Dean Salakas - Chief Party Dude & Speaker

About

• 30 years ago, my mum was “Patches The Clown” catering for kids parties. Her passion for parties led her to open a small party store with my grandfather.
• In 2007 my brother and I took over the family business and its 2 employees.
• Today we have over 40 employees, operate the market leader for party supplies online and also have 2 bricks and mortar store of which one is Australia’s largest.
• In 1999 when I was in high school I launched Australia’s first online party store with what is now known today as “Click and Collect”.
• In 2003 I did my university thesis on The Party People online and as a result became Google Australia’s first advertiser.
• Under my leadership the business continued to pioneer online being Microsoft Bings first Australian advertiser and we were a pilot company for Facebooks accelerator program.
• We were also the first party store to launch express and same day shipping as well as buy now pay later payment options.
• The business appeared on Shark Tank Australia season 1 where we received a $400,000 offer from Janine Allis which I turned down and today are preparing to create a chain of party stores in Australia so that every Australian can create their dream party.
• Today Dean is an Advisory Board member of the National Online Retail Association and the Online Retail Summit as well as a Judge for the Party Stylist of the Year awards.

Speaking

Topics

• Augmented Reality Mirrors
• What we learned from our implementation

• Innovate Big on No Budget
• How a small business with no innovation budget continued to innovate like big businesses with million dollar innovation budgets.
• A journey through being the first retailer in Australia to offer click and collect in 1999, Google and Bings first advertiser in Australia in 2003, first in Australia to offer Scan and Go technology accross multiple stores, first globally to create Augmented Reality Mirrors with checkout capability and more.

• From Clown to Market Leader, The Party People Story.
• This will share The Party People journey through its innovations since launching online in 1999. I explore what decisions were good and which were bad and characteristics of them to ensure people make the same good decisions I made and not the bad ones.

• 5 Hacks to grow on a shoestring
• This is a talk I continually get asked to repeat over and over again sometimes at the same conference because people get big ideas and how to execute the easily. I constantly get the comment, “I implemented some of your tactics and the only think is that I wish I heard your talk years ago so I could have done those things earlier”
• Each topic can be a speaking topic in its own right. I usually limit a speaking session to 5 of these.
1. Free Government Handouts to help you grow
1. Some grants can be accessed with almost no effort, I show you how I did it and how most buisnesses are eligible when they think they are not.
2. Free Government Services to help you grow
1. Details of government department, services and industry associations that can provide free expert advice to help you run your business.
3. Being Agile
1. To win today you need to either be first, be smarter or cheat. I take you through how to be first and why using The Party People as an example as it was the first online party store, first google advertiser, first bing advertiser and first to launch multi site scan and go in Australia.
4. How to have an unlimited Marketing Budget
1. Companies that scale do so with a formula, I teach that formula, how and where to apply it. More detail below.
5. Getting Loads of Free PR
1. The Party People consistently appear in the media, I teach how to get any small business in the media.
6. Using the Sharing Economy to lower business costs
1. How to utilise various sharing economy services and technologies to lower the cost of running your business.
7. Vendor Funded Website Activities
1. How to get your website software suppliers to pay for your development.
• How To Be An Early Adopter
• This will take the audience through all the digital first achieved by the party people and also when they have been late. It will share learnings on when its good to be early and when its not. I wrote a story on this here; https://www.insideretail.com.au/news/is-it-best-to-be-an-early-adopter-or-a-late-adapter-201901/#daily

• How to have an unlimited Marketing Budget
• Companies that scale do so with a formula, I teach that formula, how and where to apply it. The formula involves determining your cost to service a customer and using that information to determine how much you can afford to buy a customer through marketing.

• I’m a Retailer, here’s how to pitch to me.
• I wrote an article on this topic at https://www.nora.org.au/news/442722/-Im-a-retailer-heres-how-to-pitch-to-me..htm and it was my highest performing post this year on LinkedIn with over 15,000 views.

• What I learned from Pitching on Shark Tank
•  I Pitching on channel 10’s shark tank and received an offer from Janine Allis for $400,000 which I turned down. I share my learnings on what I did well and what I would have done better.

• Mastering Pick and Pack from Store
• This will take the audience through the pros and cons of picking from store using The Party People operation as an example to help them evaluate their strategy on pick from store. I cover real estate utilisation, staff utilisation, asset utilisation, customer service impacts, increased complexity of combining digital and bricks and mortar and also stock impacts.

• Scan and Go Technology
• The Party People is one of very few retailers globally to trial scan and go technology. Think Amazon go but implemented by a small retailer so if I can do it, anyone can. Its going to be mainstream in a few years so I will share what its about and how it can be achieved easily for first mover advantage.

• Talking To Customers
• During COVID19 we were down 92% so we talked to customers to find out what the 8% were buying and put a strategy in place that saw us bounce back to be up on prior year. We formulated a "Coronavirus Survival" page on our website promoted on the home page which provided heatlh related items like sanitiser but also things to do in isolation like baking, games etc.

