Somehow, I wound up with the “event gene.” I’ve always enjoyed
attending and organizing events of all sizes, whether they’re simply
social gatherings at my house or events as large as the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo.
When
I cleaned out my desk at my last job, I emptied out 15 years’ worth of
badges, lanyards and nametags from various events I attended over the
years. What a walk down memory lane that was! When I was in grade
school, I organized an event — a neighborhood football game — with all
my buddies where we sent official invitations to our parents to come
watch the game. A couple of them actually showed up.
In my
professional career, I’ve organized all kinds of events from consumer
poker runs to watercraft shootouts and consumer testing events to the
Top 100 Dealers Program and the last couple Marine Dealer Conference
& Expos. And every year, I attend as many marine related events as
possible.
As I write this blog, I’m sitting in the airport in
Dallas-Ft. Worth, on my way home from the Boating Trades Association of
Texas Summit & Expo, a two-day event in Houston, where I gave the
keynote presentation. Last week, I was in Louisville at the
International Boatbuilder’s Exposition and Conference. I’ll be home just
long enough tonight and tomorrow, to unpack, do some laundry, repack
and leave for the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show tomorrow
afternoon. And I’ll cap off event season next week by attending the
Lorenz & Jones Marine Distributing Marine Market event, before I
leave for the 2011 MDCE on Friday the 4th.
Being away from the
wife and kids is never fun, but the time spent at the events,
interacting with the industry fuels the passion I have for my job. They
each offer a unique learning experience you can’t get behind your desk
or on the sales floor. And the in-person networking is so much more
effective than trying to build relationships over the phone or through
social networking.
I hope to see you at one of the events, and by
all means, if you’re at the MDCE in a couple weeks, stop by the MRAA
booth and say “hi.” We’ve got a lot of exciting announcements to tell
you about.
See you there … gotta go catch my flight.