EDUCATION Attending ALOA Events — At All Costs A recent survey of ALOA members reveals your biggest hurdles in attending the annual Convention & Security Expo. By Jim Hancock, CML, CMST ner of the day, or made them wonder why they responded the way they did to some of the questions, and now they were leſt standing with nothing. Well, I surely am not Richard Dawson — but you, as members of the ALOA family, or even members of the extended locksmith/security professionals family, have been given “A these classes that increases e t existing customer’s needs, doesn’t it stand to reason that nd the survey says … ” I think of the late, great Richard Dawson every time I hear that phrase. Come on, you remember, Family Feud, in the dramatic seconds before the answer was revealed — an answer that either made the family the big win- an opportunity to respond to a survey that could either make us all the big winners or leave us wondering what happened. Recently, just aſter the 2014 ALOA Con- vention & Security Expo, a survey went out with some very pointed questions regarding your attendance, or lack thereof, at ALOA conventions. This survey asked about priori- ties that brought you there, or reasons you did not go. It asked what your thoughts were on everything from location to hours of the show to class content to overall experience. And, as mentioned, if you did not attend or haven’t attended in a while, it asked you why not, and what you felt was lacking that could be addressed to get you back. While I would love to focus on the good responses that were given for each question — and there were many — I would rather address the negative responses and throw out a challenge to those of you who did re- spond in that manner. Survey Complaints Probably the biggest complaint was cost: cost of travel, cost of lodging, cost of classes, cost of lost revenue while away, cost, cost, cost. All of the cost-related negatives are valid. There is no doubt that travel and lodging costs climb higher all the time. And while ALOA wants to do as much as possible for our members, we can’t regulate travel costs, obviously. Lodging costs on the other hand, we can — to a point. In Reno in 2015, we’re at a property that has lodging for under $100 per night. This is a great savings compared to the “deals” other properties have given WWW.ALOA.ORG NOVEMBER 2014 KEYNOTES 55
