Members Go Beyond Traditional Conference Networking Opportunities

By Katrina Schwarz and Erica Halmstad

The 2019 Annual Conference offered a number of exclusive and unique networking and education opportunities beyond the general session and receptions.

For participants in the Future Leaders Network, three exclusive activities were available. On the day before the general sessions began, the Future Leaders had a workshop with Peter Rea, giving them an engaging and interactive discussion with an industry expert on character-based leadership and teamwork. The discussion was followed by an exclusive, casual reception that later blended into the general conference welcome reception. Later on during the conference, Future Leaders had the option to join in on a fun, team-building and social event – lawn games – which offered a relaxed and fun opportunity to get to know each other, work as teams, and get a little competitive. These activities supported the Future Leaders Network’s goal of creating a community of identified industry leaders or aspiring leaders, 45 years of age or younger, to not only further their careers, but also further their support of the industry and the association. Contact Katrina Schwarz at kschwarz@nfpa.com to get yourself or someone at your company involved.

The conference golf tournament hosted over 55 golfers from almost 45 companies for an afternoon of sun and networking at the Pelican Hill Golf Course. The tournament, played in a “scramble” format, was led by NFPA’s Golf Chair Arlin Perry. Participants enjoyed making connections with leaders from across the fluid power supply chain while relaxing on the course. Stand out golfers won prize money for the following categories—and many donated their winnings to the NFPA Education and Technology Foundation to support fluid power workforce initiatives.

• Winning Foursome: Doug Adams (Adams Air), Mark Garrett (Morrell Group), Scott Meldeau (Bimba Manufacturing Company), Kevin Smith (Scott Industrial Systems)
• Closest-to-the-Pin: Doug Adams (Adams Air)
• Longest Drive: Austin Peterson (Industrial Hard Chrome)
• Longest Putt: Roscoe Wallace (Kaiser Aluminum)

Additional opportunities included tours of the surrounding area and an insightful IoT committee meeting.

Thank you to all who took part, and be sure to take advantage of our future events. For a complete list of upcoming events, visit https://nfpahub.com/events/list/.