Episode 73 – Annual Conference Preview

I’m Jason Risley, and we’re back with another episode of TRSA’s Linen, Uniform and Facility Services Podcast. On our last episode, we listened to an excerpt of award-winning journalist John Harwood’s keynote speech from TRSA’s recent Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. On today’s episode, we’ll get a glimpse of another exciting TRSA event, this year’s 112th Annual Conference, scheduled for May at the Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort and Villas near Palm Springs, CA. TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci recently sat down with me to discuss the Annual Conference and share his insights on how to get the most out of your time attending the event.

I’m here today with Joe Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. It’s his first time with us on the TRSA podcast. Thanks for joining us, Joe. Is there anything that you’d like to say to our TRSA members and listeners of the podcast?

Jason, thanks for having me on the podcast. Getting ready to celebrate my 15th year here at TRSA. So I really wanna thank our members for allowing me to serve them and to serve our industry. And hopefully, our excitement here as the TRSA staff and the commitment we made to the industry comes through when you hear podcasts like this or attend one of our educational programs, or hear Kevin speak. You understand that we really do care an awful lot about this industry. We really want to thank you for allowing us to serve you.

Congratulations on a successful 15 years. We’re going to talk a little bit today about an event that has a lot of longevity here at TRSA. We have the 112th Annual Conference taking place later this year. Why the move to May for this year’s event?

Well, TRSA has three core events, our Legislative Conference, our Annual Conference and our Healthcare Conference. Those three events tend to draw our senior executives from both our operators and supplier partners. So in consultation with our board and our members, we decided that we needed to really move those events, separate those events further apart. Traditionally, the Legislative Conference has been March and April, Annual Conference has been September, October, and the Healthcare Conference has been in November. So moving forward, the Legislative Conference and Awards Dinner will be held in February in conjunction with our Laundry Hill Day. Our Annual Conference will be held in May. And this year it’s in Indian Wells, which is right outside of Palm Springs. Next year, 2026, it will be in Napa. And our Healthcare Conference this year will be in November outside of Boston. And then in 2026, it will be held in October in San Diego. So moving those a little further apart allows our members to participate in our three core events as well as other industry events.

Who should attend this year’s Annual Conference?

Well, traditionally, it’s been CEOs, owner/operators, senior executives, from our larger operators and supplier members. We’ve noticed over the last couple years growth with general managers starting to attend the program, regional managers at our operator companies that are starting to attend. It’s really anybody who’s interested in leadership development and really creating an industry network. And we’ve also noticed that a lot of our members, particularly our senior CEOs and senior executives are bringing other colleagues with them, to learn together, which we think is really, really important, but also as kind of a reward.

They’re bringing them to our event, which, you know, we’ve now located at very, very nice resorts. We set the programs up so their education and programming is typically half a day and we allow for half a day for other activities, whether that’s golf and pickleball, just enjoying the scenery. Last year, we were at The Broadmoor, and people were able to go and hike and be in the mountains. So we want to create opportunities for people to learn together, socialize together, and then maybe, see the area and adventure a little.

You touched on the agenda for the event there. Let’s talk a little bit about the keynote speakers. One has ties to the NFL, and the other is known as one of the founding fathers of the video game industry. What do they each bring to the conference this year?

Sure. So, Doctor Kevin Elko, he has worked with sports teams, not only, professional sports teams, but also college sports teams, and has won 30 national and divisional championships. He most recently worked with the Super Bowl champion Eagles. As a sports psychologist, he works with the players on making sure they’re mentally prepared, to participate at their peak. He’s worked with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dallas Cowboys, University of Alabama, LSU, all during their national championship and NFL runs. Nolan Bushnell, he’s considered Newsweek’s top 50 people that changed America. He’s also considered, as you said, the grandfather of Silicon Valley. He’s the founder of Atari. And as my kids really appreciate, he’s also the founder of Chuck E. Cheese. So he not only brings technology to the table, but he understands how technology and entertainment can be used at all ages. And so I’m really interested to hear what he has to say about what’s evolving with AI, what’s going on with technology now moving forward.

Are there any other speakers that you’d like to highlight?

Yeah. We’re also very excited to have Tom Vozzo, who was on the board of directors when I started here in 2010. He retired in 2012, as CEO of Aramark Uniforms, now Vestis, to join Homeboy Industries, where he’s worked in a leadership position at that organization, for over the last 12 years. And that group, Homeboy Industries, is really for gang rehabilitation and helping get people in challenging environments, challenging economically, back into the workforce. And so he’s coming in to talk about making that transition from our industry into a charitable industry, but also how that industry will be able to overlap with our industry and help us solve maybe some of our employee problems.

It’ll be interesting to get his perspective on coming from our industry to a nonprofit on leading that, organization.

