Month 2 – September 2012

During the second week of September, we had our annual Managers’ Seminar. It spanned over three days and took place at the Villanova Conference Center. For me, it was just a 45 minute drive, but managers and trainees from all over the country flew in for the conference. The company chairman, president, vice president, and other key members of upper management were in attendance as well.

The hotel was really nice and there was plenty to eat at the buffet. During the first two days, the invited veteran managers and trainees split into two separate groups. As trainees, we covered various topics such as accounting, credit, and risk-management. For the third day, renowned sales coach Jim Ambrose visited to do a sales seminar in a joint session with the veteran managers and trainees. He went into extensive details on how to succeed in outside sales, and we did several interactive role-plays and activities which were surprisingly fun.

Another highlight of the seminar was the business project segment. Each trainee worked on a project for a year and put together a presentation for their fellow trainees and the senior management. Because I was new, I just gave a brief lecture on leadership skills, but it was good practice to give a speech in front of our senior leaders.

I’m back at Lansdale doing work in the warehouse and working on my ProductPro courses. I’m also brainstorming ideas for my project. Hopefully I can put together something impressive for next year’s seminar.