Seldia European Direct Selling Conference

On October 6, 2016, Seldia’s Annual European Direct Selling Conference took place in Brussels, Belgium.  Over 200 participants attended the event including entrepreneurs, company executives, European Union policy makers, economists and journalists.

Seldia’s new Chairman, Thomas Stoffmehl, CEO of LR Health & Beauty stated in his opening speech “that far from undermining the industry, internet technologies enabled the direct selling sector to provide even better services to customers.  Direct selling is an industry of myriad opportunities, especially now in the age of the internet”.

The plenary session included a lively CEO Panel and a presentation on how to build and manage consumer trust.  Sebastian Kotow, CEO of MindShift Lab stated “We know trust is important, but we don’t always see why”.   He explained that trust was an undervalued and poorly understood concept.

WFDSA Chairman and Amway President Doug DeVos stated in a video message that the main challenge for the industry is to do a better job telling its story. “We have got to keep it real. We need to communicate how direct selling can help. We need to be transparent about the industry and address misperceptions – we have the data and information to do that”.

The conference included four breakout sessions on “revision of the European Union legislation on consumer protection”, “social media from a compliance perspective”, “association management”  and  focus on two top European Union markets.  The conference ended with a panel discussion on how to manage a successful digital transformation.