18 Jul Little Moments. Big Memories
Summer is in full swing at UTC. For me, especially now in this role as Interim President and CEO, the annual conference was just the opening ceremony of this year’s events. The slate of 2023-2024 regional meetings is underway and I couldn’t be more inspired and energized to start this regional tour.
I’m currently on my way back from our Region 4 meeting in Wheeling, West Virginia- and was pleasantly surprised by what it had to offer. As a Pacific Northwest guy, I can appreciate great landscapes and scenery and Wheeling did not disappoint in that category. More importantly, the meeting truly felt productive. I’m anticipating great things to come of this meeting and those thereafter.
Most of us UTC “veterans” understand the importance of attending these regional, more intimate, meetings. I want to circle back to that call to service that I have been preaching and implore you all to encourage your colleagues to join you at our upcoming regional events. Not only is it great networking, but it is a great way to introduce newcomers to UTC who have not yet explored all their membership benefits to being a part of this association. It’s also a great time for our UTC Leadership and Regional officers to have face-to-face connections with the people they serve and represent.
This meeting was just the beginning, we have several more through the end of the year and into 2024. I plan to be in Baltimore, Knoxville, & Duluth for our upcoming slate of Fall meetings. I will also be visiting our Canadian friends in Quebec for Power Grid at the end of October. My schedule will be jammed pack, but it’s work that needs to be done! It never actually feels like work with UTC, it always feels like a family reunion where we just happen to be discussing burning industry topics.
I hope each of you taking the time to read this, plans on joining me at some of these upcoming events. I’d love to speak to you personally and hear about what UTC can do for you, what works, and what doesn’t work. I intend my role at UTC to be fast and furious. I plan to get as much done as I can, in whatever time frame I am given, and I intend that it be of every benefit to the association and its members.
As I am in the midst of packing 30-plus years in Oregon and moving across to the southeast coast of the country, I am reminded of how much “stuff” one can accumulate. And for me, and my wife, there is value in every little thing, every little knick-knack has a story. Every corner of every room has a memory behind it. When you’re in the process of buying and selling your home, you tend to focus on the big picture, surface-level things, the nice yard, kitchen, master bathroom, etc. True beauty will come from those smaller, intimate memories and little moments.
It’s time we start to focus on the little things. Eventually, the little things won’t be little. Then, we move on to the little things, and so on and so forth. This is a constant cycle of building each other up and bringing each other along for the ride. So, when we say to come join us at these “smaller” regional meetings, I hope you not only take that as an invitation but a challenge.
