The Survey Says. . .

That 30% of respondents thought it was the best meeting ever held; 5% were angry that their shower did not operate properly; 20% said that the French toast at breakfast was the highlight; and 10% said that if we ever (a) had another pet psychic as the speaker, (b) held the meeting in Bismarck, ND, or (c) had a horseshoe tournament as the spouse event, they would never come to another meeting and would end their membership.

The above are not actual responses to any GAWDA survey (well maybe the one about the French toast), but it reflects the wide divergence of opinions that can be found within the membership. At times, it seems as if half of the members support what we are doing and the other half think we have lost our minds. The welding and gases industry is changing and so are the individual companies. GAWDA must also change to keep relevant and meet the members’ evolving needs. This means that we have to try new things that often break with tradition. Sometimes we are going to get it right, but sometimes we are going to fail.

As Gary mentioned in his column, your input is vitally important. We send out surveys after each meeting. These surveys help the Planning Committees for next year’s meetings evaluate what they can improve. The survey results have never been shared with the members. Here goes something new—half of you already do not like this idea. The complete survey results can be found at www.gawda.org.

• 95 of the 740 members who attended the SMCs responded. 53% were distributors and the rest suppliers.
• 35% of the responders attended Chicago, 39% Miami and 26% both.
• The Contact Booth Program was the most important reason for attending, followed closely by educational programming.
• Preferred speakers are industry experts and business professionals.
• Industry trends, best practices and economic forecasts are preferred topics.
• 43% feel we should have two SMCs, primarily to provide more opportunities to network, while 57% do not, in part because of declining distributor attendance and the time/money involved.
• 66% want to combine the President’s Reception and the Contact Booth Program at the second SMC. One reason is it allows more to be done in a shorter time. Some opponents feel that the format conflicts with efficient networking.
• Consultant issue updates should be held primarily at the Annual Convention.
• 57% prefer playing their own ball rather than a scramble, and half of them want the chance to win a prize (Jeff and Bob).
• Suggested improvements include creating different educational tracks for distributors, suppliers, owners, young executives.
• GAWDA should increase marketing efforts and include discounts and other incentives for first-time attendees and new members to get more distributors to the meetings.
• If the distributors come, then the suppliers will come. The Contact Booth Program needs to provide more value to suppliers.
• 70% plan on coming to the Bahamas for the Annual Convention, and the other 30% wish the boss would let them.

An incumbent politician said that surveys show that 40% of the people can be fooled 100% of the time, and that was the group on which his campaign was focusing. Rest assured that we are not trying to fool anyone. We want and need you to be fully engaged and part of the decision-making process. Responding to surveys is the most direct way to let your voice be heard. We will be sending out more surveys on specific issues. Our goal is to make them easy and quick to complete. Please respond, or the next SMC might be in Swedesboro, New Jersey (my home town), in January, with Dr. Phil as the keynote!