Yeah. And he’s you know, when he went there, he’s volunteered his time since he went there. That’s been his contribution. We’re contributing to the organization. His speaker fee is a donation to his charity. So he, you know, puts his money where his mouth is. He’s been able to grow that organization significantly. He’s stepping down a bit. He’s still going to participate with Homeboy Industries, but kind of stepping back as the CEO. So I’m really excited to hear about his transition. And a lot of our members are at that point in their careers where they’re transitioning, you know, their families taking over the business or their transitioning into something else. It will be interesting to hear his feedback on that. And we spent some time last year on a similar topic, when we had a panel that talked about what to do with your business.

The other thing that I think people will find interesting is we’re going to have a panel of CEOs, from family-owned-and-operated businesses. So those panelists will be talking about the transition from within the family as they take over leadership. And they’re in various aspects of it. One has been doing it for quite a while. One is relatively new, and one is still in the process of transitioning. So we start talking about them coming into managing those companies. It’s really exciting to hear what they have to say about the challenges with that transition.

With all the different generations of leaders that attend the event, it sounds like that panel will be really interesting for them to hear.

I agree. I think, you know, we try to make that panel every year a little different. We’ve had, publicly traded CEOs last year. We had some outside counsel, that participated in that. So we’re always looking to create speaking opportunities and have some challenging speakers that have our members think a little bit differently about things.

One of the activities that you mentioned earlier is the “Pickleball Palooza” event. Can you talk about what that is?

Sure. You know, traditionally, we’ve had golf, as our entertainment. It’s waned a little, pre COVID, but we noticed, post COVID since we’ve had our Annual Conference, golf is back. It’s a good activity for people to get out and play golf. So on Wednesday during the Annual Conference, we’re going to have a golf tournament. We also know a lot of people don’t play golf. So as an alternative last year, we started a pickleball, round robin, pickleball palooza and had a lot of participants. We had 40 participants last year. They had a lot of fun. So this year we’re going to continue that tradition having the pickleball during the same time as the golf. So you do have to make a choice, but, it’s a beautiful golf course, that’s right there on-site at the property and the pickleball will be the same. I’m actually going to have an outside group come in and they’ll do some lessons, as we did last year with pickleball. So if you haven’t played or don’t play regularly, it will still be a lot of fun to get out there and play either the golf or pickleball.

Are those events open to both attendees and their spouses?

Absolutely. Those events are open to attendees and their spouse partners. And we had a lot of participation from spouse partners last year. Proud to say my wife won the tournament last year. I told her she can’t win this year. She will be out there playing, and so she’s looking for some new challenges out there. We had quite a few spouses participate last year, which is really exciting, in both the golf and the pickleball.

Are there any other fun networking events at the conference that you’d like to highlight?

Sure. In the past, we’ve tried to add other ways to network that are fun. So we have the golf and pickleball, obviously. On Thursday this year, we’ve developed some team-building exercises. We’ve had a guacamole making contest. We had a contest for decorating cupcakes this past year. Everybody had a good time with that. This year, it’s gonna be some games, challenges, intellectual games, physical games, in teams. So the teams will be some competition, you know, breaking into teams, which we think is a great opportunity to meet some new people in a very social kind of loose atmosphere. And that’s really what the event’s all about. I mean, it’s obviously education, which is key, but it’s really trying to develop and foster those relationships within the industry. We think it’s really important as an association to do that. And we found it’s helped companies be more successful. It’s helped alleviate potential situations within the industry where there were conflicts. We always just feel that people that know each other compete more fairly in the marketplace, and we really think these networking opportunities lend themselves to improve those networking and relationships.

Let’s talk about the awards now. Who’s getting the Lifetime Achievement Award and why is that such a big deal in the industry?

We don’t have very many Lifetime Achievement award winners. We don’t give them out every year. We have for the past few years been pretty consistently giving those out. This year’s winner for the Operator Lifetime Achievement Award is Woody Ostrow. Woody served on the board when I started 15 years ago. He was very active in the blending between UTSA and TRSA in 08/09, played a vital role in that. And his leadership led to help stabilize the financials of TRSA and really led to the success we are having now. His father was also a Lifetime Achievement award winner, much like we had last year with with Jim Buik and his father.

And our other recipient, of the Maglin Biggie Lifetime Achievement Award, David Tingue, is also a second-generation recipient of the award. His father was also recognized as a Lifetime Achievement award winner. David Tingue has been involved for 25, 30 years within the industry. He grew up within this industry. He has some great stories about growing up in the industry and what he learned from his father and from others within the industry.

