Self-Storage Rodeo

We’ve found a jaw-droppingly generous donor and we’re raffling off a Hummer at the convention this year; winner’s choice of color.

Just kidding. Not true. But I really needed to get your attention. And you probably didn’t get that psyched up anyway: Who can afford to drive those beasts? (But if I could, I’d want taxi-cab yellow). I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to be cruel.

Now, as we approach the approximately two-weeks-out mark (which is why this blog is semi-short…I’ve got work to do!), I’m really excited for you because frankly, there’ll be opportunities everywhere you look in San Antonio - free ones! - to WIN stuff! Good stuff! See, TSSA Executive Director Ginny Sutton has a lot of class and has good taste and doesn’t allow me to completely cheap out on giveaways (nor does our fantastic marketing and membership director, Silvia Pendleton). And they love this stuff! They go nuts! (in a good way).

Ginny gets cool gadgets for giveaways, like the two Tom-Tom devices (a type of GPS) we’re giving away at the Membership Luncheon on November 10. And all you’re going to have to do to be in a drawing for one of them (one the next day in the trade show, one after the convention) is fill out a very short but very important survey card while you eat lunch. It’s only one question, and it’s going to help your Association plan just the right education for you in 2009.

There will be prizes at the Bronco-bustin’ Bash that night at LaVillita, too! Pig out on BBQ and hold onto that raffle ticket you’re given. I admit that I don’t know what the two sponsors - Extra Space Storage and TSSA - have in mind for prizes, but like I said, Ginny is class and fun all the way when it comes to this stuff. And there’s always a good quantity, so your chances are better. Plus, she’s really considerate: When she buys, say, restaurant gift cards, she gets them for a good amount of money, and she gets them for major chains so that wherever you live, you should be able to use the card. Can you tell I have a performance review soon? Ha, ha, ha. No, all these things about Ginny’s prize-buying abilities are 100% true! If it were all left to me, I’d get one $5 card to McDonald’s (at least it’s a major chain). Not because I don’t love you, you see. But because I’m, um, a tad too frugal sometimes. That’s why I need Ginny and Silvia (and my husband and my father and my friends and the planet) to keep me in line. Sadly, my mother and my sister are no help. They have the same…issues.

Anyway, to get in on the door prize action at the Third Annual Charity Texas Hold ‘em Tournament Benefitting the Shriners Burn Hospital for Children (Sunday, November 9 at the Westin Riverwalk; please register now to ensure a place; call 1-888-259-4902 or register on our website at www.txssa.org), you do need to make a $100 donation to play poker or a $25 donation to just hang out and have fun. But either way you’ll get a free cocktail and chow down on quesadillas. And of course you’ll donate to a great cause. And you’ll be eligible, as I mentioned, for…you guessed it…door prizes! Good ones! Chosen by Ginny and Silvia. Not by me, thank your lucky stars.

Finally, there’s always cool stuff given away in the trade show on November 11, not just by TSSA but by our awesome exhibitors. (Should someone [way] over the age of 22, like me, really be using the word “awesome”? Oh, well.)

I better go now, and make sure we have the convention center booked and that our event really is in San Antonio (just kidding…trying to make sure you’re still with me).

Who is Bill, you might ask? Hang on.

So, I hail originally from the suburbs of New York City, for Pete’s sake (but yes, to paraphrase that bumper sticker, I got to Texas as fast as I could). It’s not like I’m from Seattle (no offense whatsoever to Seattle; were it not for Seattle, we wouldn’t have tall nonfat lattes. Ha, ha).

Therefore you just know I don’t “hug trees” (I hug my toddler instead, but if you hug trees, really, it’s okay! I just don’t have any trees that are that cute). I’ve thrown away paper, aluminum cans, and plastic bags. A lot. I buy disposable diapers (not for myself, yet; for the toddler). I don’t bring my coffee grounds to Starbucks so people can take them home for their plants. Oh, brother (rolling of eyes). Does that really help a plant? I thought egg shells were the secret. But what do I know about such matters? I’ve literally never mowed a lawn in my life. I’m not making that up. Gee, is that why TSSA vendor member Dave Morgan calls me “Princess”? Oh, and I have littered. It’s true. But not in Texas! I love Texas too much. I littered a little in New York City. Everyone does it there. (And sure, if everyone jumped off the Empire State Building, I guess I’d do it, too. So don’t even ask! But with a parachute, of course). And by the way, I use too many parentheses and I digress too much.

