President's Column - December 2024
Although I’ve only been in the President’s role for a short time, it’s been a busy few weeks. We’ve recently held our Annual Meeting as well as the Business Meeting, not to mention the follow up that goes along with these events. Due to some untimely and unfortunate circumstances, our past President Jennifer Thoroe was not able to attend the Annual, which meant it was the first time I had the opportunity to officially lead the discussion.
That also meant it was the first time I was able to wield the gavel! For those unfamiliar, our association must follow state mandated bylaws; and our meetings have to follow certain guidelines laid out in these bylaws. We have to officially call the meeting to order, take detailed minutes, and for various topics and procedures, the role of President has to ask for a motion, get a second, hold a vote, state if the motion carries and so on. This is the tricky part. Another process we must stick to is the nomination process, meaning I was President Elect long before I was voted in as Prez. Knowing I would soon be in the hot seat, I watched carefully to try and understand the procedural requirements of the President and quite importantly, when to bang the gavel. This actually had me more nervous than the content of the discussion! I like to think we got through it relatively painlessly, but it did take some patience from the Board and a lot of help from our CEO and another Past President seated next to me, basically whispering in my ear, to get there.
A great tradition the IADD has kept up for some time is that the President is issued their own gavel. So, while I still have some practicing to do for future Association meetings, I’ve made full use of it at home. Getting pretty good at that part! You can practically hear my kids’ eyes rolling as I call dinner to order or let them know the motion has carried and they have to clean their rooms. Instead of trying to talk over two arguing kids, I find it quite effective to bang the gavel a few times and state that the President has adjourned the meeting. I learned quickly however, it does not have the same power on my wife, Monica. It took only one time of being told to do something and me asking the kids for “all those opposed” for the gavel to end up in my work bag to be brought to the office. Which is where it now proudly resides until our next voting session.
Speaking of voting, by the time you are reading this, for those in the US, we will have just recently carried out quite an important vote ourselves. Regardless of which way you lean, I feel it is incredibly important to let your voice be heard. I’m always quite disappointed to see the national voting percentages of those that did not cast theirs. Voting is your chance to speak up, let your opinion be heard and have a say in the results. We have to take advantage of that opportunity. Not just for things like a national election but locally as well. To take it a step further, even completing surveys is important. It’s your chance to tell a community, company, business or association what you’re thinking. What you expect from them. What is or isn’t working. Suggestions and recommendations. All that can be gleaned from voting, surveys, where you spend your money and simple general feedback.
As much as this is just a statement on my part on the importance of letting your voice be heard, it’s a call to action as well. I noted in my initial column that times have changed and so must we as an Association. We want your input on what to change and how to change. At our respective companies, we have tons of info on sales history, revenue figures and other KPIs that give us an idea of what the market wants. We collect all the data we can get our hands on, we sort, we filter, we categorize and based off of these metrics, we develop our product portfolio, determine our roadmap and solidify our strategy.
It is no different at the IADD. We have invested in new platforms and have new tools to play with. These new functions show us where the interest is, where the traffic goes, what you want to see and what doesn’t seem to draw people in. All incredibly valuable information that we plan to take full advantage of. But what if there was an easier way? What if we could just ask our members what their thoughts were on a given topic? What if you had a direct pipeline to our officers, directors and VPs to share your thoughts?
I’m on a bit of a mission to let everyone know that these direct lines exist today. They have since the early days of the Association. They come in various forms. Some are long-standing events like local chapter meetings, or online committee calls, annual meetings, and even Odyssey Expo. All of these are forums where we would love to hear from you, our members. My hope is that these are recognized as opportunities to let us know what you’re thinking.
Without direct feedback, we will continue to have conversations and discussions on our path, we will review the data we have and make the most informed decisions we can based off what is available, but noting is more valuable than direct input. A reoccurring theme of our recent meetings is the recognition of the need for change. We want you to be part of that change.
Become a survey person. It’s a company or in our case, an association, asking your opinion. The typical response rate for surveys across all industries is around 10%, at best. Don’t wait for the best service you’ve ever experienced, or the time you felt compelled to give a 1-star review. These are typically thrown out of averages as outliers leaving an inaccurate data set. Share your thoughts.
I stated last month that we remain proud of our deep resource library, and our content is just as relevant today as ever. My goal is to find the best way to share that information and get it into the hands of those who need it most.
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Give us a call, shoot us an email, send me a text. We value your opinion!
Rob has 26 years of experience at Bobst, one of the world’s leading suppliers of substrate processing, printing and converting equipment and services for the label, flexible packaging, folding carton and corrugated board industries. He currently serves as Head of Service Product Portfolio.
Rob is based in New Jersey, with his wife Monica and their children, Khai, Leo and Manuela. He enjoys camping, golfing and cooking as well as being a full time chauffeur to hockey and swimming practices.
Rob is proof that being one of those “take it apart and see how it works” kind of guys can lead you to a wonderful career, meeting new people and experiencing the world.
The President's Column appears in The Cutting Edge, the IADD's monthly magazine.
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