For the first time since 2015, NPCA’s board and product committees have gathered in downtown Indianapolis. The meeting, known as NPCA Committee Week, had previously been an annual gathering and a staple of the NPCA schedule. However, it had given way to a format where committees met at a time and location that allowed them to attend an influential industry meeting addressing the area the committee represents.
Although the format had its upsides, Mike Hoffman, NPCA Chairman of the Board, was pleased to see the entire group back together in one location this year.
“We did the outreach version for a few years and it was successful for some groups and for others it wasn’t as successful,” he said. “The benefits of having Committee Week here with everyone together are much better networking, a lot more focused meetings and I think it gives the NPCA professional staff more ability to get involved. Meeting people is so important as well.
I met three people I’ve never met before today because it’s such an intimate setting with your peers. For every one of the NPCA meetings, in the surveys we do, networking is way high up the list and this is another example of very good networking where you can bounce ideas off of people and that helps get a new point of view and brings new ideas about.”
In addition to the innate benefits of bringing the entire group together, it allowed Hoffman and Chairman-Elect, Jon Ohmes, to unveil in person the revised committee structure that will begin at NPCA’s 54th Annual Convention being held in October in Seattle. The two fielded questions from each committee after their presentation.
The new structure is designed to enable product committees to think more holistically, to move quickly to address opportunities and threats and work on specific issues that impact the industry. Committee applications open on June 27, 2019, and are due by July 26, 2019. The first meeting of the new committees at the Annual Convention will be on Saturday, Oct. 5.
“It’s been very well received so far,” Hoffman said. “There’s been questions and there are going to be more questions, and we may have to a few changes here and there, but everyone seems excited for the new structure. It offers more seats for people to join and be involved and it refreshes some of the work that is being done.
“By combining the work some of the existing committees are doing there can be an ongoing agenda where a lot can be done so when people travel for committee meetings it can be a much more meaningful trip.”
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