So back to the point…I swear that absolutely anyone can engage in a little bit of “greenness” without being uncool or “earthy” (should you be trying to avoid that). Guess what. Our convention attendee bags this year are made of recycled material! But you won’t necessarily even notice or care, and that’s okay! The bags are roomy and will hold all your trade show goodies. And I know the sponsors personally…they are NOT uncool. But still, it’s a subtle little action your Association has taken towards a bit of “greenness.” And we are NOT uncool!

We’re probably even going to send you your post-convention evaluation electronically. Woo hoo! See? Little things.

We have a paper recycling bin here at the TSSA office! That’s it. Just paper. Very low key. And let me tell you, NOBODY here is uncool (I’m sort of odd sometimes, I guess). I use the back of old documents for printouts that are going to stay strictly with me. Once again, something low-key and so easy there’s just no excuse not to do it. And the other staff put their used paper for me in a red bin in my office. They take an easy little step, too!

Trust me, I am not the TSSA staffer actually hauling the recycling away. And if the person doing it now left tomorrow, I still wouldn’t volunteer! But my point is, why not just do something when so many things are SO easy to do?p

Now I’m coming around to Bill. If he can do something green, anyone can. Anyone. My husband Bill is a former airborne Army Ranger who has been in combat (remember Panama, 1989? I was a self-absorbed college freshman then, so I don’t remember…yes, I just dated myself). He has a tattoo of a skull with wings on it (it’s a Ranger thing) and another one that’s very patriotic and unique, but sort of gross (no, not that kind of gross; get your mind out of the gutter. Ask me about it at convention so that I can 1. See if anyone read this blog and 2. Even better, meet you if I haven’t already!). He dips Copenhagen - don’t get me started - and still wears a “high and tight” (even though he has somewhat less hair now).

Now, would you picture HIM going green? But even Bill - I’m laughing just thinking about it - bought a bunch of those green (literally and figuratively) bags they have at the H.E.B. grocery chain here in Texas. I do laugh at him about it, but forget the green issue for a second: They hold more groceries and they’re just easier to deal with. So even if some of the motives for using those bags are selfish, we’re still doing something as a family. However small (but do you see a theme here? Look at how these things can add up!). And if Bill can do something…you get the idea. Prior to the bags the greenest thing in his life was his Army battle dress uniform (aka “fatigues”) and my face when I had morning sickness.

The whole green thing’s kind of trendy. It’s kind of controversial. And frankly, I’m kind of sick of hearing about it, just like you might be (admit it). And that’s my point: I still get “sucked into it” and find ways to partake because it just doesn’t take much effort! Plus, it’s all around us so you might as well grab a piece of it. Even if it’s just your convention bag (use that thing!).

P.S. Self storage in Texas. (I had to type that so that search engines would pick up this blog and give our website - and thus your storage facility - better search engine optimization!)

P.P.S. When I started this blog months ago, I vowed not to be narcissistic and use “I” a lot. I am failing more and more with each blog entry. Sorry! Just don’t ask me to give up the parentheses.

About six weeks to go until we ride on down to San Antonio for Self-Storage Rodeo…Spurred to Success! But you’ve got less time than that to avoid paying an extra $65 on a full registration (until October 24), so allow me to nag: Please get registered! And look! I’ll even give you a link. But wait! There’s more! Would you rather register with pen and paper? Then just click here.

Let’s not stop there! Call 1-888-259-4902 if you’d like the human touch.

Infomercial over. Sort of. I got to thinking about fun things you could do with that saved $65 (can you tell I’m tired and maybe not that full of fascinating things to blog about? But bear with me. This has some convention tie-in).

Let’s put aside the “gas thing,” although there is certainly no denying that if you were already planning to attend anyway and you end up saving $65, there’s a tank (or more, depending on what you drive. Or less, if you have a Hummer).

We feed you very well at the convention, but if you’re not playing poker for charity (please do!) on Sunday night or if you’re staying over Tuesday night for the next day’s legal seminar, there’s your nice dinner on the Riverwalk. For two. Or maybe three!

Speaking of poker, you could buy into a poker tournament at The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

A lady in Chicago says she feeds her family of five for $65 a week!
http://tinyurl.com/6f4pw2

You could buy five pounds of 100% Yemen Mocca Coffee (wow, it better be really good).

You could buy flowers for a funeral (but let’s hope you don’t need to).

I’m really grasping now. But you get the point: You could do better things with your $65 than give it to TSSA (not that we don’t want it!) when you could pay $65 less to attend an event that you know you’re just itching to attend, anyway!

See you there for a fabulous event! (and nobody paid me $65 to say it).

Howdy, folks!
Please see the August 11, 2008 blog entry.
Read it.
Take action.
Call with any questions (888-259-4902).
Nagging over (for now).

