Hello TMEPA members! Can you believe it has been a little over a week since we ended our Annual Meeting & 50th Anniversary? For those of you who attended the event, you know how special it was -- easily our best Meeting yet. Not only were we in a great location, in Nashville at the fabulous Omni Hotel, but we had our largest attendance to date, the highest number of exhibitors and sponsors, and special events that provided a memorable experience for all. Plus, some of our most exciting and informative speakers ever.
We thank each and every one of you for your participation. We hope that you all went home with new connections from the many networking opportunities, new ideas to help make your pubic power system the best it can be, and knowledge on what has helped TMEPA stand the test of time.
We are so excited for the next 50 years as we continue to work together to protect Tennessee's public power for the invaluable resource it is. This wrap-up has highlights from the Meeting as well as a few special surprises. We hope this newsletter was helpful to both those onsite and those following from home.
It takes all of us working together and learning from each other to continue in this great industry. Thank you to everyone who is a part of this journey!
|
 When we took a look at the numbers from this year’s Meeting, we were not surprised to learn it broke records.>Total Attendees: 325, the most we’ve ever had!
>Total Exhibitors: 33, with 45 Total Meeting Sponsors!
Next year's Meeting will be in Memphis, TN, July 12 -14, at the Peabody Hotel. For information on how to sponsor, exhibit, attend or volunteer, contact Susan Sherrill at susans@tmepa.org.
|
 A big thank you goes out to Past-President Brian Skelton who did a fantastic job at TMEPA during his term last year. At the Meeting, our new President Jim Ferrell (pictured to the right) took the gavel and began what is sure to be another great year of advocacy for our industry. Ferrell closed this year’s Meeting, offering words of encouragement and thanks to all TMEPA members.
|
 As you know, our Meetings would not be possible without the support of our Sponsors and those who made up the Exhibit Area. An extra big thank you to this year’s Meeting Co-Host, TVA, who also conducted a session and had a fantastic booth in the Exhibit Area. To learn more about TVA, click here. We would also like to thank our staff, volunteers, 2016 Annual Meeting Committee, and all the Central District Managers! It takes a village to put on this Meeting each year, and we can’t thank all of our supporters enough for their help!
|
We had so many great sessions with informative speakers. We wish we could share them all, as each of them brought a new perspective to an important issue in our industry. Below are a few highlights.
|
 Patricia Cruz, Senior Project Manager, Leidos led an important session on "Workforce Development, Recruitment, Retention and Succession," showing TMEPA members why workforce planning is so important.
Key Takeaways:1. Have a Strategic Plan
>Review plan and have direction of what will be needed in the future.
>Your Strategic Plan allows you to plan your workforce needs.
2. Access Workforce Situation
>Get that understanding of what you have in place – the current situation and your strengths and weaknesses.
3. Conduct Gap Analysis
>Big picture understanding – how to get from A to B.
>Ask, what is needed to have the right people, with the right skills in the right place with the right costs?
4. Define Goals and Strategies
>Know your goals and how to accomplish them.
>Have strategies and "talent management" on how to retain and keep your workforce, including recruitment, training, retention, succession planning, performance management and culture of organization.
5. Core Value and Culture
> If you are really living your values, that is the type of culture you will be creating.
Challenges:
1. Aging workforce.
2. Recruiting and hiring the "right people."
|
 Jennifer Brogdon, with TVA, conducted an in-depth session on the "Role of TVA as the Regulatory," where she shared some of the many things that TVA does to protect the industry.
Key Takeaways:1. TVA’s motto is "To make life better for the residents of the Tennessee Valley Region."
2. TVA strives to have the lowest rates and consistency for service policies.
3. TVPPA, local power companies and TVA have worked together over the past few years to ensure that everyone was happy and finding a final solution.
4. TVA needs to exercise that regulatory role – there is no better regulator than TVA in this space.
5. TVA values partnership and collaboration in regulatory items: "We have been down a long road together and I thank you for all your hard work," Brogdon said. "I think we are really lucky to have the regulatory process that we do."
|
 You may or may not have noticed but WordSouth (Stephen Smith and Jared Dovers) conducted interviews during the Annual Meeting for the purpose of creating podcasts. We thank them for this service and their support of your statewide association! We are very happy to present you with the links from the Podcast interviews at our Annual Meeting.
