Last week I attended the 2016 NAEO (National Amtelco Equipment Owners) Annual Conference. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “It never ceases to amaze me how helpful and willing to share knowledge the people in this industry are!” So to keep in the spirit of the organization, here’s a summary of my experiences this trip!

An overview of this year’s conference highlights and take-aways:

• This years’ conference was held in San Diego, CA at the Hilton Resort & Spa on Mission Bay.

• Reconnecting with friends and industry colleagues, making new ones, and serving as a conference ‘buddy’ for a first timer.

• The first keynote speaker Colin Sprake is a heart-centered Business Sherpa, author, speaker, and trainer. He left us with tools and strategies we can use immediately in both our personal and business lives to achieve greater success and make a positive impact.

• The second keynote speaker Michael Gunther spoke to us about building a collaborative team environment and how to become the leader that our teams desire.

• I got some one on one time with Amtelco and TAS Innovations. Once again our vendors were super helpful in answering my questions and helping me with anything I needed.

• For the first time I ran for the NAEO Board of Directors; unfortunately I did not get voted in. But with all the consolation hugs and words of encouragement I received, I’d be ok with losing every time! I feel truly blessed by all of the support I received! Rossi, Ian and Robert did get voted in and they are great additions to the board. I wish them all the best during their term!

• There were great Operations, Sales/Marketing and Technical breakout sessions as well as the wonderful Round Tables discussions! As it often happens, I wish I could have been in more than one session at a time as there was just that much great content! The conference committee put together a fantastic conference again this year!

An overview of the technical and software information we learned:

• Learned more about SQL,= and stored procedures

• Learned Crystal Reporting and some different ways other centers are using it.

• A ‘refreshed’ direction on moving forward with IS (Intelligent Series) programming

• New programming ideas to better assist some of our clients

• People don’t like change, so call it ‘enhancements’

• Thinking positive is only half of the equation. The other half is how you feel. If you think rich, but feel poor, you will always get what you feel.

• Vision + Expectations + Communication + Accountability + Development + Innovation + Balance = TRUST

Other memories and things I learned on my adventure:

• Best Buddy Brian is the best Buddy ever!

• The newly formed Band of Misfits is a ‘catch-all’ group of all my friends

• ‘Lord Robert’ appears when you least expect and will grant one wish and/or help you cross something off of your bucket list

• The Gaslamp District is full of laughs and adventures

• It’s easy to tell if it’s the first time you’ve used Uber

• Kurt is great at creating taglines “Stick a NikiFORK in it and consider it done!’

• We really do enjoy calling each other Slackers! However it can make it more difficult to find each other lol

All in all it was a fantastic trip! Thank you to everyone at the conference and of course everyone at the office who covered for me while I was away!