So the Annual meeting came and went with no perceptible change in the current atmosphere or in the future for that matter. I would like to say thank you to Ron Scoggins of Portland Vending and DR. Paresh Patel of Courtesy Vending for at least coming and listening to the educational classes that were given. I would hope that they took away enough good information that they might inquire about joining and bringing to the Association what it so desperately needs...New Members! I am really considering joining Nama(which is required) in order to possibly occupy a seat on the Board of Governors, so that i might be able to speak and implement new ideas and ways of thinking that would bring the Association into the eyes of the new generations that we need to succeed and at the minimum survive in the industry. I was also glad to see that the members elected Karena Randall onto the Board as she is and will be a pioneer for the future of our industry, one step in the right direction. The main educational speaker Mr.Rick Leffke gave a good speech on "Sales Simplified" the basic gist of the thing was to try and think out of the box while "selling" to people. It was good but i fear that with 21 associate members and only 16 operator members present, this presentation was geared more toward the Brokers, Manufacturers and Distributors that were present rather than possibly showing operators better ways to "sell" new accounts and so forth. It would also be cool to figure out how to get more independent woman into our industry as there has never really been to many involved at least in the NW with our industry, maybe the Board could work on some incentives to help something like this move forward. Thinking outside the box was correct but i think having a board full of members that have lived in the box for so long it will be nearly impossible to Realize a brighter future for our Association!! I hope everybody has a great week ahead and it is filled with prosperity and health. Curt
With all the downsizing and restructuring companies have done, due to the poor economy and ever increasing costs. I think it is either that the operators are doing more with less and neither has the time or the money to attend such functions or simply believes the “status quo” is fine.
ReplyDeleteAs an operator, I always considered the association meetings were a way for sales people to get into my wallet. I didn’t have the time to go listen to sales pitches or a “mini vacation”. As I grew in the industry I realized that the meetings are actually quite a bit more than that, it’s a chance to learn from the successes of others and to see industry trends as well as discuss future legislation and of course to see the latest and greatest from the suppliers.
I think the biggest problem is the costs. The “a la carte” structure is a good idea, but that misses the whole “mini vacation” idea that the meetings have been known for. If NAVA could find away to lower the costs and keep all the events, the operators are more likely to come and stay the entire weekend. Keeping the costs low normally means they just pass them along to the supplier but considering the supplier is paying for time with the customer (actually .76 of a customer given this years attendance), there has to be a cost/benefit concern at some point. In other words, if NAVA continues to increase the costs either to the operator or the supplier, there will be less reason for either to attend.
Cost is the biggest issue for all, I do like the idea of a "mini-vacation" although your right, this just increases the cost. Maybe if Membership and attendance was up, they could do things like discounts for advance reservations etc. Also with increased attendance/membership the could figure a way to spread the cost over a larger constituency base? This is actually the type of conversation i and others would love to have with the Board. Thank you for your comment. Curt
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