Adding value in
ASMMA and I.D.A. members will focuson value-added services at their Spring Convention, May 1-3
By Victoria Fraza -- Industrial Distribution, 5/1/1999
What do Newt Gingrich, the term "value-added" and the city of San Francisco have in common? They are all key elements of this year's Spring Convention of the American Supply and Machinery Manufacturers' Assn. and the Industrial Distribution Assn.ASMMA and I.D.A. directors expect 3,500 attendees at the event, which will be held at the San Francisco Marriott May 1-3. And while the location alone is a big draw, Gingrich as keynote speaker doesn't hurt either. The former Speaker of the House will address members during the convention's opening session on Sunday, May 2. Gingrich is the third in a line of high-profile speakers, following former British Prime Minister John Major who spoke last year, and U.S. Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.), featured in 1997.
Cities and speakers aside, ASMMA and I.D.A. will focus on "Adding Value Together" during the Spring Convention. The theme is part of an official value-added promotional campaign the associations began this year. Other highlights include a host of educational workshops, a special small distributor forum, and the always-popular Conference Booth Program.
The value-added promotional campaign is being led by ASMMA and I.D.A.'s joint Value Added Promotion Task Force. The task force's goal is to raise the industry's awareness of the value added by distributors and manufacturers working together to improve the end user's profitability.
Earlier this year, the task force released its "Win/Win/Win" promotional brochure, which explains the industry's role in adding value. The task force also released a workbook, which serves as a guide to quantifying and documenting the value added by distribution. In addition, 14 workshops on documenting value-added services, led by consultant Tim Underhill, will be held across the country throughout the year.
While the value-added theme will be the focus of the entire convention, it will also be the subject of one of the educational workshops slated for Saturday afternoon. The workshops are a key way of delivering that and other important business messages, says incoming ASMMA president Terry Piper.
"The educational workshops are what both organizations have been working to enhance over the years," says Piper, president of Precision Brand Products based in Downers Grove, Ill. "When you can help teach people ways to sell their product and ways to do business, they are very interested in that."
Incoming I.D.A. president Bud Pritchard, president of the Carolina division of the Ross-Willoughby Co., agrees. But he adds that there is another key benefit to attending the convention: the sense of camaraderie that develops between distributors and manufacturers, and between distributors and their peers.
"You find yourself building relationships with people," says Pritchard, noting the many friendships he's made since joining I.D.A. in the early 1980s.
The learning process takes place during informal conversations, as well as during the more structured educational sessions, notes Pritchard. He explains that non-competing distributors can share ideas and information, often solving problems and finding ways to better run their businesses. In his upcoming term as I.D.A. president, Pritchard says he will emphasize that aspect of I.D.A. membership in an attempt to increase attendance and involvement at both the spring and fall conventions.
"That is a key goal for the coming year," says Pritchard, adding that the conventions provide distributors a cost-effective opportunity to meet with leaders from manufacturing firms all over the country. "You see more leaders from manufacturers at one place and at one time than if they had to come see you."
Small strategies
In the last few years, I.D.A. has been working on programs geared toward small distributors. A major leader in that effort is Scott Parrish, chairman of I.D.A.'s Small Distributor Task Force. In San Francisco, the task force will host a five-hour workshop for distributors with sales of $5 million or less. The meeting is open to distributors who register prior to the start of the convention.
The Small Distributor Task Force held its first workshop during the spring convention in Nashville two years ago and followed that with a workshop in Orlando last year. The San Francisco session, however, will be much larger in scope than the previous meetings.
"What we wanted to do was provide something that was unmistakably oriented for the small distributor and yet fairly significant, too," says Parrish, who is president of Parrish-Keith-Simmons based in Nashville, Tenn. "What we would really like to achieve is to let the membership understand how seriously I.D.A. values the smaller distributor."
