NAFA has seen steady progress during 2023.
Despite the challenges many in our industry have and continue to face, 2023 has seen several promising developments at NAFA. Navigating through the first quarter and then hosting an in-person I&E in the traditional April timeframe again has been very encouraging. We’ve been very active with a lot of new projects and initiatives coming to the fore. We had our Safety Symposium back in June that was well received, and with an emphasis on listening and understanding what the fleet management industry wants, we’re continuing to push more educational offerings.
New webinars
We’ve had a webinar series focusing on ESG initiatives, as well as an upcoming webinar series that looks at mobility management and solutions. We also have our Essentials of Fleet Management Seminar which will be held in October (it is August as this is being written) as well as a CAFM prep course that will take place toward the end of the year.
We’re very much looking forward to that program and so far, the response has been very positive. In other news, we have also launched new guidebooks for each of the eight core fleet disciplines. NAFA has been launching more National initiatives as well as expanding its visibility through partnerships with other industry conferences, so there is a lot that’s going on behind the scenes.
Bringing more people together
We also have some great regional events, including sustainable fleet courses in Florida and others in the Pacific Northwest in Tacoma, Washington. These events indicate the opportunities that the new regional format at NAFA offers, allowing us to expand our reach and host as well as increase our involvement with other industry-related events taking place. The objective of the regional format was to be able to bring more people together and expand networking and knowledge opportunities and currently, it’s proving to be both popular and highly effective. We have a great group of volunteers that are leading our regional councils and they’ve been super engaged and active at promoting our message and delivering value to our members and the industry.
This approach not only allows NAFA to expand its regional services but also gives us the bandwidth to create new programs. The Safety Symposium we held in Indianapolis was a good example and we’re looking to do more events like it, as well as expand our presence in other areas including legislative issues through our Government Affairs Committee. We’re also actively focusing on funding opportunities for fleet managers, as well as providing grant writing and training courses for those managers who might not have a lot of experience in the funding space.
Trusted resource
Our goal is to continue improving our offerings and assistance for helping our industry. There’s a lot of innovation currently taking place and we really need to be there as a trusted resource—helping fleet managers navigate through the complexities of the industry so they can understand and leverage the tools, solutions, and opportunities available to them.
If we can help them improve and grow their businesses, they in turn can help ours, which creates a win-win situation for the association, the fleet management sector and by extension the automotive industry.
