Dear Industry Colleagues,
Next month at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel, our industry and the ASA membership will come together to be part of OUR industry networking and educational event, NetworkASA 2013: One Industry, One Voice, One Future. This can’t-miss event will be held Oct. 2-4.
The ASA Education Foundation once again will bring us a variety of educational opportunities with topics ranging from hiring and strategic planning to sales and marketing optimization. Over the last several months in ASA News, we have featured articles by our event speakers Dr. Barry Lawrence, Dr. Michael Mercer and Tom O’Connor to give readers more specifics on the topics and information they’ll be presenting at NetworkASA 2013.
New on the agenda this year are a legislative issues briefing and our Capitol Hill legislative appointments. This will allow attendees the opportunity to speak firsthand with their representatives about issues impacting their ability to run their businesses and, of course, hire competent workers. We’ll put you in touch with your members of Congress and provide the unique opportunity to share with them the issues that keep you up at night — the high cost of doing business, the uncertainty over our tax code and the looming implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Kicking off this year’s event is the popular Bradford White & ASA Opening Reception on Wednesday evening. Building on our momentum from last year and our two-part webinar series from earlier this year will be our 2014 Industry Forecast, featuringITR Economics Principal Alan Beaulieu and brought to you by Rheem and Ruud.
Immediately following the forecasting session will be the ASA Annual Meeting & Member Lunch, brought to you by InSink-Erator. Also continuing their popularity again this year are the one-on-one wholesaler and vendor conference appointments.
A different twist this year will be a new format to the ASA Industrial Piping and Plumbing Division open house receptions. This year, the receptions will be held in different time slots, before and after dinner on Thursday. This will give attendees the opportunity to kick off and end their evenings by visiting with their industry friends and enjoying live entertainment.
Thursday’s Weldbend IPD Breakfast will feature Bill O’Reilly, the best-selling author and host of Fox News Channel’s smash hit “The O’Reilly Factor.” Friday’s Plumbing Industry Educational Forum & Breakfast, brought to you by Kohler, will feature renowned journalist and author Bob Woodward. Last, but certainly not least is America’s best- loved political couple, James Carville and Mary Matalin. The duo will both enlighten and entertain while presenting views from both sides of the political aisle during the A.O. Smith Future Trends Luncheon.
As you can see, we have a great NetworkASA 2013 event planned. If you have not already registered, it is definitely not too late to sign up. Visit www.asa.net and click on the convention brochure cover for full event details or call ASA at 630/467-0000 and ask to speak with a staff member who can help you through the last-minute registration process.
See you in Washington, D.C. next month!
