It was time again for our annual panel discussion regarding Credit Congress which was held this year in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The panelists included: E’Licia Garcia with CESS; Wayne Olsen with Geneva Rock Products; and April Tanner, CCE, with Kimball Equipment; the moderator was Shane Inglesby, CCE with Geneva Rock Products. Each panel participant spoke about their own unique view on experiencing Credit Congress.
E’Licia was a first-time attendee at Credit Congress this year. Though she has attended some Regional Credit Conferences. Her attendance at Credit Congress was mandated by her supervisor and she stated it was the best experience for her, but she wasn’t prepared for how large the conference was. Her advice to first-time attendees is to spend some time before the conference starts and familiarize yourself with where everything is, this saves on stress when you’re trying to get to your next class, the Expo Hall, or the NACM bookstore. She also recommends arriving a few minutes early for each class so that you have a seat. In her experience, some of the more popular classes were so full, she either had to stand or sit on the floor if she chose to attend. She also recommends picking a back up to the class you are wanting to attend; this way, if the class is overcrowded or it isn’t what you’d expected, you can quickly move to another class. Her biggest takeaway was her surprise at how busy she was, every day, from morning until late in the evening, it was go, go, go but it was exciting at the same time.
Wayne has attended Credit Congress before during his tenure at Geneva Rock, but he was still amazed at how large it was (he even got lost) and how many people there were in attendance. He enjoyed the Opening Speaker and said that the quality of speakers overall was very high. The panel discussions were very informative and felt that he learned quite a bit, leaving with more knowledge than he anticipated.
April is a seasoned congress attendee, having well over 20 Credit Conferences under her belt and has developed a system that allows her to stay organized and focused. First, she makes sure that she has everything she might need in her bag – a sweater, extra pens and markers, printouts of any classes she attends, snacks, mints, etc.- her goal is to have everything she needs at her fingertips so that her experience during the sessions is as comfortable and stress free as possible. April also recommends having a bound notebook, specifically for Credit Congress, to take notes. This allows her to have information ready when she is putting together her trip report for discussion with her boss and team. April was also pleased with the attendance in the Global Economy/Market classes.
All three really enjoyed the networking and felt that the afterhours hosted events were wonderful.
While all three panelists didn’t have to ask for permission to attend, they agree that attendance is well worth the ask if that is required of you for your company. The information they took back with them and the connections they made through networking are invaluable. Find out who you need to ask and what information is needed to get approval for next year’s Credit Congress in Cleveland, OH, and don’t forget, Western Credit Conference in Tacoma is right around the corner.
A big thank you to our panelists for sharing their experiences and to Shane Inglesby for being our moderator (aka Guy Smiley) for this event.
By D’Ann Johnson, CCE, A-Core Concrete Cutting