EDUCATION Tell Us What You Want Share your thoughts on post-convention training in Dallas and beyond. By Jim Hancock, CML, CMST Center for the full year, and we’ve had many of our chapters and associates schedule their training well in advance. This meant we knew what the year looked like from a training standpoint, and we knew where we had holes in the schedule to accommodate those last- minute requests. This year, we have some scheduled events from the chapters and associ- ates but we have scheduled nothing in our Training center as yet. This has been done for a couple of reasons, both good and bad. On the good side, we didn’t schedule anything as we were waiting to see where the A building project would take us at that time of year. We certainly didn’t want to sched- ule anything only to have to move or cancel it, or have class conducted in the park- ing lot because of the construction inside. On the bad side, I didn’t schedule anything “I want to schedule classes b o a s we approach the ALOA 2014 Convention in New Orleans, and the majority of our attention is on getting prepared for that event, part of our thoughts are on what to do when convention is over. In the past couple of years, we have had classes scheduled at the Training because I was waiting to hear from you, the membership, regarding what classes you would like to see in Dallas for the re- mainder of the year. As I had mentioned in a previous article, while I enjoy scheduling classes, the sched- ules have reflected trends from the past and my guesstimations on what would work based on hearing from a scattered few of you throughout the year. What I want to schedule at the Training Center and around the country are classes based not on past performance or guesswork but on what you, the members, want to see and will support and attend. Would you come to Dallas for Forensic If you live in the Eastern Locksmithing? Tennessee/North Carolina/Virginia area, would you attend a weekend of ALOA train- ing if we scheduled something in the region? What about the Great Northwest? Many members last year said ALOA has neglected that area for a while and you would really like to see training up there. We tried to schedule a 4-day weekend session only to cancel it due to lack of registrations. I can’t stress this enough: This is your or- ganization, and my organization as a mem- ber. Education is the key to moving ahead in your business and in any industry. But the education needs to be supported so it may continue to evolve and grow. As I’ve asked before, send me an email at [email protected] or [email protected] and tell me what classes you would like to see in Dallas, or in an area where we could do a 3- or 4-day weekend session. ancock, CML, CMST, A’s education manager, n his locksmithing ca- r at the age of 8 in his dfather’s lock shop fport, MS. He has ed in every aspect of usiness, from shop tech bile tech to operations gement. In 2003 and , he was presented with ructor of the Year. You g or (214) 819-9733. WWW.ALOA.ORG JULY/AUGUST 2014 KEYNOTES 55
