MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

NPRRA Annual Conference

Oct. 7-9, 2010

Hotel Monteleone

New Orleans, La.

Highlights from the 2009 Annual Conference - NPRRA Visits the Home of the Blues
David Holcomb, 2009 Conference Committee Chair

The NPRRA Annual Conference was held April 2-5 at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., and had over 45 companies in attendance.

The conference kicked off with the Annual Golf Tournament held at the Windyke Country Club. The weather did not cooperate, but rumor has it that Courtney Wagner and Jeff Speredelozzi were on fire. If only the rains had not come...

The Thursday Welcome Reception was very well attended and the crowd was treated to upbeat music by the Kenny Brown Band. The Peabody Hotel really demonstrated why they are known as the jewel of the South with their wonderfully prepared food choices. I know I speak for everyone when I say how wonderful it was to see new friends and to reconnect with old ones as well. The reception was held on the top floor of the Peabody and allowed everyone to see all of downtown Memphis. What a sight!

Friday morning began in earnest with the annual membership meeting. The meeting was a time for serious talk about the future of the industry and the association. Members were treated to a sneak peek at the NPRRA Training Institute, an online certification program that has been developed by the association through the tireless work of Kevin Roberts and his team of dedicated team members.

The Town Hall session followed the membership meeting and included discussion about issues in the public records research industry. The session was anchored by Lynn Conner, with Parasec, and Dan Miles, with GCS Search Company Inc., and encouraged attendee participation. Next was "Communicating in an E-Nvironment" presented by Lari and Tom Quick, both with Quick Data Services Inc., and Carol Nemecek, with CN Search LLC. "Intro to Web Design," presented by Chris Liptan, enlightened members on how to use their Web sites to help grow their businesses. This was followed by a very insightful look into county lien searching brought the attendees by David Silverburg with First Corporate Solutions. The afternoon was ushered to a close by John Merkin of Intercontinental Hotels. He kept the crowd's attention by explaining the brand marketing expansion of Holiday Inn Hotels and how this evolution applies to all businesses.

Friday evening, attendees gathered at the Hard Rock Café for another great time of networking and catching up. Friday night in Memphis was full of things to do. After the event at the Hard Rock, attendees has their choice of live boxing on Beale Street televised on ESPN, an NBA game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks, and a baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Memphis Redbirds, as well as numerous clubs with great music on Beale Street.

Saturday began with another wonderful breakfast spread by the Peabody Hotel. Colleen DeVries with National Corporate Research Ltd. presented the first session on Saturday and discussed Registered Agent best practices. The final session presented by John Cicala, a Professor of Marketing and Supply Chair Management at the University of Memphis, brought members into the world of the art of negotiation. The Annual Conference ended with a working board meeting while over 25 people roamed the grounds of Graceland.

The Conference Committee wishes to thank all of the attendees at the 2009 conference as well as the sponsors listed to the left.