Convention Time as a Vendor

REGINA’S PERSPECTIVE

Regina Farmer regina.farmer@chem-man.com

Bill Everett of Pickett Equipment

Alan Corr, Phil Needler, Cathy Tomlinson and John Garr of Garrco Products

In a recent article I talked about the uncertainty of our upcoming conventions. I thought I’d do a follow up article and also give a perspective from a few of our vendors.

With the pandemic still raging on, there have been multiple cancellations of conventions along with conventions continuing with their onsite convention with safeguards in place.

I recently had my first CE class via Zoom board meeting with members of the California Agricultural Aircraft Association to help them get their CE credits. Terry Gage, president of the association, was instrumental in making it organized and run smoothly. Zoom allows you to have popup questions to be answered from my class to make sure that the participants are involved. I was pleased with how it went, but of course I’d prefer to see everyone in person.

As a vendor, I want to continue my support for our associations whether we attend in person or not. I’ve also reached out to the convention leaders on allowing vendors who cannot make it in person to be “virtual exhibitors” so we can still contribute. As mentioned before, we’ve created a website “agaviationconnect.com” to help vendors find their voice and be able to virtually exhibit. I hope that all vendors will continue to reach out to us on participating so that they can be visible.

One of the participants is “Pickett Equipment Co.” with Bill and son Bailey Everett. I gave them a call to talk about what their plans were at the upcoming conventions. Bill said, “I don’t like not going but I feel the most prudent thing is to simply not be there and hope a vaccine is developed by 2021.“ They are going to have a table at the NAAA with literature and possibly a keg of beer.

Bailey said “My biggest concern is that we are such a small company that if I got sick and were out of the office, it would make it very difficult for our company during the busy season. It would be like a three-plane ag company losing one of its pilots during the corn run. We sure hate to miss the conventions, but we feel traveling would be a big risk for now.” Along with the video they made, they are also going to be ramping up their website “epickett.com” to help with their online advertisement.

I also talked to Cathy McCelleb Tomlison with Garrco Products (garrco.com) who said they will be attending the onsite events. “Although we are a little apprehensive, especially after having a co-worker catch the virus and is now in the hospital. However, we are going to continue with proper hygiene and we’ll just pray for the best.”

As a vendor, I’m a people person and would always prefer to be onsite. We plan on being virtual contributors for the associations. My husband and I are going to really miss seeing everyone but thank heavens for the Internet and Zoom for now. As Bill Everett said, “Let’s hope for a vaccine” and meanwhile stay safe no matter what you decide!