The NSCA Business & Leadership Conference in Tampa, Fla., has just come to a close. This is an annual gathering of hundreds of members of the AV industry involved in the management and decision-making activities of their integration firms throughout North America.
The chance to sit in a room and network with these leaders does come at a cost, though ($1,000+ registration fee, plus travel expenses). To attempt to make it a little easier on my bank account, I applied for the Randy Vaughan Award, which covers the cost of admission for a first-time attendee.
Named for a man well known in the industry as a leader that put education first, he was not just an instructor for 12 years for NSCA University, he was also the chairman of the NSCA Education Committee and created this very conference which now affects and influences the current leadership with ripples extending for the years beyond.
My first experience interacting with the NSCA directly was just last year when I was doing research on the AV industry to obtain employee and net worth statistics for a blog I was writing on net neutrality. The information and personal attention that I was able to get from executive director Chuck Wilson was such an eye-opening experience.
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Sometimes it’s hard to reach the higher-ups in organizations but Wilson didn’t hesitate to set up a meeting and take my call to discuss the industry and the possible effects that could come from the theorized net neutrality regulations.
NSCA wants to be a resource of information for the integrator community. The BLC is a perfect example of how they want to bring the decision makers in organizations together to discuss the struggles and challenges they face, and the opportunities that stand ahead of them.
Having spent time traveling the U.S. while a trainer for a manufacturer, I know that this country is often regionalized, but as we collectively look to where the industry is headed, these regions have more in common than you might think.
Being invited to take place in that conversation — to stand up and be counted among the individuals that are leading organizations today and are considered to be the leaders of tomorrow — is truly humbling.
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I would be remiss if I failed to use this opportunity to say thank you to those at NSCA for including me in their event. I’m afraid my career started too late for me to have had the chance to meet and work with Randy Vaughan, but everything I’ve read about the man makes me believe he and I would have gotten along quite well based on his dedication to industry education, wanting to help as many as he could, and doing it all with candor and thoughtfulness.
It is an honor to be named one of the recipients of the award and be given the opportunity to not only share in the leadership of our community, but also look at how I can help prepare the future leaders.
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