2012 AMBA Convention Heads for the ‘Grand’ Experience 

The American Mold Builders Association, Rolling Meadows, IL, is excited to announce the 2012 AMBA Annual Convention will be in located at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids, MI, May 16-18. After analyzing historical data, membership demographics and direct member feedback, the AMBA Management Team and Board of Directors thoughtfully and carefully considered the site for next year’s annual convention. “As we move forward and focus on providing greater value to our members, our leadership team is intent on growing membership participation to improve the overall return on member investment,” said AMBA Executive Director Troy Nix. 

“Addressing issues such as cost, days away from work and take-away value, we did an extensive search to locate a property that would allow a good number of AMBA members and other industry professionals to drive to the convention, thereby reducing cost and requiring less days away from the office,” Nix continued. “This also will provide the opportunity to bring key employees to the convention, driving value down through member organizations.”

The convention will kick-off on Wednesday, May 16, with ample time to drive (or fly) in that morning and attend the first session. The convention will conclude in the early afternoon on Friday, May 18, to end the work week. Spread out over fewer days, the 2012 convention will actually provide more value-add programming than ever before, including a plant tour workshop event and supplier trade fair. Additionally, the convention will provide several key networking opportunities such as the Welcome Reception on the banks of the Grand River and the time-honored Awards Banquet on the final evening. 

“Our goal moving forward with our annual convention is to engage more of our AMBA membership, attract new potential members and continue to drive better content and take-away value,” said AMBA President Mike Armbrust. “We accomplished an integral part of this goal by providing outstanding content to the attendees at our most recent convention in Las Vegas,” Armbrust continued. “We’re on an upward trend and it’s going to keep getting better.” Programming is already in the works for the 2012 convention and operational benchmarking and industry metrics are definitely on the schedule!