Heath Houchin Attends #TIA2019Con on Scholarship
AMT’s Heath Houchin recently attended the 2019 TIA Capital Ideas Conference and Exhibition on scholarship sponsored by Avalon Risk Management. Along with five other first time attendees, Heath wrote an essay that awarded him with complimentary airfare, four nights lodging, and waived registration fees.
This year, the 2019 TIA Conference was held in sunny Orlando from April 10 to April 13 at the beautiful Loews Royal Pacific Resort. This year marked 41 years for the only conference solely for 3PLs, and here at AMT a few of us attend each year because we love getting together with industry experts and other TIA members who are always happy to talk about best practices and to share tools of the trade.
This was Heath’s first year attending the conference, and he spent long exciting days hitting many great sessions, meeting new people, and checking out the trade show which didn’t end until 7 each evening. “I stopped by our booth a few times,” Heath said, “but I didn’t see the guys from AMT very much during the day because there was so much to do.”
Networking and Education
Networking and education are where most members find the greatest benefit, and Heath, as a scholarship recipient and first-time attendee, was no different. He explained, “It was nice to get out of the office, to meet new people, hear about and talk through common problems while learning about ideas and solutions to solve those problems.”
So what did Heath learn?
“Transportation management systems (TMS) and their implementation were a hot topic,” Heath said. “Everyone wants technology and data, but how to parse and use that data seems to be a struggle for lots of folks.”
“We’re lucky to have a data scientist on our team.” He added, explaining, “right now there is so much data out there. If you don’t have someone who can function as a data interpreter, I think all the data and technology could make things more confusing. I feel like we’re really ahead of the game in the data area, and that made me feel good.”
We’re proud of Heath for his great essay and his hard work in making the most of this excellent opportunity. The annual TIA Conference is the perfect chance for 3PL professionals to get together, and it’s always held in a great location. “Really hot this year,” in Heath’s words! Of course, he was traveling from Illinois where the weather was cold and rainy.
As always, we come back from the conference excited and ready to get back to work. And we’re already planning for next year!