Hang Ten! All attendees of the 2020 Annual Service Training Institute (ASTI) caught the wave of success. This year’s ASTI took place at the beautiful TradeWinds Resort on St. Pete Beach in sunny, warm Florida. What a fantastic setting for United Appliance Servicers Association’s annual convention. The warm weather allowed all the attendees to thaw out for a few days and learn from not only the instructors and facilitators but from each other too. Every year the numbers grow, and more exciting than that, the exchange of ideas grows too. We first want to thank all attendees for coming, Sponsors who make this awesome convention possible as well as all of the companies who contribute to the success of this event.
The ASTI has grown into a full five-day event with the fun beginning Sunday morning and running through early afternoon on Thursday, with over 120 training sessions including both Service Management and Technical training. The management sessions’ goals are to help owners and managers learn how to manage and grow their business successfully. The huge variety of technical classes offer great insight into appliance repair and customer satisfaction. Attendees can choose to go to any session they desire and it is always interesting to me to watch attendees from the same company discuss which sessions they will attend. One will say, you go this session and I will go to this one. Their goal is to be efficient and get the most out of the whole convention, which allows them to receive the best value for time and investment.
Technical Sessions included 16 of the major Manufacturers. Business classes included topics on Time Management, Inventory Management, HR, Customer Service, How-To Handle Lawsuits, Technician Soft Skills, Leadership Classes, OSHA Compliance, Pre-Employment Testing, Marketing, etc. as well as user meetings with multiple software companies, home warranty companies and other Home Services Companies/Networks. This year we had our first ever Putt-Putt Tournament which had that spring golf tournament feel while attendees competed to win, all in good fun. Thank you again Encompass Supply Chain Solutions for sponsoring the tournament.
The keynote speaker this year was Mark Matteson. Mark’s presentation was inspiring and entertaining with his message of Freedom From Fear was a great kick-off for the convention.
The tradeshow kicked off on Tuesday, with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and continued on Wednesday with breakfast, more conversing and networking. It was our largest trade show yet and I think it never gets old watching vendors share their offerings with our membership. This is where you really see the goal of attending an ASTI convention: everyone learning from each other and exchanging ideas and solutions to improve.
The annual banquet took place on Wednesday night where Sponsors and Partners were presented with awards of appreciation. Dave Smith awarded the winners of the Most Professional Servicer competition in each of the three categories (8+ Technicians, 3-7 Technicians, & 1-2 Technicians companies). We want to thank both PlusOne Solutions-Check My Badge and Dacor for supporting this contest. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was Ed Cahill. Ed had a tremendous career in the appliance repair industry with both Maytag Appliance and Lowes and was always a great supporter of the industry and United Appliance Servicers Association. As this was last banquet as president of the association, I want to thank you all for your support. I want to welcome Corrine Caruso as our new president. Corrine is very talented and will do a great job leading UASA to the next level.
We like to thank everyone for making the 2020 ASTI a huge success. This includes all the vendors, sponsors, presenters, and trainers. I especially want to thank some select people who carry a lot of water to make the ASTI successful. Manny Ortega, Dean Landers, Sarah Brown, Maggie Wolfe, Brenda Jablonsky, and ServicersWeb. All have done a great job of making the ASTI the premier appliance repair industry event. I truly appreciate everything you do for United Appliance Servicers Association.
The 2021 ASTI will be even better, you can receive a discounted registration if you register now at www.asti.us.