Hope this “spurred you on” (get it?)

Can’t wait to see you soon!

Guest blogger: Ginny Sutton, TSSA Executive Director

Though it involves a fair amount of work, I really do look forward to our annual convention every year. I get to stand at the podium and talk to the assembled group at the Membership Luncheon, and I always feel the same tingle of anticipation.

As I survey the crowd, I always find myself thinking, as the younger set says–”These are my people!” (They do still say that, right? Or is it my peeps?)

I well up with this sense of pride (hopefully not the kind that goeth before a fall) as I look out at the friendly faces of our members in the audience. The feeling I experience is hard to put into words, but I’ll try…

I say this in all sincerity–I think the folks in this business are some of the most amiable, down-to-earth, practical and open people you could hope to encounter. They tend to be entrepreneurs of the best kind–self-made but unpretentious; ready to learn but not too cerebral; always looking to improve their own businesses, but without trampling on those around them in the process.

Anyway, I ramble, as I am wont to do…

This time of year my thoughts turn to member involvement. With a new board term commencing in September, and our annual planning session about a month away, I find myself wondering how to engage more members, in ways that feel right to them.

I just returned from the annual convention for the American Society of Association Executives. One of the sessions I attended was a session titled, “Decision to Volunteer…What it Means to Your Organization.” The focus of the session was an analysis of a recent survey of 26,000 association members, and what the measurements show about how and why people get involved as volunteers for an organization. One of the most important tasks (and one of the most difficult to achieve) is the “direct ask,” where a member is asked directly via phone call or face-to-face conversation to get involved in some way. This could mean serving on a committee, being interviewed for an article, serving on the board, etc.
Okay, I find the asking to be the easy part. Finding the member who is actually interested and willing to make the commitment seems a more difficult challenge.

Still, I am committed to finding ways to get more members involved. I’m going to use every mean available to me, including this blog, to ask members to do something that will actually benefit them more than us–volunteer. Have very little time? Serve on one ad hoc committee, and focus on just one event or task: Live in Houston or The Woodlands? Think about participating on the 2009 Convention Committee. You may be surprised how much you enjoy the experience. Director of Education and Meetings Emily Mathews makes it easy, and if you can’t attend meetings in person, you can get on the phone and we’ll conference you in.

More interested in Education? We have a committee for that. If you’ve always thought, “If I can just tell those TSSA folks what needs to be taught, things would change for the better,” come on down! We’d love to hear your ideas. Again, being a part of this committee is fun, and much of the business is conducted via e-mail. We love to try new things suggested by the members in our education programs. Your ideas could be just the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Have ideas for magazine articles or suggestions for changes to our publications or website? Were you ever on the staff of your high school or college paper or yearbook? Have you written lately? Do you just have some things you’d like to tell the self-storage world about? Consider serving on the Publications Committee. Director of Communications Brom Hoban has been with the Association for nine years, but is open to trying new and different things that make our publications better.

We now have a self-storage facility owner on staff (our own personal SME, subject matter expert) Silvia Pendleton, Director of Marketing and Membership, and she works with Charitable Fundraising and Membership. If helping badly burned children being treated by the Shriners Children’s Hospitals is something you could be passionate about, think about joining that group. Every little bit of member involvement in this arena is helpful!

If you have ideas percolating about benefits TSSA could offer its members or ways to reach out to non-members in the industry, then the Membership Committee is for you.

All of our committees meet just a few times a year in person, and again, you can serve virtually, by participating via conference call or e-mail. Whatever works for you…

Other committees include the 2009 Market Survey Committee and the Forms Review Committee. Whether you are a numbers person, a word person, or simply someone looking to advance your professional career and make more industry contacts, we have a place for you.

Please call me if you’re interested in getting involved at 888-259-4902, or contact any of us via the TSSA website. I’m not including my e-mail here to avoid receiving new SPAM.

I’ll also be leading a roundtable discussion about TSSA’s committees and projects and how we make it painless for you to get involved. Look for my table at our convention on Monday, November 10. Convention information can be found on our website.

We need you! We can’t progress without you! You are just the member we’ve been waiting for all these years to shake things up and bring new vision to our world. Am I laying it on too thick?

We’d love to have you involved, whether it be for one two-week project or an all-year committee commitment. You’ll find it painless and fun, and a great way to connect. I promise.

May I get a little preachy on you? I promise, it’s for your own good: Don’t put off reserving your room at the Westin Riverwalk (our hotel for the upcoming Self-Storage Rodeo)…please! I’m utterly and completely obsessed with the whole issue. Why?