Labeled the "I.D.A. Small Distributor Forum," the program will run from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 1. It will start with a networking breakfast followed by an educational session on "Access to and Management of Capital and Assets," conducted by Al Bates of the Profit Planning Group in Boulder, Colo. Bates' session will be followed by an interactive panel discussion led by Dr. Bill McCleave, who conducted a major study of small distributors for I.D.A. last year. Parrish says he hopes the discussion will take on a "crossfire" format, with active audience participation. Manufacturer-distributor relations will be the topic of the panel discussion.
The forum will end with a networking luncheon, followed by a small-business economic forecast. Parrish and other task force members say the forum could be the springboard to a larger, pre-convention program.
"We do feel that could be very beneficial," says Parrish. "We're trying to see how much interest we can garner in a half-day session."
Other events at this year's Spring Convention revolve around the Young Executives Forum, an ASMMA/I.D.A. joint program. Y.E.F. is celebrating 10 years of continual growth with an all-time high of 208 members. Y.E.F. co-chairs Janine Woleben of Dixie Industrial and Tom Haag of SGS Tool hope to continue that growth by recruiting new members in San Francisco.
Y.E.F. will make its presence known with four key events: the awarding of several scholarships, an annual social, the second annual Y.E.F. Golf Tournament, and a raffle featuring a Caribbean cruise package as grand prize. Proceeds from the raffle and the golf tournament go to support the Young Executives Scholarship Fund. Each year, Y.E.F. awards three $2,500 scholarships to students enrolled in industrial distribution programs at colleges and universities across the country. The forum also provides eight industry scholarships to the University of Industrial Distribution, the twice-a-year, week-long education program sponsored by several industry trade associations.
Another event convention-goers won't want to miss is the annual Conference Booth Program, say Piper and Pritchard.
"It is always a good opportunity for both manufacturers and distributors to see what's new in the marketplace and to do business in general," says Piper. "It always proves to be a good part of the show."
Pritchard adds: "Distributors have got to get themselves organized so they can utilize that time ... because the time you're able to spend with [manufacturers] is never long enough."
The Conference Booth Program, now in its 51st year, is a full-day trade show in which manufacturers display products and information in booths. Distributors, in turn, have the opportunity to meet with current and potential business partners to discuss problems, new products and business opportunities.
The Conference Booth Program runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, May 3. For the fourth year, the program will also include the Construction Products Showcase, a similar effort designed to highlight construction products. Both events will be held at San Francisco's George R. Moscone Convention Center.
Schedule of events
FRIDAY, APRIL 30
1 p.m. - 5 p.m. Convention Registration
SATURDAY, MAY 1
8 a.m. - 12 p.m. Business & Technology Education Forums
8 a.m. - 1 p.m. I.D.A. Small Distributor Forum
Breakfast - Lunch Session
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. I.D.A. Board of Directors Meeting
9 a.m. - 12 p.m. ASMMA Board of Directors Meeting
9 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. Convention Registration
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. I.D.A. New & Prospective Members' Luncheon
12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. ASMMA New & Prospective Members' Luncheon
1 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Education/Management Sessions
6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Opening Reception
SUNDAY, MAY 2
7 a.m. - 5 p.m. Convention Registration
8 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. Interdenominational Chapel Service
9 a.m. - 11 a.m. Opening Session
11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. I.D.A. Canadian Members' Luncheon
12 p.m. - 2 p.m. ASMMA/I.D.A. Past Presidents' Luncheon
1 p.m. - 5 p.m. ASMMA REP-CON
1 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Education/Management Sessions
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Y.E.F. Social
MONDAY, MAY 3
7 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Convention Registration*
7 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. ASMMA Annual Breakfast Meeting
7 a.m. - 8:15 a.m. I.D.A. Annual Breakfast Meeting
8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Conference Booth Program & Construction
Products Showcase*
12 p.m. - 2 p.m. Conference Booth Luncheon*
*These events will be held at the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center
There are no other articles related to this article.Talkback
Related Content
Related Content
Sponsored Links
View All Blogs
