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I was reminded today of just how important it is to listen. How often are we composing our next talking point rather than devoting 100 percent of our attention to what’s being said to us?

We communicate today through channels that are one step removed from personal interaction. I wonder if as we rely more on text and email, we compromise our skills to listen.

Along the same lines, with so much information available to us from digital sources, are we prone to wrongly assume that everyone is operating with the same information we are? And does that ultimately diminish the quality of our face-to-face conversations?

The Association staff and I are determined to renew our focus on listening, and we start with this newsletter.

First, I want you to know what we’ve heard recently, beginning with the Spring Conference. In visiting with a wide section of members, we learned that to reach most of you, we need to cast a wide geographic net from the upper Midwest to cities like San Antonio, Charlotte and even an occasional beach location like this year’s event in Clearwater, Fla.

Next year’s spring event will move more to the center of the country in Little Rock, Ark. We are researching upper Midwest cities for spring 2018 and a warm southern location for 2019.

Members who attend this meeting told us the last week of March or first week of April work best for them, and they asked us to avoid meetings over weekends.

While attendees were glad to see roundtable conversations, they preferred fewer sessions happening at once. It limited what they were able to learn. We listened, and we’re planning to keep the roundtables and repeat sessions that overlap with another.

You also suggested that we ask your fellow members to lead some sessions as a means to stimulate participation and conversation. We’ll do that, and we’ll also provide more information in advance of sessions.

Attendees said networking opportunities are their primary reason for attending, but they also want programing that offers ideas for improving their bottom line and operations. We remain focused on developing relevant, high-impact educational sessions.

You also told us to think young and plan networking opportunities for members who have had fewer birthdays than we’ve had annual meetings. We’ve added young executive events to both of our annual meetings and will tailor some of our programs to appeal to that group.

These are just a few of the great suggestions we have gathered from recent conference guests, but now we would like to listen to members who have not attended our spring meetings.

What programs and information would encourage you to attend our next spring meeting? What are the obstacles that discourage your attendance?

To make this as easy as possible we have posted many of the responses from attendees for you to review and ask that you take just a couple of minutes to share your opinions with us.

We promise that not only will the Association staff pay close attention, but your responses, along with those from attendees, will be shared with the Association’s leadership at its meeting in June.

Please take the time to share your opinions at , then plan to attend the Spring Conference in Little Rock in 2017. We will develop an even more valuable, more relevant spring event in response to what we learn from you.

Thank you for your time and attention. My phone number is (314) 878-2304 and email address is vernon@FarmEquip.org.  I look forward to listening to you. S