“The bigger we get in our conference, with more suppliers and more distributers that join, the less meeting time there is for everybody,” said Aaron Engberg, from Winegard Company. Engberg replaced Carefree Colorado's Piar Adams as president of the board of directors last week.

 

“When your members have some downtime, are there other things that the conference could add – reasons for attending? How do we make the conference more efficient for those that have too much down time?” he said.

 

RVAA is hoping its membership will help answer those questions when it sends them several surveys in the next few weeks.

 

“We want to assure everyone is getting what they want out of our board,” Engberg said.

 

The Association is already mulling the addition of educational seminars and workshops at the conference, which may help stimulate the aftermarket industry and add to its efficiency, according to Engberg.

 

The RVAA has added 19 new members this year, three more than the Association’s previous record. It has also been able to maintain its budget in the black after increasing its membership rolls and improving its membership dues collection efforts this year. Engberg attributes those successes to a greater emphasis on communication between the RVAA Board and membership.

 

“It’s a three-step process,” he said. “Let’s communicate better and strengthen our walls. That should create more desired dialogue between our members and the board, and other members and the Association. Then, that allows people to get more active because they know what’s happening on a daily basis.”

 

Association efforts to increase communication have led to the creation of a monthly and quarterly newsletter that goes out to members. Also, for the first time, the board held an open election among its members for vacant board positions during the conference. Those were previously filled internally.

 

New members say the value of the conference alone is enough incentive to join RVAA. Charles Fleischer, co-owner of Minder Research Inc., said last week’s conference was the “finest, most productive conference we’ve ever attended.”

 

“You hear about the economy, how bad it is, how horrible business is today. Well, being at this conference with second and third generation people involved in their company, we heard a lot of positives,” said Debbie Druien, president of Minder Research, based in Florida. “It’s nice to see how positive this industry is.”

 

About 200 people representing 100 companies attended last week’s three-day conference. Next year’s conference will take place Aug. 20-24 at the all-suite Omni Chicago Hotel.