Earlier this week, more than 160 attendees, including 25 distributor companies, packed the InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza for the first-ever ASA Central Summit regional conference.

The Central Summit brought together wholesalers, suppliers, reps and service providers from 13 central states stretching from Texas to Minnesota and Colorado to Illinois for two partial days of education workshops, best practices sharing and plenty of networking opportunities.

Highlights included workshops with Dave Kline on seven leadership mistakes to avoid and Anthony Huey on sharpening negotiating skills.

Central Summit attendees also gathered for a best practices roundtable session where common challenges/concerns were discussed, including non-traditional hiring methods, adapting management strategies to generational differences and much more. Central Summit attendees will receive a full report on all 17 table discussions.

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Neenan Co. Director of Showrooms Britta Swanson was part of a state of the industry customer panel discussion that included a plumber, an engineer, a designer, a remodeler and a builder.

Attendees also took part in a special manufacturer tabletop opening reception where many of the 34 ASA Central Summit sponsors set up product display tables in the Rooftop Ballroom and chatted with attendees.

Earlier, the first-ever ASA Central Summit Open golf tournament was held at Tiffany Greens in Kansas City and saw the foursome of Rundle-Spence’s Andy Jelinski, Dan Krecklow, Tradeline Sales’ Ted Meyer and Zurn-Elkay’s Jamon Fuller win the tournament, shooting 9-under par.

The Central region will host its long-standing Central Annual Dinner Tuesday, Nov. 12 at Rosebud in downtown Chicago. Details on the 2025 ASA Central Summit will be forthcoming in the near future.