Another successful CFA Summer Convention is in the books. Attendance is picking up after several “off” years but it appears that quite a number of our members still use the event as an opportunity to get away with the family during hectic times – not everyone – but enough to make us think that this is still a good model to follow. The CFA is still comprised primarily of family-run businesses and eighty-four percent of attendees regularly bring family members with them.

We received a couple of comments (from non-attendees) asking why we have the meeting during the busiest time of the year, so we decided to conduct a survey of the general membership to see if we were still on-track in regard to timing, programming, activities, and related items for the event. There were a few surprises but, in general, we are still on track. There were 67 respondents to the survey, which most pollsters would consider highly representative of our membership. The details of the survey are published elsewhere in this magazine but some of the highlights are summarized below.

All 19 venues since I have been director were listed as possible return locations (we will be returning to the Hyatt Tamaya in 2013 as part of our attrition resolution). After this year’s venue, the two top vote getters were the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin and the Resort at the Mountain in Mount Hood, Oregon. The latter was the site of the highest attendance we have ever had at an event with over 900 room nights (compared to 220 for the recent event). Times were better in 2002 and we won’t be going West (except for next year) for awhile, but a return might be in the offing in a few years. The two years following New Mexico will be at resorts in the Midwest and Northeast (yet to be determined), and this is born out by the preferences of our members.

The overwhelming number of respondents still like the summer period for the event with 57% preferring the Thursday/Friday dates for meetings versus the current Friday/Saturday pattern. If we are at a resort location, a date shift would allow families to spend one extra day on-site with a day of travel before returning to work.

One thing that has changed is the programming and educational events. We no longer focus on teaching people how to build walls – you all know how to do that. Our focus in recent years has been on how to run better businesses. This past year we added a day of education on slabs.

Eighty-one percent of respondents responded that we should continue the extra education day. OSHA, fall protection, codes, immigration law and a host of other topics are now covered on a regular basis.

The group was divided on whether or not we should have all-day education. We’ll likely compromise in 2013 and have one day-long and one half-day of education – in particular with an added third day.

Mark your calendars for the Hyatt Tamaya at the Santa Ana Pueblo just north of Albuquerque from July 10-13, 2013 (note the earlier dates). We already have some great program commitments and ideas. Room rates are lower than when we last stayed there in 2008. We will make it worth your while.

Ed Sauter, Executive Director, CFA 

esauter@cfawalls.org