By Liz Richards, MHEDA Executive Vice President
I always enjoy receiving copies of our members’ newsletters and hearing how and what you are communicating to your associates and your customers. One newsletter I particularly like reading is the “Uplifter” by MHEDA Member Riekes Equipment Company. In their July-August issue, the dealer principal, Duncan Murphy, suggests you take time to reflect on unique experiences that result in creating memorable moments for your customers and yourselves and he came up with his “Top Five moments.” I was thrilled to see a MHEDA memory in his list – thanks Duncan! So, I am “borrowing” Duncan’s idea….
As I write this column, 2014 is far from over but there have been some memorable events during the course of the year that I hope have positively impacted our members.
At MHEDA’s 2014 Winter Board of Directors Meeting new board members Mike Wall, Container Systems, Inc. and Scott Larsen, R.H. Brown Co. and MBOA Member Brett Wood, Toyota Material Handling, were welcomed to the group and hit the ground running. Seeing the board change, evolve and grow is incredibly rewarding; we are so grateful to our volunteer board and all they do to help guide and shape this organization.
The 2014 MHEDA Convention was touted by some as “the best convention I have attended in the past 20 years.” Wow, that’s a memorable event and what we like to hear. One of my favorite memories – in addition to the great speakers, venue, networking events – was seeing our Convention Chair Mark Milovich dressed up like Wonder Woman. For some (like Mark’s wife Lorri), that might be a memory best forgotten but he sure did pull it off.
Student involvement at the MHEDA Convention and at Classroom Day during the MODEX Show is such a perfect way to bridge the gap between industry and academia. Seeing the enthusiasm of these young adults and knowing what a bright future they have in store is such a rewarding experience. We are thankful to all the MHEDA members who help with these events by dedicating their time as tour guides and mentors for these students. And several of the students have been hired by members! Stay tuned – we’ll be asking for volunteers to help out in 2015!
Attending a Women in Leadership Summit sponsored by a trusted hotel partner this past May was a great experience for me personally and reminded me of why it’s important to step away from the day-to-day to learn, meet new people and grow professionally. All the same things we encourage our members to do!
Defining the annual Critical Impact Factors during MHEDA’s Strategic Planning Meeting each summer is always a memorable experience. Having a group of seven seasoned leaders sit around a table for three days to consider the future of our industry, brainstorm, share, plan and set the direction for this association is truly a priceless learning experience and results in developing a list of trends and issues to watch and to build MHEDA programming around. As is always the case, by mid-July I am getting phone calls and emails from members wondering if the CIFs have been developed so they can use them in their own planning processes. To see the 2015 Critical Impact Factors, turn to page 31 or visit mheda.org to download a copy.
We still have a few months to go before the end of the year and I am confident there will be numerous other memorable moments. I hope you are part of them!