Recent Speaking Appearance

• Retail Property Marketplace - https://retailpropertymarketplace.com.au/
• eTail Australia - www.etailaustralia.wbresearch.com
  
• Inside Retail Live - www.retailweek.com.au/event/inside-retail-live
• Online Retailer Conference - www.onlineretailer.com
• Retail Fullfillment Summit - www.akolade.com.au
• Retail Global Conference www.retailglobal.com.au
• New Retail Conference - www.akolade.com.au
• B2B Expo - www.b2bexpo.com.au
• Rocketeers of Retail - www.rocketeersofretail.com.au
• Retail Week - www.retailweek.com.au
• Retail Leader Forum - www.retailleaders.com.au
• Seamless Conference - www.seamless-expo.com.au
• Online Retail Logistics Conference - www.questevents.com.au
• Future Stores Summit - www.claridenglobal.com
• Growth Hacking and Social Media Conference - www.claridenglobal.com
• and other various small and private events/boards - e.g. Servcorp, Entrepreneurs Raising Capital, Children’s Book Council Of Australia etc

Personal Awards

• 2023 Business NSW - Outstanding Business Leader (finalist)
• 2023 Retail Leader Of The Year - Australian Retail Association (finalist)
• 2023 Top 50 People in Eccommerce - Inside Retail Magazine
• 2021 Business NSW - Outstanding Business Leader (finalist)
• 2021 Retail Innovators Awards - Research & Strategy (Winner)
• 2020 Top 50 Small Business Leader - Inside Small Business Magazine
• 2019 Winner - Inspiring Retail Leader - Retail Doctor Group
• 2019 Top 50 People in Eccommerce - Internet Retailing Magazine
• 2018 Retail Leader Of The Year - Australian Retail Association (Winner)
• 2018 Top 50 People in Eccommerce - Internet Retailing Magazine
• 2017 Top 50 People in Eccommerce - Internet Retailing Magazine
• 2017 Retail Leader Of The Year - Australian Retail Association (Winner)

Testomonials

"Our audience loved Dean! He gave practical insights many of our attendees were able to bring back to their teams. His presentation and speaking style was authentic, natural and honest. We hope to work with Dean again."

 Mary Anne Ghobrial, Director, The Customer Show,  

“Dean is a highly experienced ecommerce professional and company founder who always strives to deliver presentations that are very relevant and tailored to the audience ranging from start up to corporate. We have asked him to speak multiple times at the Online Retailer Conference over the past years and were very impressed with his content and delivery style”

Alice Kuepper, Director, Online Retailer,  

“Dean delivered an energetic and passionate presentation that gave insights into click and collect from his business helpful to the New Retail audience. He was knowledgeable in the area and it was great to have his passion for the transition of the industry as part of the voice of this event.”

Sara Ellis-Jack, Portfolio Lead Retail & Supply Chain 

“Passionate and all for purpose community leader connected to knowledge and trends. High energy, effective, practical and no sugar coating, specific and to the point”

Roey Balbus - Chief Operations Officer

"I had the pleasure of having Dean as a speaker at the large-scale eTail Australia Summit in February 2022 and he brought with him his wealth of experience and knowledge from years in the retail business. During the event, I witnessed attendees furiously taking notes when Dean was sharing his insights - a feat that can only be achieved by an eloquent, engaging and experienced speaker who can bring great value to the topic being discussed. It's an honour to have Dean as a speaker for the event and I would be delighted to work with him in future events.

Heather Ang - Conference Producer 

TV Appearances

• - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6J6uAgpsqM

• - www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/05/19/third-generation-party-store-owners-say-fun-hasnt-faded
  
  
• - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YhwdXetxis&feature=youtu.be&t=576
  
  
• - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBuPvDcW2aw
  
  
• For more TV, Podcast and media appearances see www.thepartypeople.com.au/about-the-party-people

Writing

More recently I have started writing for Smart Company however previously I have written for various other publications/association. See below list;

• - https://www.smartcompany.com.au/author/dean-salakas/
  
  
• - https://www.powerretail.com.au/author/dean-salakas/
  
  
• - https://www.insideretail.com.au/news/is-it-best-to-be-an-early-adopter-or-a-late-adapter-201901/#daily
  
  
• - https://blog.retail.org.au/newsandinsights/physical-stores-still-king-until-2040
  
  
• National Online Retail Association - https://www.nora.org.au/news/442722/-Im-a-retailer-heres-how-to-pitch-to-me..htm

• - https://retaillearning.co/my-story-dean-salakas-on-how-to-get-the-party-started-in-retail/
  
  
• - http://www.theentrepreneursmagazine.com/2019/01/from-clown-to-market-leader/
  
  
• More articles where Dean has featured in the Media at www.thepartypeople.com.au/about-the-party-people 

AV Requirements

Clicker
Hands free microphone
PowerPoint on screen for attendees
Preview screen for speaker showing PowerPoint notes screen