HARDI (Heating, Airconditioning &
Refrigeration Distributors International) did something interesting in leading
up to its recent national convention, held Nov. 1 - 4 in Orlando.
HARDI (Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration
Distributors International) did something interesting in leading up to its
recent national convention, held Nov. 1 - 4 in Orlando. Among the materials
sent with its convention registration package was a
“Conference To-Do List.”
Items to be checked off included:
- Review Conference schedule.
- Set goals for what to bring back from the
Conference.
- Take Conference brochure home for spouse to
review.
- Determine who else in the firm will benefit from
attending the Conference.
- Route the HARDI Conference brochure to …
- Submit Conference Registration Form to HARDI hq.
- Call to make hotel reservations (hotel name and
phone number provided).
- Arrange for travel to Orlando, FL
- Questions: Call HARDI at 888-253-2128.
This was a neat idea that served as a gentle reminder for
members to take action toward signing up for the convention rather than putting
the registration materials aside.
Of all the bullet points detailed above, one that deserves
special attention is the second -
“Set goals for what to bring back from the
Conference.”
Conventions and conferences too often get treated as social
junkets rather than premier educational opportunities. This can be rectified by
requiring that attendees heed HARDI’s advice and plan ahead of time which
programs to attend, and then to take notes and write reports to share with
others in the company. Ideally, when more than one person in a company attends
such an event, they should split up and cover as many sessions as possible.
Alas, frequently conventions are treated as mainly social
events, with only the top executives attending. Although this is their
privilege, it diminishes the value to be derived from attending. I don’t want
to over-generalize here, because I see many of our industry’s top leaders
attending educational programs. Yet many of them could be teaching these
sessions and don’t get as much out of them as less experienced people would
further down the corporate ladder.
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