March 14, 2024
Robert Copley, CERP
Hello, my fellow American Rental Association (ARA) Region Five peers.
Wow, The ARA Show™ in New Orleans was great. The education seminars and keynote were spot-on. The events were a blast and the trade show was busy with activity. It was awesome to see so many of you from our region at the show, especially at the fun ARA of Indiana and ARA of Ohio joint mixer.
Speaking of the show, I want to recognize the outstanding rental operators from our region who were honored there. Indiana’s Bruce Campbell was inducted into the Rental Hall of Fame, the most prestigious honor offered by the ARA. Plus, Illinois’ Sean Williams received the Leadership Impact Award. When you see them, offer your congratulations. You can read more about these gentlemen and why they were honored in an article in this issue.
For the past several months, the state chapters in our region have been extremely busy offering a whole host of educational, social and advocacy events for members. Here’s just a short recap:
Here are just a few ARA of Illinois members who attended the state chapter’s Blackhawks event.
The ARA of Illinois offered members great hockey action when it hosted a Chicago Blackhawks game outing in December. Then in February, the Illinois chapter, as part of the ARA of Chicagoland’s Tabletop event, brought in two speakers who shared tips for spotting fraudulent IDs and for improving customer service.
The ARA of Michigan served up a weekend of education and fun during its Winter Conference in January. During the event, two were inducted into the state chapter’s Rental Wall of Fame: Scott Irwin, president of Delux Rental in Ypsilanti, who just concluded his term on the ARA national board at the end of The ARA Show last month; and Terry Kunst, retired ARA Insurance agent with the Mount Pleasant Agency. Congratulations to both.
ARA of Michigan President Gary Booms welcomes Terry Kunst, left, and Scott Irwin, right, into the state chapter’s Rental Wall of Fame.
The ARA of Kentucky offered its tabletop show in January and also went to the state Capitol to meet with legislators on House Bill 95, which proposes to change the state theft of services statute to include rental. Both were successful efforts.
Then the ARA of Ohio offered a swinging good time at its Topgolf social in January.
As I mentioned, the ARA of Ohio and the ARA of Indiana joined forces to host a mixer at the show, which was a tremendous social and networking event.
ARA of Kentucky’s State Legislative Day allowed members to meet with Rep. Matt Lockett (R-39), fourth from right, and Sen. Donald Douglas (R-22), third from right.
This level of activity is outstanding and shows how active our region is — and how hard our state chapters’ board members are working to offer meaningful events that can help you learn, network and just socialize with peers. I hope you were able to take advantage of them. Be sure to watch your email and the ARA Calendar of Events for future events so you don’t miss out. I know the ARA of Ohio will be offering a Black Wing Shooting Special on March 24. Ohio members, watch your email so you can take part.
For most of us, March ushers in a more active rental time for both event and equipment rental operators. In addition to onboarding new staff, you need to make sure you are prepared on the security front as well as on the customer service side. ARA’s RentalU educational platform can help in all those areas. There are onboarding courses, free job descriptions that you can use for your employees, theft-prevention and cybersecurity videos, as well as customer service videos. Check them out. Have questions finding something you need? Contact education@ararental.org. For more tips, see the yard and facility theft-prevention story in the March Safety issue of Rental Management.
Here’s to a productive and safe spring.
Robert Copley, CERP, Region Five director
Event Essentials
Windsor, Wis.
608-223-3146
robert@eventessentials.com
