NFDA Letter From the President
10/01/2010 10:53 AM CDT
Dear fellow NFDA members:
There has been a lot of NFDA activity since the last time you heard from me. Our new Executive Vice President, Mark Lenhart, made a strong impression at the Fall Meeting in Chicago , positive industry momentum was apparent in the mood and conversations at the meeting, we're planning an exciting fastener supply chain discussion at NIFS West and we've expanded our association presence on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. The NFDA is taking action and seizing the opportunities that positive industry momentum is offering us, make sure that you do the same for your company.
The most recent NFDA meeting in Chicago was a big success. The preliminary survey results from attendees are very positive. Here are some highlights from the survey:
- 97% of the attendees surveyed felt that the overall meeting experience was excellent or good
- 89% of the attendees responded that they achieved a positive ROI from their investment of time and money at the Fall Meeting
The ESPS sessions and networking opportunities were the biggest factors in member's satisfaction, but another factor was that the meeting provided attendees with actionable ideas that can be implemented quickly within your own organizations. If your organization is not actively using social media, mobile computing and/or CRM systems you are missing out on excellent opportunities to improve your business. For more information on these technology topics we encourage you to access the technology meeting presentation on the NFDA Website .
The Fall Meeting also served as a forum for Sam Geist to encourage us to execute on the promises we make to our clients. He pumped up the audience with great ideas and examples of how great execution leads to great things in business and how poor execution leads to poor business results. He also encouraged us to go back to our businesses and "do" something new based on the information we've learned at the conference. I encourage you to take action too. NFDA has provided you with access many ideas to for business improvement in 2010 here are a few:
Do something with these ideas. Don't be part of the 70% of conference attendees that file their conference materials away and continue doing the same things in their businesses as they were doing before they went to the conference.
Enough re-capping, lets take a bit of time to discuss NFDA's future. We will be holding an exiting panel presentation on the State of the Fastener Industry the Monday before the NIFS West Show begins in Las Vegas . This panel is free for NFDA members, and non-members will be charged $25 to attend. The panel will consist of representatives from the entire fastener supply chain including a former OEM purchasing guru, David Nelson, whose past employers include John Deere, Delphi , HTC Electronics and Honda. We are excited to expand our traditional offerings to include an educational event at NIFS West and are planning to expand this program further in 2011.
The spring meeting in 2011 will be held at the beautiful PGA National in Palm Beach , FL from April 6 th – 8 th . You will see some differences in the way the schedule for this event is laid out compared to previous spring meetings. The 2011 meeting will have 1.5 days of business specific events sandwiched between a day or two of optional social events such as golfing. We are trying this new format out to appeal to two groups of our members. Members that can't schedule 3 or more days away from the office, as well as members interested in taking advantage of the beautiful Palm Beach location for a more relaxing trip.
In closing, we are excited about the upcoming events and want to encourage you to become more active with the NFDA between events by participating in the LinkedIn Group for NFDA, the financial benchmarking program and giving us your feedback through the conference survey that went out last week.
Let's keep building this momentum!
Regards,
Jim Derry
NFDA President
