One of the keynote speakers will be Randall Larrimore, Former President and CEO of United Stationers, Inc, the nation's largest wholesale distributor of office products. He will demonstrate why wholesalers are essential to the distribution channel and will explain how United Stationers Inc. grew from $1.4 billion in sales in 1994 to $4 billion in 2002, in the midst of a challenging business climate and limited growth opportunities. Attendees will hear how United Stationers was able to utilize value added programs, the ordering process, investment in inventory and an integrated distribution infrastructure, among other techniques, to demonstrate its value to its channel partners and strengthen its position in the market.

The Early Bird Registration and hotel reservation deadline is March 26, 2003. This year's conference will be held at the Westin River Walk and room rates are $239.00 for River View rooms and $219.00 for City View rooms. You may book your hotel reservations by calling the Westin Reservation Service at 888-627-8396 and say you are with the AVDA Annual Conference. You may also book online by following these simple steps:

• Go to www.westin.com/riverwalk (In addition to booking your room, you can view a slide show of the hotel and general hotel information)
• Click on Meeting Planning in the bottom gray toolbar
• Click on Attend a Meeting in the text at the left of the page
• Enter San Antonio Texas
• Your Meeting Code is 1754
• Select The Westin Riverwalk
• The Meeting Code appears with the property information and you may choose your dates and book as normal from here
• Confirmation will appear at the end of the transaction and you may also receive an email confirmation.

For more information about the conference, contact AVDA Headquarters at 443-640-1040 x105.