2022 Partners in Progress Conference
Behind the Scenes
The Partners in Progress Conference provides a level playing field, but it's no easy task to pull it together By / Natalie Bruckner The room is silent, and yet the buzz in the air from what just went down over the past few days still hangs in the room. It’s February 26, 2020, and the Partners in Progress conference has wrapped up after a successful two days in Las Vegas. New friendships were made, new ideas were explored, and bonds were strengthened. In a world that today seems rife with division, the Partners in Progress Conference is a place where differences are put aside and faith in the success of the sheet metal industry is restored. “When you can sit down across the table from one another and have thoughtful, rational conversations about topics, it’s much easier to get to a win-win result in negotiations,” says Local 280’s Business Manager/FST, Richard Mangelsdorf, who attended the conference. “It’s so important to see the success other Locals have achieved, and that’s what we get to experience at the conference. It’s hard to doubt the philosophy when you see it working in real life and hear the stories happening elsewhere across North America.” There’s no denying that in-person conferences have an innate ability to build trust. A study by Harvard Review found that 95 percent of people believe face-to-face conferences are a key factor in successfully building and maintaining long-term business relationships. Researchers say they are 34 times more successful than emails or Zoom calls. That’s the reason the SMACNA-SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force (BPMETF) works so hard to pull these conferences together—not an easy feat, although 4 » Partners in Progress » www.pinp.org
you wouldn’t know it in attendance with everything running so smoothly. The work that goes on behind the scenes to build the conference is impressive—and exhausting. As soon as one conference wraps up, the team barely has time to sit and reflect before their work begins again. “The process for the next conference starts almost immediately after the one conference is finished,” says Vince Alvarado, Local 49 business manager and a BPMETF member. A considerable amount of time and thought goes into picking topics that would best benefit members and attendees, and what will bring most value.
