Business Summit is an event held by IEC National every year to help our members learn more about how to operate, grow and expand a successful business. This year’s Summit was held at the Hilton hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, where the late President John F. Kennedy spent his last night! The historical importance of the hotel wasn’t the only thing that our members appreciated, so big thanks to the IEC Fort Worth- Tarrant County chapter for lending their support to make the summit a success.
Kicking off this year with a Super Bowl party at a Fort Worth staple, Billy Bob’s, we had a night of cutting up and it was a great chance for some of the new attendees to meet and mingle with those who are more experienced with the event.
The theme this year was focused on employee engagement. Our keynote speaker Don Rheem, CEO of E3 Solutions spoke on how to engage employees, really giving attendees the secrets to successful engagement. From the great food for thought surrounding how to build an employee retention strategy, the difference between employee satisfaction and employee engagement, to the importance of validation, recognition, and feedback. This speech led into the day’s education sessions and after a day of learning, working and collaboration, we wrapped up the night with a hoe-down at the Honky Tonk! It was a night of fun, and we loved seeing our members and partners letting loose on the dance floor with our line dancing instructors.
After days of fun and education, we ended the summit with a day of committee meetings where we had the opportunity to discuss the 2025 vision goals for IEC. Later that day, the United States Department of Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia, gave us some wisdom and insight regarding the importance of organizations like ours. The current economic growth in the country must be leveraged by associations that promote nontraditional jobs, apprenticeships and hiring veterans – all of which are extremely important to our mission here at IEC! We, again, thank the IEC staff, chapter staff, Labor Secretary’s staff, and our event sponsors for doing your part to make this year’s Business Summit our best yet and we hope to see you back with us for the Safety Summit and Policy Conference this April.