IPMI Conference 2022
August 18, 2022
It was so nice to get back into the routine of attending the annual IPMI conference a few weeks ago. The conference was in New Orleans this year and was widely attended by parking professionals from around the world.
There were many interesting sessions that were scheduled throughout the conference. I was amazed at the variety of the sessions that were offered. It is always a tough choice when selecting the sessions, you want to attend. Some of the more interesting ones were “The Future of Parking with Cryptocurrency”, “The Jetsons: The Parking Payment Solutions of the Future” (presented by our own Jon Martens and Mike Tudor), “Will the Real Leaders Please Stand Up”, and “The Leadership Breakfast Club: Lessons from a Nerd, an Athlete, a Basket Case, a Princess, and a Criminal ( one of these is MSTPA member and IPMI President Gary Means – you can figure out which one he is). It seems like there were less sessions on autonomous vehicles than in the past.
The exhibit hall was back to its normal size after the smaller areas over the last couple of years. The vendors seemed to really be glad to be back at the conference again and were eager to talk to prospective clients. It was eye opening how many vendors have begun marketing helping to “control the curb”. It seems like that is one of the new hot buttons over the last couple of years for a lot of cities and universities.
The opening general session was very good. The speaker was Mike Erwin. He is a veteran that served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He touched on his experiences in both wars and how we can apply them to everyday life. He also talked about how we need to lead ourselves and then we can better lead our teams and deal with adversity as it arises.
If you have never attended IPMI before, I would highly suggest attending the 2023 Conference in Texas in 2023. There are so many awesome things occurring during the conference and the networking is a big part of why I go. If attending an IPMI conference is a challenge for you and operation, please consider our MSTPA Conference in Savannah in April 2023. It is a fraction of the cost of MSTPA and generally requires less travel for attendees.
