In 1987, IRTA held its eighth annual convention in Tampa Bay. It was aptly titled “Reaching New Heights,” as attendance was double that of the previous year. A record setting 186 were in attendance.

To many, the highlight of the convention was the eye-opening three hour session by Clyde Fabretti on how corporate barter companies trade. Thirty-nine trade exchange owners paid an extra fee (which was donated by Fabretti to IRTA) to attend his “Accounts Receivable” session.

It was at this convention that representatives from both the IRTA and NATE boards met. The suggestion that both organizations disband and start anew, forming a new national association that would embrace the entire industry under one banner, was ignored.

Keynote speaker at the convention was Michael Gershman, author of the book Smarter Barter. His succinct message to exchange owners was that professionalism and overall knowledge of the barter industry is necessary as barter becomes accepted by mainstream America. Gershman’s five points about the barter business, made in his speech, makes this issue a very valuable one. We also included a summary of the unique and valuable information shared at the various training sessions at the convention.

The cover story interview was with one of the most talented salesmen the barter industry has ever seen—Clyde Fabretti. In a far-ranging interview he shared his candid opinions on a variety of subjects with his usual articulateness.

This issue contained one of the all-time favorite and informative articles we’ve published. Titled “A Marginal Analysis of Barter—How One Company Found Something For Nothing,” it was written by CPA George Kopecky. He shared his experiences and observations regarding barter when he was hired to set up an internal audit department for a small, world renowned hotel chain headquartered in Southern California. (One ambitious person in the industry used the information to put together a trade with a major hotel chain, resulting in over $1 million in profit.)

Leo Welt, president of Welt International, wrote about “Barter And Countertrade In The Middle East And North Africa.” We also uncovered the fascinating life of 79-year-old New Yorker Harry Neustein, who was known as “Mr. OPEC!” Our third story on the international arena was titled “Offsets: Why More And More Nations Insist On This Method Of Cutting The Import Bill.”


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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 11:08 pm and is filed under BarterNews Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.