Well, you want to help your customers as much as you can, right? You want them to be happy. So do I (that would be you…my customers). Keeping that in mind, would you want to have the following conversation?

Me: “John, our room block is full and I have attendees still needing rooms!”

John the Hotel Sales Rep: “No problem, Emily! We can get them in for $400 a night.”

Me: “Uh, you mean for the Penthouse Suite, right? Oh, we don’t need that.”

John: “Well, no. For a normal room overlooking the air conditioner.”

Me: “Gee, I don’t think that’s going to fly. Is there anything at all you can do?”

John: “Sure, Emily! We can book those late-reserving folks and then watch them get bumped, just like the airlines do! It’ll be fun!”

As you can imagine, this is not a conversation we want to see happen. I don’t want you to get shut out. Sure, we book a certain number of rooms that are ours and ours alone at $169 until October 17. And we do it based on history. Yet, inevitably, folks who wait too late can’t get a room (or at least not one at the group rate). And what if the block fills up before October 17? Not to scare you, of course. Just take action soon.

Now, let’s talk about this rate. It’s $169 and the hotel is totally upscale (and you deserve it!). Still, every few days I - yes, obsessively - hop onto the Westin website to make sure our rate can’t be beat. Then I get on some of the online sources of the world, to make sure it can’t be beat there, either. I want you to have the best, attendees! And knowing you got a good deal on your hotel room enhances the convention experience, in my (frugal) opinion.

So, I just checked Westin and their online reservations are shut down at the moment. Grrr. On to Travelocity. As of this writing, they start at $269. You can’t do better there. Expedia? They start at $269 on Sunday night, and you can’t get anything the other nights unless you use our room block! (Call 210/224-6500, ask for “in-house reservations,” and identify yourself as being with the “Texas Self Storage Association room block.”) And hotels.com? They report, “No hotels.com low rates available.”

So please don’t end up in an ordinary room that’s $400 a night. Please don’t sleep on the Riverwalk. And, um, I do love you but please don’t knock on my hotel room door at 3:00 a.m. Make those reservations pronto.

Obsessively yours.

Trade show folklore claims that most attendees hook a right when they enter an expo hall. At Self-Storage Rodeo, when those “arena” doors open on November 10, try going to the left, just to be different! You’ll avoid the…bad rodeo pun coming… stampede.

Only kidding…go the way you want to. Even better: Why not have some sort of plan? This can actually take more forms than you’d think. Allow me to liken a visit to a fantastic* expo like TSSA’s to a shopping trip at Target.

*I promised I wouldn’t be narcissistic when I started this blog…Whoops!

Now, I’m certainly NOT aiming to stereotype the genders in the following analogy. I’m just basing this on the differences in Target-shopping methods between my husband, Bill, and myself (and similar descriptions from girlfriends…mine, not Bill’s!). Here are some options for plotting out your journey, come this November, through Hall B of the Henry B. Gonzalez/San Antonio Convention Center:

1) Enter Target (or Hall B, but we’re using an analogy. Work with me here). Go to the aisles that contain what you need. Pay. Leave. Are most of our male readers (and maybe some of the women) pumping their fists in agreement?

Maybe, but I don’t recommend this method - The Bill Mathews Method - at a TSSA trade show (or at Target). The expo is too much fun, there are too many interesting things to see, and there are cocktails on Monday. Sounds like Target (in the opinion of most women I know), doesn’t it? Except for the cocktails (that said, if your local Target is serving free cocktails, I want to know).

2) Enter Target. Go to the aisles that contain what you need; what you really came for. When that’s done, the fun begins! Wander around, in a leisurely fashion. Take all the time you need! See what’s new and hot. Load shopping cart with such. This is the Emily and Will Mathews Method (Will is my two-year-old son). I always get what I came for first. Then if there is time, we have our fun. But if a meltdown might be coming (Will’s, not mine…okay, sometimes mine), at least I got what I needed. I prioritized! Fortunately, Target meltdowns rarely happen, if ever. Will is smart. He likes Target. Sometimes, before gas prices became what they are, we even went - this is embarrassing - just for fun, with no shopping list. What can I say? Anyone with a toddler child or grandchild knows that running up and down empty aisles tires them out so that we can have some peace! And it’s too hot in Texas right now to hit the playground during the day. But for a trade show, I still recommend some sort of plan as to what you want to achieve. And please, don’t run in the aisles.

3) Enter Target. Get completely distracted by all that is fun and new. Bareley remember why you are there to begin with, but remember eventually (shortly before closing) and get what you actually came for, in addition to a cartful of…whatever. This is the Emily Mathews Shopping Alone and Loving It Method. Gentlemen, my father claims - and always has, even before Home Depot came along - to feel this way about hardware stores. Any of you fellas agree? Or is my father just weird?

