Industry Assoc. and Conferences – Why it’s Important to Get Involved and Participate.
The annual National Franchise Convention just took place on the Gold Coast, where over three days franchisors, franchisees and various suppliers to the franchising industry from throughout Australia (with some international attendees), came together to learn, discuss and celebrate the positives of franchising.
This event also provided an opportunity for government representatives to get in front of these people and enable greater knowledge of the laws that impact this industry to be discussed, while those within the franchising industry gained the opportunity to spread the good news stories that can be forgotten when bad news can be more interesting to read.
Consequently, given what has happened within the franchising industry over the last year (many of these developments and/or changes having been discussed in prior blogs), attending this year re-enforced to me the importance of people getting involved in their industry association and their being opportunities for people from different businesses with different roles but within the same industry, getting together in one location to learn and share knowledge and skills, create opportunities for questioning and debate, as well as encourage and support each other.
Saying this, to get the best out of these opportunities, for the benefit of the franchising industry, your business and yourself, I cannot over emphasis the importance of people needing to actively participate and not just be passive. Being active and engaging with others not only widens your your network of connections, which itself can provide advantages to both the business and yourself, but by actively participating in discussions this can add new insights or perspectives, and/or encourage better knowledge to be shared, which you can then bring back to your team.
So while taking time out of your busy schedule can be difficult in what increasingly seems to be a world where many are expected to both operate in a constantly changing environment while responding to matters almost instantaneously, I suggest that taking the time out and getting involved and attending (or at least having a team member/s represent your business, and attend and participate) is a worthwhile investment of time, people and money, whether you are a franchisor, franchisee or supplier.