My apologies for not getting out a letter last month. The months of April ended and May began with me attending the CNS Partnership Conference in Orlando, Florida. It was an amazing event and I saw some people from Chicago in attendance representing forwarders, airlines and other companies who do business here.
I've likened CNS to the JOC's TPM Asia conference for air freight, if there was contract signing that happened at TPM in Long Beach earlier in the calendar year.
The takeaway from CNS is that air freight, and air cargo, is alive, well and healthy. It is undergoing a substantive change with the advent of "digitization". At the end of the day, though, while processes can be automated and more data is being captured that leads to increased accuracy and greater compliance, it is still about people solving complex problems and devising ways to take advantage of the changing buying trends and market conditions.
The second of the major air cargo conferences takes place starting this weekend in the annual AirCargo conference. We've been promoting it here in Chicago for the past several months and both Brian and I will be in attendance as well as other members of the Chicago air cargo community. A featured speaker will again be Adam Rod from the Department of Aviation who we have to thank for our July outing.
May networking event success.
We posted a gallery of the pictures from our "Cuatro de Mayo" event held at Adobe Gila's earlier this month and from the nearly fifty people in attendance, the general feeling is that events like this, mixed with our educational luncheons, is a great way for people to network and draws a different audience who cannot always get away from their office during the work day.
June event - The importance of networks. July is locked in as well.
This month, IACAC member Allan Zarach of Edward J. Zarach & Associates will be our speaker on June 13th at the Wyndham. Allan will speak on the importance of belonging to a freight forwarding network. Allan's company has multiple offices and are in multiple networks, each of which offers a distinct benefit. Not all networks fit all companies, so Allan's advice and tips will be welcome for our audience.
For July, have we got an event planned. With all thanks and props to Adam Rod again, we are planning a meeting with Department of Aviation leadership and then boarding a bus for a tour inside the fence line of O'Hare International Airport. Registration will close at the end of June because we'll need to get security information completed and submitted. Registration is also capped at the first 30 for the bus tour, but anyone else wishing to join us for the kick-off meeting with Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans and her COO, John Leach, are welcome to attend without RSVP'ing when the event is filled. Stay tuned, we'll let people know when it goes live.
The golf outing blitz will commence shortly - you've been warned.
We're planning on an all-out push starting next month to get attendees and sponsors for the event. We've got some great early-on commitments from organizations for hole sponsors and raffle prizes. Remember, this is one of our two big annual events that raises money for our annual scholarships. Attend, donate and spend profligately - you'll help out a member's child who could use money for college.
IACAC housekeeping issues - stay tuned.
With the passing of Herman Ruiz earlier this year, we have a spot on our board available for a non-voting director. Prior to Herman's passing, we were also working on a number of changes to the by-laws of the organization that would update them for our current constituency of members as well as modern business practices (there might be reference to telexes / SITA messages and telegrams, I can't precisely remember). But the by-laws dictate that we notify members in advance of a regular meeting of these proposed changes.