Okay, Option 1 stinks. It just…stinks. Option 3 is too hectic and stressful. The pressure! But Option 2 is perfect! Just right, Goldilocks. You won’t have a Will to worry about, and so it just works. No potential meltdown. Pure productivity that’s actually fun. Plot out who you need to see (you’ll get a convention program and a floor map) and take the time to get your planned business done. Then explore other things you may not have known about; things that can help you meet your self-storage goals.

Target ends the day with nasty announcements about “mak[ing] your final selections,” and then you get kicked out. A TSSA trade show ends - if you work it right - with you having met suppliers who have what you need; having met some who have what you didn’t even know you needed but do now; and bidding in an exciting and heated live auction that benefits the Shriners Burn Hospital for Children. So much more professionally and personally meaningful than a day at Target and - even if you end up, say, buying a steel storage building - probably less expensive!

Plus you get a cocktail.

P.S. Here’s an interesting (read: more “serious”…zzzzzz) article on getting the most from your expo experience. But Option 2 is still better!

http://tinyurl.com/63tywb

Wow, I just really realized we have not one, not two, but three attorneys speaking at the convention…and lawyer jokes aside, you know this is a good thing! There’s something extra reassuring about information from a professional who practices law and practices it well. These three won’t disappoint, and the best part is the diversity of topics on which they’ll speak.

Kirk Willis, with the Dallas law firm of Guida, Slavich & Flores, P.C. is up first. We live in a rather litigious society (no kidding!) and the title of Kirk’s book Corporate Justice: Fight Back in the Courtroom and Protect Your Company says a whole lot. He’s going to take that concept and spin it into a session titled “The Top Five Legal Issues in Self-Storage Today…No Bull” on Monday, November 10.

Later that day, Kerrville, TX estate planning attorney J.R. McCracken will guide you through the intricacies of estate planning. You want to protect your family and your business, yes? Then J. R. is your man (and it’s not as complicated as you might think. You’d also be surprised how many folks have not taken care of this critical matter).

Finally, Connie Heyer, TSSA legal counsel, will - as always - deftly tackle foreclosures and general landlord/tenant relations at the half-day legal seminar on November 12.

I happen to personally know that all three of these attorneys are full of knowledge but are also approachable. And that’s key to getting your questions answered.

So, what do you call 1,000 lawyers chained to the bottom of the ocean? Forget the usual punchline (do you know it?). I’d call it a shame!

Education, learning new things, and networking are far and away the top reasons you’ll join us in San Antonio. But I can’t help getting jazzed up, too, about our second annual round of “Experience It!” sessions.

This is a fun opportunity on the Monday of the convention, after the intense educational sessions and the motivational keynote - and before the trade show opens - to experience something you wouldn’t necessarily get to in everyday life (who has the time?). You’ll either pick up some self-defense moves from Gary McKee of 911 Self Defense (this is good to know when you’re working in those hallways), get a primer in lock cutting from fellow member Joe Bader (who owns two facilities and has cut more locks than he cares to remember), learn to deal with those annoying squeaks and quirks on your roll-up doors, and for our history buffs - now, this one I just get such a kick out of - hear some good old-fashioned true tales from San Antonio-based storytelling legend David Bowles (visit www.westwardsagas.com). That one’s not even remotely storage oriented, so if you really need a breather, David’s your man!

Can’t wait to see you in San Antonio and experience it all!

You know, conventional event marketing wisdom says, “Don’t go on and on about the location or destination. If you’ve got the right program, people will go to Timbuktu for it.” (Where is Timbuktu, anyway? I want to know their program-planning secret to stratospheric attendance.)

But, see, when it comes to San Antonio, I just don’t buy it. Folks, the place is just downright fun, and the November weather is sure to be gorgeous. The San Antonio airport is served by all the majors (and depending on where you are, flying could be less than gas, though the Optimistic Emily believes things will ease up by November), and some I never even heard of. The Westin Hotel is swanky (treat yourself! Make a vacation of it, before you have to deal with the relatives at Thanksgiving), and although $169 is not chump change, a lower rate at that hotel is unfindable online as of this writing (who’s working for you, baby?).

So, yes, we’re going to plan a great program for you and aim to help you achieve your business goals for attending (be sure and let me know what they are, ASAP, at emathews@txssa.org), but this time our fantastic location is a major player.

Live in San Antonio? I’m preaching to the choir. Love it whenever you can get there? Get there. Never been? It’s time. See you soon!