A Renewed Call For Integrity

Last year, I raised a concern that remains relevant today and perhaps even more urgent as we prepare to gather again. The IAM Annual Meeting & Expo brings together nearly 2,000 of our global colleagues in one place each year. It’s the single most efficient opportunity to connect, grow your business, and strengthen partnerships across the moving and mobility industry. Those of us who register, and attend do so with intention and investment.

For many years though, it has been common to see IAM Members “attend” the event without registering by setting up in the bar or camping out in suites. Perhaps more alarmingly, the use of “badge-swapping” has increased as well. Badge-swapping is where one person will purchase full registration or exhibitor-only pass to the IAM Annual Meeting & Expo and share it with another person who did not purchase a badge in order to give that person access to the conference and expo.

To express it more clearly, some of your fellow members are taking advantage of people like us who pay our hard-earned money to fully register properly for the conference.

The IAM Annual Meeting & Expo exists as a forum for all of us to meet, network, learn, and see friends. If some continue to “attend without registering,” or “badge-swap,” everyone must realize that these individuals may make the meeting more expensive for all the people who are playing by the rules.

I want to challenge my fellow members to recognize the importance of the IAM Annual Meeting & Expo to their business and register to support this valuable event. Not only will you have unfettered access to all IAM events and registrants, but you will also learn more about the big trends and new products revolutionizing our business. Most importantly, I want to highlight the ethics of benefiting from investments others have made. If you are a fully paid registrant for the IAM Annual Meeting, please ask those who are “registering without attending” or “badge-swapping” why they are taking advantage of the investment you have made and how they can justify this behavior.

While we all compete to provide the best service at the lowest price possible to our client, there are some areas where cooperation makes sense. Supporting IAM and its Annual Meeting & Expo is one such place. If you are going to be in New York this year, register for the conference and ensure that this tremendous business development and networking event remains viable and benefits from your full participation.