Registration for this year’s FPDA/ISD Joint Industry Summit is now open. The event will be held in Austin, from October 6 – 9 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.

As always, the event includes several educational workshops, including a few of which will be member-driven TEDTalk-style sessions, along with inspiring and energizing keynote presentations to facilitate high-level networking and thought-provoking discussions.

The event opens with a keynote presentation which is followed by a workshop by Mary Kelly, Mary Kelly, PhD, CSP, Commander, US Navy (ret). Her FPDA/ISD Opening Keynote: “Why Leaders Fail and the 7 Prescriptions for Success” will provide insights into behaviors that may be sabotaging the loyalty of direct reports and will help attendees understand why their top talent may not be performing up to their potential. She will then moderate the ISD Emerging Leaders & FPDA Young Executives Workshop: “Top Secret Leadership.”

Other highlights include:

• Educational workshop by Mark Dancer, Founder, Network for Channel Innovation, whose talk, “Facing the Forces of Change: Scenario Planning for Distributors,” will cover embracing virtual markets, revitalizing the value chain, and leading a real-world renaissance. He will follow with an IndustrySpeak Session, “Facing the Forces of Change: Can Distributors Innovate to Dominate?”
• Joe Ellers will host another IndustrySpeak Session – Are You Sure You Know What Your Customers Really Care About” This session will cover key end-user issues, a review of customer’s strategies, goals, and problems, and more for owners, sales managers, and salespeople. He will follwwo with an Educational Workshop – Strategies for Increasing Gross Margins, which will address the six most effective strategies for increasing gross margin percentage:
• IndustrySpeak Session: A Practical Approach to Innovation – Theories into Reality, by Andrew Johnson, CEO, ShelfAware. Johnson will explore several use cases that illustrate entry level innovations in process automation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and business optimization. His presentation will include demos of hardware and software to bring these high-tech theories into reality, showing attendees how they can create value-added systems.
• FPDA/ISD Breakfast & Closing Keynote “Wellness Isn’t for Cowards” with Mike Staver, CEO, The Staver group. Steve will highlight how your brain works against you and what to do about it, he key steps to building a mindset and lifestyle that serves you, and how work/life balance is impossible and what the better alternative for you is.

Instead of the usual FPDA/ISD Annual Golf Tournament, the event will include two hours at Topgolf Austin, for relaxing club swinging in climate controlled golf bays. Several other fun networking opportunities will be offered, including a scavenger hunt for young executives, tours, and the popular Studio 54 BINGO Party, featuring Reverend Rusty Reems and the BINGO dancers with a 70s inspired BINGO extravaganza.

Early bird registration ends August 12.

The FPDA Motion & Control Network
www.fpda.org