I think both these gentlemen well-deserved recognition of their leadership at TRSA and leadership within the industry as well as their leadership within their respective communities. And I think they’ll both have a lot to say about TRSA, a lot about the industry, and a lot about the importance of networking and contributing and giving back. And the Awards Dinner always seems to be a highlight of these events when we hold them. Last year, we did a black tie. This year, it’s a little more casual kind of environment, but it gives the industry an opportunity to celebrate each other’s achievements, much like the award ceremony that we do in February where we recognize folks for different things, whether it’s sales and service or environment and safety. It just gives an opportunity for the industry to celebrate our accomplishments, both as individuals and as organizations.

So between the keynote speeches, networking events, awards and more, there’s a lot happening at the conference. What are some of your insider tips for getting the most out of the conference?

From an insider tip standpoint, I think it’s really important to participate in as many of these activities as you can. It’s important to meet some new people. Over the last two years, we’ve really put a focus on getting new individuals to come to all of our programs. We focused on first-time attendees. So, you know, if you come and you see somebody with a first-time attendee badge, introduce yourself, make them feel at home, make them feel comfortable, make sure you meet new people. When you do these activities, whether it’s golf or pickleball, or the team-building exercise or sitting at a table when you get to the event and picking a table during the keynote speeches. Try to find some new groups to sit with, meet some new people. I think that’s really, really important. You always have time, during the social activities, the welcome receptions, and all those other activities that we have to get out and meet folks.

Also want to make sure that you know, we have something exciting this year that’s not even on the website yet. We are going to hold a silent auction, on Thursday, the hour before the awards dinner. During that hour, we’ll be auctioning off items that will support the Textile Rental Education and Research Trust that was put together during the blending of the organizations. That foundation, which is not for profit, so any contributions to that are tax deductible. Those funds go to funding scholarship programs that we’ll be rolling out this year.

Typically we give three to five scholarships for individuals going to college or technical school. It helps support EMI and PMI scholarships that we offer. And also helps us do some research. So we’re going to highlight the foundation and the work that it’s done between now and May, and then holding that, silent auction. So if anybody’s got anything they want to contribute to the silent auction, we’d love to have it.

You’ll see information in our newsletter and coming up on the website on how to do that. So we’re really excited to add something a little bit new. Again, it’s an opportunity to give to the foundation, an opportunity to maybe, to purchase some activities or items that you might enjoy and a little competition never hurts either.

The location of the conference looks amazing. Are there any must-visit spots when attendees have downtime when they’re not at the conference?

We noticed a few different activities to do. When we went out and visited last year, we went to the zoo, which was really interesting because it’s all built on animals that are native to that community. There’s also a desert, that you can visit. There’s a Jeep tour that you can do in the desert. And there’s a wonderful airplane museum that’s right near the airport in Palm Springs. So it’s not right near the hotel, but it’s near the airport in Palm Springs. So if you’re into planes, it’s an opportunity for you to go see those. If you’re into the desert, we’re also only about an hour and a half from Joshua Tree where you could spend either the weekend before the event or weekend after. And there’s plenty to do on-site. They’ve got water slides, they’ve got a lazy river, they’ve got tennis, they’ve got pickleball, they’ve got golf.

There’s a lot to do right there. Plenty of fine dining, and nice interesting restaurants around there, small towns to go visit. So a lot of our members last year came in the weekend before, at The Broadmoor, or stayed through the weekend after. So I can certainly encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to fly out to Palm Springs, and to Indian Wells and to visit things beyond the conference whether that’s before or after.

Sounds like a great area and I think we’ve covered a lot as far as the area, the conference and networking events. Is there anything else that you’d like to add that’s taking place at the conference?

I think we’ve covered what’s going to be taking place. As you can hear, there’s a lot, between the educational sessions and the social events and the other activities that we’re doing. I would encourage you to register early, particularly book your flights early. It’s a small airport so not easy to get in and out of. So I encourage you to book your flights early, to register early, make sure you get into the headquarters hotel there. They’re in Indian Wells. It’s a Grand Hyatt resort. There are other properties right nearby too. There’s a Marriott across the street and some other properties nearby. So even if you don’t get into the headquarters hotel, there are other places to stay right nearby. And then we’ve got the early-registration discount, which expires in March. So save a couple bucks, get registered early, get your team registered early. And we really look forward to seeing you in May, at the Hyatt Regency Resort in Indian Wells. Thanks.

Great talking with you about the conference today, Joe.

Thank you, Jason. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Registration for TRSA’s 112th Annual Conference is open now. Visit TRSA’s website for more information and to register for the event. If you have any questions about registration, email registration@trsa.org. That’s registration@trsa.org. We’ll be back soon with more episodes of the Linen, Uniform and the Facility Services Podcast. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review our show on Apple iTunes. Additionally, don’t forget to follow TRSA across social media on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.