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ASPPA Annual — Stop! Collaborate and Listen!

Don’t worry! I’m not going to set “Ice Ice Baby” to retirement lyrics. Admit it, though, you were sort of hoping I would try.

It doesn’t take three minutes of looking at the agenda to know that the ASPPA Annual Conference offers the opportunity to learn from some of the most brilliant minds in this business. But it’s the “off agenda” learning that, for me, has always differentiated attending in person from listening to recordings or webcasts.

There is incredible value in being able to stop to take some time out to collaborate with colleagues (many of whom have become great friends over the years). Whether it’s a challenging management decision or a complicated technical conundrum or anything in between, listening to how colleagues from around the country have addressed similar situations is invaluable. And the face-to-face interactions we have at the conference make it easier to pick up the phone or send a quick email to continue the collaboration year-round.

Just last week, I traded super geeky technical emails with a subject matter expert on the other side of the country to pose a technical question. The week before that, a fellow business owner called me with a quick question about a situation that arose following an acquisition. The week before that, I traded text messages with colleagues about the advantages and challenges of working with remote employees. All of those interactions were with colleagues I first met at previous Annual Conferences, and I am looking forward to seeing and talking with them again at the conference this year.

And you never know…there have been conference speakers who have been known to perform their own brand of pension “Name That Tune.” If you ask nicely, one of them might be back with a brand new rendition of “Ice Ice Baby.”

Register today — early registration rates HAVE been extended — at http://asppaannual.org/

Adam Pozek is ASPPA’s President-Elect.