I really enjoyed having Natividad and Lois (interim Directors from ROC Association) with us in Las Vegas for the MHI Tradeshow this year. They both visited numerous vendor booths. I know for sure that Natividad found some excellent resources for Park Plaza, including a digital water meter reading system that could be a huge labor saving approach for them.
ROC ASSOCIATION Director Natividad Seefeld talks with ROC USA’s Dave Doyon and Chris Clasby on the floor of the Tradeshow while keeping an eye out for any vendors she can talk with to bring more benefits to her co-op in Minnesota. Natividad carefully patrolled the show floor in search of bargains for Park Plaza Cooperative!
She and I also talked at length with a consulting group that has successfully secured rebates from cable and Internet service providers in MHC. I’ll be talking with them further to see if this is a possible source of earnings for ROCs. The companies won’t reduce prices to consumers but they will rebate the association (the co-op, the ROC) which in turn helps keep site fees lower over time. It seems to work; we’ll see.
I did not find a MH parts retailer for the forthcoming ROC Mall but I will keep trying.
Natividad and Lois were there because the ROC USA Board held its quarterly meeting in Las Vegas so that they could see what the tradeshow had to offer. Normally we meet in D.C. and occasionally we meet at the site of a TA Provider. Another benefit of being at the Tradeshow was that our Board Chair, Andrea Levere of CFED, was able to meet with several influential industry analysts. CFED does a lot of public policy work in the MH market. Tony from HYPERLINK “http://www.MHProNews.com” www.MHProNews.com was one in particular who sought Andrea out.
My two big take-aways were:
There are more and more opportunities for ROC USA as a national center to bring benefits to local ROCs. As we present ourselves as a group of communities, there are people who want to find a way to offer their products and services to you. And, they are willing to lower their prices to win the business! Now that we have myROCUSA.org, I feel inspired we have a way to share the opportunities with you and let you take advantage of what interests you and saves you money.
Because people have never seen anything like the nonprofit ROC USA (a consumer movement founded on local ownership and control) and because we entered the scene in 2008 – when a lot of businesses were failing, or about to fail in 2009 and 2010 – a lot of people thought we’d be gone before long. Well, suffice it to say, people have generally come to terms with the fact that we have staying power and will be around for a good long while.
I took the week off after the Tradeshow – my wife and daughters met me in Arizona and we got to the Grand Canyon and Sedona for some excellent hiking and pool-side relaxing. I’m back now and rearing to go! ROC on!