Every year, district leaders get together to recap the previous programming year and discuss improvements in planning the next year’s programming. More than 70 volunteer leaders, PMA staff and partners attended the 2023 District Leadership Conference (DLC) on June 28-29 at PMA headquarters in Independence, OH, and virtually. Building on the progress made from the 2022 conference, this year’s theme (on loan from PMA Chair Jeff Aznavorian) was “Optimizing Connections. PMA United.” There wasn’t a more appropriate theme to describe the conversations, ideas and best practices shared over the 1.5-day event.
Forrest Large, owner of L2 Development and Learning, facilitated the event. Forrest is no stranger to PMA, having led several sessions for PMA’s Management Development Academy, an interactive three-part series of customized workshops designed to grow business and leadership acumen.
This year’s conference had a slightly different twist than previous conferences. There was only one PowerPoint presentation, from PMA’s One Voice advocacy team, to share survey results from what matters most to members, and to help communicate the association’s legislative priorities for the coming year. Other than that, the conference was 100% discussion, idea sharing and brainstorming through panel discussions with PMA management and interviews with district chairs, the video from which is being used as a training and planning asset for the district officers to share with the rest of their boards in supporting the growth of their board leadership, prioritizing local initiatives, and constructing their programming and events calendars.
Another new twist was the introduction of brainstorming breakout sessions to focus on the core areas of district leadership, member engagement and workforce development. The sessions were held both in-person and virtually, which made for an exciting crash course in Zoom technology management. The PMA membership sales team led a group of district membership chairs and members-at-large in discussing best practices and improved collaboration for member engagement. Along with PMA’s workforce development team, representatives from PMA’s workforce partners Edge Factor and the National Institute of Metalworking Skills led the group of district education chairs during the workforce development breakout. And PMA President David Klotz, along with CFO Mark Getsay and 2023 PMA Chair Jeff Aznavorian, led the group of district chairs, vice chairs, treasurers and administrators in the core leadership breakout, addressing topics such as officer recruitment, training, succession and operations.
Attendees reconvened to review the breakout session results together and used the input to identify priority activities that can be worked together to optimize connections in collaborating across districts and with PMA staff and partners.
The next step in follow-up from the DLC is to get advice from you, our members, and what you would like to see in your districts over the coming year. Expect to see a brief programming and events email survey in your inbox in the coming days.
If you would like to be part of a PMA district, whether as a volunteer leader, plant tour host, speaker or something completely new, please let us know by completing this short contact form, or by contacting Randy Kish at 216-901-8800 x144.