives:
Speaker:
Community engagement is at the heart of every successful run specialty store—but programs and events beyond your four walls carry unique liabilities. This 90-minute session explores practical risk management strategies for the three pillars of community engagement: run clubs and training programs, store-owned races, and youth programs. Using real-world case studies, Jean Knaack of Road Runners Club of America will highlight where incidents and legal claims most often arise and how strong partnerships, clear policies, and proactive planning can mitigate risk and create safer, more sustainable programming. This presentation covers liability insurance, waiver essentials, leadership training, safety protocols, documentation, and emergency planning. It also shows how collaborations between run specialty stores and formally organized run clubs or events can strengthen both your business and community trust.
Participants will leave with an actionable plan to audit current practices, address vulnerabilities, and build a unified framework that safeguards your store, your participants, and your reputation across all three pillars.
Speaker:
Retailers are trained to protect margin at all costs. But across specialty retail, that instinct often means holding onto aging inventory rather than marking it down and losing margin. The result? Cash gets trapped on the shelves, new buys become limited, and turnover slows. Ironically, retailers with lower margins but faster sell-through frequently outperform those sitting on high-margin stock that doesn’t move.
In this working session, Max Retail CEO and former retailer Melodie van der Baan helps you uncover where profit is actually hiding in your business – and why clearing inventory earlier often improves long-term profitability. You’ll leave knowing where dead stock hides in your financials, when to call a product “done,” and how to convert aging inventory into cash.
Learning Objectives:
Speakers:
Mobile retail is one of the most powerful marketing tools and untapped growth channels in run specialty – and few do it better than Fleet Feet Cincinnati. Owner Frank DeJulius and former Outside Sales Manager Michael Giddens share the operational playbook behind taking your outfitting experience directly to the customer. Drawing on real-world examples from their own activations, they break down what it takes to turn a pop-up into a repeatable growth engine for your store. Retailers will leave with the tools to launch, run, and scale a mobile program with confidence.
Learning Objectives:
Moderator:
*Additional panelist information coming soon!
When it comes to performance footwear, running is the most democratic category, and non-runners constitute a significant share of the market. Often, they’re looking for a running shoe for everyday wear — or expressly for walking — to get their steps in and achieve their fitness goals. So how can specialty retailers capture more of these consumers? This panel will examine how to:
Moderator:
*Additional panelist information coming soon!
In a sport known for burnout and one-hit wonders, the real question for the run industry isn’t about how long a trail run athlete’s career lasts – it’s whether trail running is a category built to last. KEEN brings together three of the sport’s most durable athletes with a leading retailer and brand to make the business case for trail running. Athletes Jeff Browning, Krissy Moehl and Tim Tollefson join Skip Brand from Healdsburg Run Company and George Plomarity from KEEN Footwear at TRE’s Training Camp Theater to explore what it takes to build trail running into a category the run and outdoor industries can count on for the long haul:
Speakers:
This session will show how run specialty retailers can build profitable in-house spirit shops for local teams, clubs, and events using blank apparel, heat presses, and transfer technology. Eric Contreras of Runners Plus offers a practical – and tested – system for launching low-risk, high-margin custom apparel programs without committing to large inventory or complicated production. Areas of focus include equipment setup, pricing strategy, workflow, and how to partner with local schools and organizations to generate consistent demand.
Participants will leave with a clear framework for creating a scalable custom apparel program that drives new customers and community engagement while adding a reliable revenue stream to their business.
Use the toggles for an overview of TRE education focuses and target audiences.
2026 focus areas include AI & Modern Retail Efficiencies, Run Clubs, Races & Trail Running Opportunities, Creative Buying, Merchandising & Inventory Strategies, Leadership, Hiring & Training, Data, Participation & Consumer Insights, Performance in Lifestyle & Fashion, and Access, Inclusion & Retention.
In addition to Store Owners, Managers, and Sales Associates, here is a short list of roles that benefit from attending TRE education sessions:
Located in the exhibit hall, the Training Camp Theater is an engaging and casual presentation space open to all. Attendees, exhibitors, media and industry professionals will access relevant and impactful education from a lineup of thoughtfully selected presenters. Stay tuned for the 2026 Training Camp Theater lineup!
Training Camp Theater Dates & Times:
Wednesday, December 2:
9:00 AM – 5:30 PM: Training Camp Theater Sessions on the Trade Show Floor
Thursday, December 3:
9:00 AM – 3:30 PM: Training Camp Theater Sessions on the Trade Show Floor
