Education: Innovative Experts on Ahead-of-the-Curve Topics

The movement of freight involves a complex chain of logistics, with trucks and trains competing for freight—and often working in partnership. With increasing congestion on highways, government regulation on the trucking industry, high fuel prices, environmental pressures, etc., states across the nation are giving careful consideration to the most optimal means of freight movement, looking at both road and rail. Successful truckstop operators know changes in intermodal rail will affect their business. To help truckstop operators better understand the rail piece of the puzzle, the changing dynamics in the shipping business and the growing partnership between trucking and rail, keynote presenter Ryan Houfek, CSX’s assistant vice president for intermodal sales, will provide their outlook on intermodal freight movement in the coming decades.NATSO’s 2013 Chairman and Board of Directors will be presented during the Kick-Off Session. NATSO President & CEO Lisa Mullings will also provide a State of Industry Update during this session.

What is the outlook for crude oil? Tom Kloza of OPIS will examine the factors affecting supply and demand.

Bob Costello, chief economist at American Trucking Associations, will be back by popular demand to provide insight into the latest on the future of the trucking industry. Costello will discuss the economic factors that will influence the trucking industry throughout the coming year and how it will affect truckstop and travel plaza operators.

Truckstops and travel plazas depend on the power of strong brands to increase traffic to their location. Hank Suerth, CEO of Orion Foods, will share his experiences and strategies for building powerful partnerships.  

It started with a $6,000 investment in a gas station in 1958. Today, Pilot Flying J is listed by Forbes as the nation’s sixth largest privately held company, with more than 650 travel centers. Jimmy Haslam, son of founder James Haslam, has steered the company for the last 17 years during its greatest period of growth. Now chairman of the company, Jimmy Haslam has witnessed his company’s evolution, along with the ups and downs of the trucking industry. Where does Jimmy think the industry is headed? What are the challenges ahead that will be faced by owners of both hundreds of locations and single locations? The NATSO Hall of Fame will also be presented during this session.

The 24-hour a day nature of truckstops creates heavy energy use. Paragon Solutions President and CEO Michael Lawshe will lead a panel of experts offering small and big ideas for energy improvements that not only reduce your carbon footprint, but also make good business sense. Attendees can plan to leave with a list of projects that will better serve customer needs, improve marketing and merchandising and offer cost-savings such as proper lighting.

Make sure you know what your customers want by hearing from top executives at national associations that represent them. You’ll hear directly from experts about the coming trends and priorities affecting trucking fleets, bus travel and more.

NATSO and the trucking industry are among several groups within transportation, including Amtrak and the airlines, working to put an end to human trafficking—which victimizes between 100,000 and 300,000 young people each year.  Attendees at the session will learn how Truckers Against Trafficking is working to educate, equip, empower and mobilize members of the trucking industry to combat this crime as part of their regular jobs, and the unique difference truckstop operators also can make.

Learn from Renewable Energy Group about the status of the biodiesel industry and the 2013 outlook including the latest updates on federal and state biodiesel legislation. Attendees will learn about the Renewable Fuels Standard and its impact on the travel plaza and truckstops and they will also hear about Renewable Identification Number (RIN) integrity and the value a truckstop can garner from RINs.

Major market shifts in recent years have transformed America’s eating habits. For the market savvy, change can be good, presenting new marketing and retail opportunities. Hear from a panel of experts on how to best capitalize on the $632 billion restaurant industry.

Does it feel like you have a relationship with your customer’s card rather than your customer? Did a competitor move in across the street and take long-standing fuel customers that you thought were committed to fueling with you? Successful travel plazas and truckstops use technologies, strategies and partners to forge real relationships with their fueling customers. A panel of experts will give specific ideas for how to know exactly who is fueling at your location AND how to keep them coming back.

We spend a lot of time teaching our employees how to take care of our customers and limited time taking care of them. In this refreshing session, Michelle Fenton will show attendees how to create a great work environment that is not only personally rewarding but also attracts repeat business.

Good vendor relationships are partnerships that result in tips on items selling well for other locations, mutually beneficial contracts, innovative idea exchanges and more. Darren Schulte, NATSO’s vice president, membership, will teach attendees how to harness the power of their vendors.

Learn how to discover great employees.  Have you ever seen a “Now Hiring” sign on the front door of the Microsoft office building?  Is your “Now Hiring” sign on the window really the correct way to get employees? The right person in the right job equals success for your company.  You don’t see the tire changer adding gas during a formula 1 Pit stop. Each of the 21 members of a Formula 1 racing team pit crew has a specific job to do, so do your employees.  Do you have them in the right position? Utilize the interview process to choose the right employee.  You don’t want your employees to just answer yes or no to your customers; don’t allow them to in the interview.  Are you asking the right questions? Success comes with proper training.  A fighter does not win a championship by throwing a series of lucky punches.  They were trained to throw that punch at that specific time with that specific technique. Get the answers and more at this informative session.

Do you believe that the people you manage are full of potential? More importantly, do you know how to draw out their great ideas? Using an innovative mix of a pre-Show video and onsite interaction with fellow operators, this session will provide the techniques to engage other people’s best contributions. Attendees of this session will go back to their location able to lead management meetings that result in new ideas and problem-solving.

Book learning is great, but interactive learning is better. For the third year, NATSO is loaning industry experts in the knowledge-filled library for a customized learning experience.

Do you have a great idea that has helped your business? Wouldn’t you like to hear the great ideas your peers have implemented? The Great Ideas! Session provides a forum for independent operators to learn what is working for their peers, hear presentations from industry experts and rejuvenate their creative juices!

Part of any net operating cost improvement plan should include a robust plan to manage retail and cost shrink. Attendee will learn actionable take-home ideas that will immediately improve your shrink management program. They’ll learn the basic signs of shrink loss and the more complex ways loss takes place in our operations. Attendees will leave with an actual shrink management plan to use as a building block for their own.