From the President: Learn Together, Have Fun Together

This year in Dallas, we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of KnowledgeFest. This is quite an accomplishment with some very humble beginnings as I mentioned in the July issue. The goal then was very similar to today: to provide a venue for networking and a peer-to-peer education experience that benefits every specialty retailer with great ideas to grow businesses. Sharing knowledge is the core of what KnowledgeFest is all about.

There is also another anniversary we are celebrating. This is our tenth Dallas KnowledgeFest since we re-launched in October of 2010. We launched Dallas with 33 exhibitors and 550 in attendance. The event provided educational workshops and a few vendor training sessions. This year we have over 70 exhibitors occupying 110,000 square feet of exhibit floor. There are over 50 hours of educational workshops taught by nearly 40 industry professionals. Vendor training has reached epic levels with top companies together providing over 80 hours of informative educationon their technologies.

As I look back on what KnowledgeFest has become, I am proud to say that with your support we have fully established an event that provides the value our industry needs to flourish into the future.

As I looked back over the past ten years, I thought it would be fun to look at what I wrote ten years ago in the magazine and do a refresh on the message. What I found still rings true today. Please indulge me by reading a small piece from my editorial history.

Learn Together, Have Fun Together!

Business is defined as a company that engages in buying and selling goods, making products or providing services. Is this what being a retailer is all about? For the most part, yes, but to be great in business you must have a suite of specialties that make you the expert. These specialties can range from electrician to carpenter, audio engineer to security and audio/video specialist, salesperson to CEO. Add that together and you have the makings of a mobile electronics specialty retailer.

When times are tough, and it seems like all hell is breaking loose, you must take a moment and look inside the core of who you are. Take solace in knowing you are a talented human being who can make a difference. You have goals and dreams, and by opening the doors this morning, you are choosing this day to accomplish them. As a specialty retailer, you pour your heart, soul, sweat and tears into your business to make the most out of every day, and every customer experience. As each day, week and year passes, you hope your efforts will be greatly rewarded.

While rewards are great, many with whom I speak tell me they would be satisfied with enough business to keep the doors open, take care of their team, and feed their family. In times like these, it is imperative that we as an industry stick together. Learn from and encourage one another.

We are fortunate to have groups of industry veterans who are retailers, manufacturers, sales reps, distributors and service providers who’ve poured themselves into the industry by serving as MEA’s volunteer leadership. Even the MEA team members have years of combined experience in the mobile electronics industry. It is this leadership that assists us and guides the association, and thus the industry through these troubled times. Our mission continues to be the same: grow the mobile electronics industry (although we updated our mission a few years back with a focused statement: “Our Mission is To Educate, Inform and Empower the Industry!).

A very encouraging sign that we are coming together is KnowledgeFest. Atthe time of this writing (circa 2010) the event has more than 30 exhibitors. This year, the theme of the event is to learn, experience and connect. All is meant to help your business. To ensure that goal is accomplished, KnowledgeFest will deliver the highest quality education experience. We have more than 25 proven industry professionals providing valuable knowledge for retail owners and managers, sales and marketing professionals, and installation technicians and fabricators. The KnowledgeFest experience will include new business opportunities with a stellar group of exhibitors.

To complete the event, we have several networking events that will allow you to connect with your peers to share stories of both failure and success while enjoying some great entertainment during the mobile electronics industry awards. (It sounds like we are still on the same track for 2019. This year, MEA members will be celebrating the 25th anniversary together at a must-attend event at the House of Blues in Dallas.)

This is your event and we ask that you do your best to get the most out of everything offered. Please let any of us know if we could do anything more to make this your best event ever! We want you to head back to your store after the event energized with a renewed commitment to growing your business and thus our industry.

That was it (with a few notes) and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I look forward to seeing everyone in Dallas! If not, make plans for 2020 now at one of our upcoming events in Long Beach, Calif., Indianapolis, Ind. or Orlando, Fla.