Notes from the CAI Spring National Conference
CAI's National Conference was a inspirational experience that
was both exciting and frenetic. We hardly noticed the backdrop of
beautiful Palm Springs, California, as this was one of the busiest
and best attended conferences in years. Attendees from TOPS included
Jeff Hardy, President, Ryan Allen, Vice President of Technical Services,
and myself.
We received raves galore about TOPS v3.2.1™ from customers
who made a point to stop by our booth to tell us. Among the more
popular features that people couldn't stop talking about were the
new CC&R Batches and the Attachments feature. We also gave a
sneak preview of two of the new products we will be releasing within
the next two months - the TOPS Calendar/Scheduler and the new Files
and Folders functionality for the TOPS Internet Backup Service,
both of which generated a lot of excitement. The cobalt blue shot
glasses commemorating TOPS' 21st anniversary were also a huge hit.
In
addition to manning the booth and meeting and greeting with attendees,
I completed 19 hours of training for the CAI National Faculty. I
am very happy to announce that I am now a full-fledged member of
the CAI National Faculty. The caliber of these industry educators
is awe inspiring, and I am very fortunate to be included with this
elite group of dedicated professionals.
Ryan and I sit on the Technology Group Committee, where we discussed
making technology part of the Professional Management Development
Program (PMDP) curriculum with a possible new CAI designation, a
regular column in Common Ground, and possibly an issue
of Common Ground devoted exclusively to community association
technology – at last, technology is finding its place in the
community association industry.
We are looking forward to the next national Conference, in Las
Vegas, Nevada, on April 25 – 27, 2007. Hope to see you then!
Bruce
Gran
is the Vice President of Sales for TOPS Software
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