Click here for the link to the general podcast page. From here, you can view all episodes as well as subscribe to the podcast -- simply click on the page number at the bottom to view all the interviews.
View all Individual Interviews/Episodes Here!
(Just click on name of podcast you want to listen to.)
You’re welcome to share these messages from the conference with co-workers!
|
 This year’s Luncheon featured some of the brightest minds in our industry, six special people who have been in the industry for many decades. The stories they shared show how our industry has evolved with the times but has also stayed true to its roots of serving the public’s needs. Here are our favorite quotes from our esteemed panel, who provided priceless history, and a few laughs, to a packed room who were lucky to witness this special event.
Pictured to the right is the panel (l-r) Gene Ward, Joe Loggins, Dalton Smith, Don Collette, Joe Exum and Bill Moss.
>Joe Exum started the lively discussion, joking that "I guess it is an honor to be the oldest person on the panel." Exum shared stories of the very early days of the industry, back when fairs were held in a carnival-like style to promote the latest electric, household gadgets. The fair would travel from town-to-town and the day after it left, women would want to go out and purchase the featured items for their homes. Exum explained that our country was moving from a war time to a boom time, with people using more power for their needs. He said he joined the industry in 1946, starting out making 87 cents an hour. "I didn’t realize it then that I was on the ground floor of a New Electrical Future."
>Don Collette shared that he started out in the industry making 1.28 dollars an hour. He said that TMEPA has always been a highly ethical group, complimenting the first Executive Director of TMEPA, Tommy Walker for his hard word advocating for the industry. "Tommy was a highly ethical person who was very well-respected by all of those in the legislator and at home." It is people who make TMEPA such a great association, the friendships and work that each person does to help the entire industry and the people it serves.
>Bill Moss spoke of more difficult times, when cities were annexing and the cost had to be calculated as well as the moral dilemma of making sure annexation was wanted by the people. He spoke of 1996 Telecommunications Act. "It wasn’t perfect, but it was passed," he said. These connections and decisions are what makes an association like TMEPA needed, he said. "We have to pay attention to customers and relationships with local legislators. It is very important."
>Joe Loggins shared his appreciation for being a part of TMEPA with a story from back when he was just two weeks into a new job. There was a large ice storm, the phones were ringing off the hook, people were blaming the utility board for not trimming enough trees. Then a phone call came from another public utility system offering help. "This was someone out of the clear blue skies calling," Loggins said. "I had never met him, but it really made an impression on me, I imagine every single system here has helped another system." That is why TMEPA is such a vital association, he said.
>Gene Ward started off by saying that he would like to have a conference call with the panel every six months because the call to prepare for the discussion was so much fun. He shared that public records is an important part of what makes a public power system special, as anyone can ask for, and receive, these records. This is not the case with private systems. "That isn’t right," he said about people not having access to records.
>Dalton Smith said he joined the industry in 1956, trying to do as much good as he could. His hard work paid off and he moved up to General Manager after 15 years, serving 38 years in total for the industry. "One of the things that has been important to me," he said, "was if someone had a problem, that problem had to be worked on today."
At the end of the Luncheon, the packed room sang Happy Birthday to Exum, who was turning 89 that day. A series of hugs and conversations continued after the luncheon ended, with friends from many years saying hello and new friendships taking place as well. The community that is TMEPA could be felt just watching these exchanges. The panel discussion from some of our wisest and most-knowledgeable industry members will not soon be forgotten.
|
Our Annual Awards Dinner was beautiful as usual, with fantastic food and entertainment from comedian Henry Cho, but the real stars of the night were the winners, those going above and beyond, finding innovative ways to look at problems and being a pillar in their communities. Click below to see a special slideshow of the winners.
|
 This year was the first year we used a hashtag (#TMEPA50) and asked that attendees share their experiences of the Meeting. We also provided live tweets, so those at home could follow along. We think this was a great success and thank everyone who joined in the conversation! To peek in on the conversations, just type the hashtag #TMEPA50 into Twitter to see what you may have missed. You can also easily share any of the stories from any of these newsletters by clicking the social media buttons at the end of each blurb!
|
 This newsletter you are reading was also new for this year, created by our publisher, Naylor Association Solutions, who had a reporter on the ground, covering each day’s events. Naylor was also a Silver Sponsor and had a booth in the Exhibit Area. We want to know your thoughts on this daily newsletter. Take the 5-minute survey below and let us know!
|
|
| |
|
