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Solutions May 2006
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Solutions 2006
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Solutions 2006,
THE
marketplace for innovation and
networking
Inviting
your entire team—and their
families—
to this year’s show can
increase your sales
and promote goodwill within.
By
Kara Gebhart Uhl
Some
companies host an annual picnic.
Others sponsor a weekend white-water
rafting trip. Mark Rockefeller
took advantage of an industry
event—Print Solutions 2005
Conference & Expo—and
invited his staff and their families
for several days of educational
seminars, networking, area sightseeing
and get-to-know-each-other fun.
Rockefeller
is the owner of Laurens, S.C.-based
distributorship Carolina Print
Consultants. Last year he brought
two new sales representatives
on board: Jason Marlett and Jim
Palman. For six months he had
been teaching them the ins and
outs of the industry. He thought
Print Solutions 2005 Conference
& Expo would be a perfect
way for them to put together everything
they had learned. Because the
show was in Orlando, Fla., not
too far from South Carolina, he
decided to make a trip of it.
The
entire distributorship’s
team—Rockefeller, Marlett,
Palman and Barbara Johnson--along
with seven additional family members,
rented a house in Orlando. While
Rockefeller and his team attended
the show, their family members
explored the surrounding area.
“We
try to incorporate a family-first
approach to our business,”
Rockefeller says. “I think
that this just reinforced that.
Our office has that same approach
with each other—we operate
it as a family business where
everyone knows that they are an
important part of the puzzle.
I also think that it lets everyone
know that I am willing to invest
in their success.”
Before
they left for the show, Rockefeller
and his team reviewed the seminars
that were being offered and divided
them up based on the needs of
their company and their specific
job responsibilities. Rockefeller
says Johnson attended the marketing-based
seminars and show exhibits “mainly
to meet with current suppliers—and
to let them know that they are
appreciated—and research
a few specific new ones.”
Marlett
and Palman attended Dave Fellman’s
popular seminar. “They came
away with a great new appreciation—and
motivation—for the industry,”
Rockefeller says. “They
also enjoyed the networking events
and meeting other new sales representatives
facing the same challenges.”
Rockefeller
went to seminars focused on e-commerce
and running a business. “We
met over dinner every night and
breakfast the next morning to
discuss what we learned and what
we wanted to get done that day,”
Rockefeller says.
Because
of the show’s great location,
Rockefeller made sure his team
and their families enjoyed Orlando,
too. While at the show, the team’s
family members went to Disney’s
Blizzard Beach Water Park. In
addition to cookouts around the
pool at the house they rented,
everyone met for dinner at EPCOT’s
International Food and Wine Festival
one night. Rockefeller says breakfasts
around the pool were some of his
favorite times—his team
would catch up on what they learned
at the Expo and the children would
share their Disney stories. One
night everyone even dressed up
for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary
Halloween Party at Walt Disney
World. “For some reason
I went from being Superman as
a kid to Winnie the Pooh for my
kids,” Rockefeller says.
The
entire experience was a great
success, says Rockefeller. “I
absolutely recommend this approach,
especially for a smaller distributorship
that wants to reinforce team building,”
he says. “It was also a
great and affordable way to get
everyone to the Expo.”
This
year’s Print Solutions 2006
Conference & Expo will be
held at the Donald E. Stephens
Convention Center, Oct. 3-5, in
Chicago. Like Orlando, its prime
location offers great opportunities
to turn an industry event into
a much-appreciated benefit for
employees and their families.
While attending one of the new
34 Idea Exchange Centers—roundtable
presentations and discussions
taught by DMIA members or industry
consultants—employees’
families can visit the Field Museum,
the Museum of Science and Industry
or The Shedd Aquarium. While
checking out each booth’s
new innovative kiosks featuring
money-making applications, employees’
families can tromp around Chicago’s
famous Navy Pier. And while checking
out the 2006 Print Excellence
And Knowledge (PEAK) Award winners
featured throughout the show,
employees’ families can
shop on Michigan Avenue or take
one of Chicago’s many city
tours. Dinners and breakfasts
together offer a great opportunity
for employee’s families
to get to know one another, and
share what they learned and saw
at the show and in the city.
