In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. ….Teddy Roosevelt.
It is so easy to go with the status quo. Our status quo over the past 18 months has been hunker down, zoom calls, and sit at home. Things are opening up, but taking a big step and attending the first trade event halfway across the country is courageous. I am in awe.
PIE 2021 will not be the largest event we have ever had. It will, however, be the best. It will be the best because nearly 900 people will meet for the first time in a year and a half. They will hug, shake hands, and smile and talk. PIE 2021 will break the log jam and set the theme for the upcoming year. The IPMI, NPA, regional events, and PIE 2022 will all reflect the reopening of the parking industry that takes place next week in Dallas.
Exhibitors will renew relationships with colleagues and partners, attendees will meet new friends and see folks they have missed for months. As important as those meetings are, those people will prove to themselves and others that, yes they can. They can get out there and do business. They can drive and fly and stay in hotels and make things happen. They will show everyone that the parking industry is open for business.
It takes courage to be the first. Tom Wolfe spoke about ‘the right stuff.’ Well, the exhibit hall, conference rooms, hotel restaurants, bars and rooms, all will be filled with ‘the right stuff.’ I’m proud to number PIE 2021 attendees as my friends and acquaintances. You are ‘doing the best thing you can do.’
JVH
