As happens every spring, the Annual Meeting hosted by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores is upon us.

As happens every spring, the Annual Meeting hosted by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores is upon us.

Like the Kentucky Derby and the Masters, it marks the unofficial start of the spring season and propels the mass retailing community into the serious business of buying and selling that only ends when Christmas sales are tabulated.

In short, it is an important event for mass retailing, perhaps the most important.

As noted here every year, the editors of MMR truly believe in the value of the Annual Meeting. We further believe that it rewards attendees in ways both large and small, tangible and intangible, long-term and immediate.

Yet, asked to amplify those views, most people struggle for this reason: The importance of the Annual Meeting is not easily explained — or justified. Negatives intercede. The event is expensive. It’s crowded. It’s sprawling. It can be confusing, especially for those attendees not housed in the primary convention hotel. And, amid the sprawl and confusion and crowds, it can be easy to get lost.

Moreover, events crowd one upon another. Mornings are devoted to the business agenda, one that often favors government, political and national news at the expense of industry happenings. Afternoons are reserved for individual meetings between retailers and suppliers, meetings that are not always easy to line up, and can sometimes be difficult to execute. The imbalance between retailer and supplier companies further complicates matters. And the absence of one primary meeting location, impossible in a venue such as The Breakers, further confuses the issue.

For all these reasons, newcomers to the Annual Meeting sometimes get discouraged, confused, frustrated or disheartened. And some attendees stop trying — or, worse, stop caring.

That’s understandable — but not excusable. Pretty much the entire mass retailing community descends on Palm Beach, Fla., for four days in late April every year. The people come to improve their business. They schedule meetings, attend business sessions, dress for social events and hang around the local restaurants and taverns because they might, just might, meet one person who will enhance their business. It’s pretty much what they do during the remainder of the year. But the setting, the audience, the trappings, the excitement — these additions make their business lives easier, not harder.

This year the Annual Meeting officially starts on Saturday, April 25. But if you arrive on Saturday, you’re already late. Smart Annual Meeting-goers, those who’ve learned how to approach the meeting, usual arrive on Friday — or Thursday. The primary object is to meet people, hopefully in formal meetings but, at the least, in informal gatherings. So it matters little how many meetings have been arranged in advance. The trick is to remain open to arranging meetings at the event. And make no mistake: The attendees come for the purpose of meeting other people — their counterparts, opposite numbers, friends, acquaintances, even those they haven’t yet met. So the door is open.

All the rest — the business program, the social events, the breakfasts and lunches — are designed to facilitate the personal business meetings that are at the heart of this event.

And that’s the key. Make no mistake: Mass retailing, in the 16th year of the 21st century, is about relationships. It is more about relationships than it has yet been. Simply put, people want to do business with people they know — and like. They’d just as soon avoid people they don’t know — or don’t like.

In that context, the challenge of the Annual Meeting is meeting and getting closer to other people. It doesn’t matter if those people are retailers, suppliers or attendees without specific portfolios. This year’s new acquaintance is next year’s friend — and the person you will be golfing with in five years.

Against this background, the secret to working the Annual Meeting is simply that there is no secret beyond starting early in the day and staying out late. The object isn’t to come on Saturday and depart on the last day because some people have already left. It’s to arrive before the others and leave after they have left. It’s to mingle, to attend those events that don’t initially appeal, to schedule one last meeting, one final drink, one more interview.

And finally, when it’s time to leave, to know that this was time well spent — and next year will be even more productive.