Successful Gathering of Shortliners in Phoenix
President Ricky Brown, of Brown Manufacturing Corporation, along with his wife Erika, welcomed more than 200 executives and guests to the Spring Management Clinic earlier this month, at the beautiful Tapatio Cliffs Resort in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. The city once again proved to be a great host, providing attendees with gorgeous weather.
From the economist to the ag banker who were speakers, to our members at the receptions, current economic conditions were on everyone’s mind. Based on the information our speakers shared, it was clear that members have reason to be concerned. What was just as clear is that even in turbulent times, there is a real need for this type of meeting. The ability to talk face-to-face with other manufacturers, not only offers a chance to learn about cost saving moves, but to also learn of the opportunities that challenging times bring.
Our Panel Discussion on Due Diligence in Establishing Manufacturer/Dealer Partnerships, may well have been one of the most informative sessions. Our special guests were Tim Robinson with Arizona Production Machinery & Supply and Blaine Bingham, with Bingham Equipment Company.
Both of these multi-store dealers were invited by Paul Kindinger, NAEDA’s President and CEO who also participated on the panel. John Malinoski, GM of Leon’s Manufacturing was our manufacturer on the panel and David Hellbusch with Busch Equipment and Duo Lift brought the distributors point of view.
Mike Lessiter with Farm Equipment and Ag Equipment Intelligence did an outstanding job as moderator of the session. The conversations lasted well beyond the allotted hour and dealt with questions ranging from credit reports to inventory financing.
If you attended the meeting and have misplaced one of the speakers handouts, visit our website at
www.FarmEquip.org/Spring_Clinic or give us a call in the association office for another copy. Once again the Supplier Associate Section worked exceptionally hard planning several events that take place during the Spring Clinic. After last year’s rain out in Memphis, we were very pleased to see the annual Harold Halter Memorial Golf Tournament, the Walk/Run and Trapshoot events come off under the sunny Arizona sky. The outdoor cookout, also sponsored by the Suppliers section, wrapped up the weekend in great fashion with a live band and a great opportunity for our Supplier Members and Manufacturers to relax together.
Special thanks to Michael Libbie, Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications who was chairman of the closing event. John Mills with Bondioli & Pavesi, Inc headed up the welcoming committee, Gary Esterling with ABT Bearing ensured we had a safe and successful walk/run event, Terry Flanary with National Tube Supply did all of the planning for our golf event and Andrew Novetzke with U.S. Nameplate Co. made the trapshooting event fun for all. Each of these activities are designed to allow for networking that just can’t get its start on your blackberry.
Over the years, life-long friendships and business relationships have been developed at our Spring Clinic, and we can’t thank the chairmen and their committees enough for their hard work.
Two separate surveys will be coming from our office later this week. If you attended the Spring Clinic in Phoenix we need your feedback on everything from the location to the speakers to topics you would like to see at future meetings.
We will also be surveying some of our members who were not able to attend to identify changes we can make to program, schedule or location that would make future attendance more likely.
We have already begun the planning process for the upcoming Fall Convention. This meeting will take place Nov. 4-7, 2008 in Atlanta, GA at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. Watch for more information about the Convention after July 4th.
While you’re marking out dates in your calendar, my we suggest you clear April 8-10, 2010 for a Midwestern version of our Spring Clinic in Kansas City, MO.