IAITAM Ace Conference

but you will also meet and network with so many individuals.   Watch as Dr. Barbara Rembiesa and Harry chat about the conference.

Video Transcription

Harry Brelsford  0:03 

Hey Nation Nation back with Dr. Barb from IAITAM the asset management trade group that is grown very, to a very large organization again, as you approach your 20th anniversary, congratulations for starting owning an operating group that What do you say? 90,000 individuals in your registry?

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa  0:25 

Yeah, we're getting close to that.

Harry Brelsford  0:27 

Yeah, yeah, no, that's true. Yeah, those are big numbers. So hey, quickly, you have the ACE event coming up online, May 19. And 20th. What What is the ace event?

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa  0:40 

So the ace  is our premier event. Every year, we do one in the US, we do one in Europe. And we do one in Asia. Right now. We're doing them virtually. Yeah. You know, for obvious reasons. But it is a, it's an event like no other. We when we started them, we wanted to make them unique. It's all educational. We have people come to them every year, kind of like a homecoming. And they walk away with these, these nuggets of information that they can take back and use right away. And the value that they take out of these, and the ROI that they get from these is just exceptional. You know, we hear from our members every year, what what they've gotten out of these, and the one thing is I'm not alone. Yeah, the common theme through this, I'm not alone anymore. So it's a place that they can talk with other asset managers that understand what they're going through. They can share ideas, they can share complicated issues that they're having. And get solutions. Yeah. Yeah. kick out. I'm sorry, we had the best kickoff party of any conference ever.

Harry Brelsford  2:08 

Well, I was gonna say you said it's strictly educational. But the rumors are that it's also fun. So I've heard that before. And I'm looking forward to attending not only the May 19 and 20th, online, one I've been meaning to for years, forgive me just got a little busy there for a decade or two. And then you have scheduled a live event in July and are in Nashville, October in Nashville. Yes. Okay.

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa  2:34 

And we do keep the kickoff fun. And we do keep other things fun. One thing I do believe is you can retain more if you're having if it's a more relaxed environment. We also bring vendors and practitioners together in a, a non. I don't want to use the word hostile, but confrontational environment, because a lot of times, it's it's, we all have something to gain from each other. So we keep it educational. I get it light, we keep it fun. And everybody learns from each other. And there's so much good that comes out of these conferences. So, you know, it's just a win win for everybody.

Harry Brelsford  3:27 

Yeah, it's, it's interesting, you're talking about that dynamic between the vendors and the attendees. I've heard it described a couple of ways in our event models over the literally decades. early on. I had a contractor helping me and I didn't completely buy into his hostility, but he said vendors pollute conferences. And and, and I understood what he was trying to say. And then Dr. Barb, we used to have a pre day for vendors, like in the afternoon to help educate them to relate to the SMB managed service provider MSP kind of, you know, meet,  them on their own terms. And then we even had a thing and it was a little bit tongue in cheek, but it worked. We called the floor, the trade show floor, the petting zoo. So the vendors were like little animals in cages in a zoo, and you could go around and pat them and talk to them. So we've we've done what we can, I'm going to end on this he hit on something that's pretty important. And it's in my area coverage on in the pandemic, the remote work that basically everybody's doing and the isolation factor. So I've researched this, I've done a number of blogs and some podcast on remote work or work from home. But there is a real mental health issue that exists you know, and I don't mean to overplay that card, but you know, when you say I'm not alone, that's on two fronts just as a professional times they feel isolated in your cubicle in normal times. Now, that's probably squared. Now that you're working from home, any thoughts on that?

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa  5:08 

No, absolutely, absolutely. We talked to our members all the time, and they are feeling it, and they can't wait for the in person events, the start happening to me again, and it's all over the world. They do feel alone, they do feel the isolation that's happening because the COVID you know, it's, it's so hard on everybody, us and IPS, that management because they don't understand our business as it is. And then to be put in a work at home situation. We did a lot of due at the beginning of COVID, we gave away over 1000, cmam certifications, just to help with the transition to work at home to help companies out there. And, you know, we did a video out on our website, and I suggest everybody go out and, and really look at that video, because, you know, it really shows the impact that it asset managers have an can have during this pandemic, because they really are the superheroes for business during this pandemic, because if it wasn't for them a think of other pandemics in the past, we didn't have the luxury of work at home. And that's the way we got to we got to turn our mentality to say, Hey, this is a privilege. You know, it's it's not, it's not a burden. It's a privilege that we could keep our business, we could keep our jobs. You know, we are at home, but we're able to be at home and we're able to keep working. And if you if you turn that thinking that way. I think it really helps and an IT Asset managers can really be the heroes and make that happen for companies, whether you're a small business or a large, large business and if they need help doing it. All they got to do is call us.

Harry Brelsford  7:12 

Alright, so we're talking the online Ace conference, May 19 and 20th. And folks at a new usual spelling for the domain name. I have to type it twice even today.IAITAM.org. I attempt so well good luck, and we'll we'll look forward to a report on how it went.

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa  7:36 

Thank you. Look forward to talk to you soon.