JUNE 2008 - Association of Marina Industries

Training & CertificationBy Kayce Cashill FlorioTraining is More Critical Than Ever,Invest in Yourself!The International Marina Institute (IMI) is busy makingplans for its fall training schedule and Ft. Lauderdale ishost to all of the events being held from October throughDecember 2009. The training calendar kicks off withthe Emerging Technologies Conference being held at theEmbassy Suites, followed by the 3rd Annual South FL StudyTour, which travels to regional marinas and boatyardsfrom West Palm to Ft. Lauderdale. These events have beenstrategically placed before the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show,beginning with an opening reception on October 25, 2009and ending with the last day of the Study tour on October29, 2009.The Emerging Technologiesconference is a programfocusing on emerging trends,technologies, and newdevelopments in sciencethat will affect the way theindustry does business in thenext few decades. Expertsand industry leaders will conduct seminars on topicsranging from water treatment systems for pressurewashing, storm water recycling, Web 2.0, fire safetysystems, and recent nuances in web Marketing to greenbuilding approaches and innovations in energy use andcarbon offsets. The conference is being hosted by LarryHalgren, Halgren & Associates, LLC, a veteran in themarine industry with experiences ranging from sales,marketing and executive management to operations andmarina and waterfront development. Larry is also on theIMI faculty, presenting on Marina Construction in theAdvanced Marina Management School (AMM). Larrywill open up the conference with a presentation on, “2020Waterfront Emerging Technologies: What Is ComingTo Your Marina Next!” This presentation will push theedge of the envelope from what is probable to what ispossible in the marina industry within the next ten years.Dovetailing from the Emerging Technologies Conference isthe 3rd Annual Southeast Florida Study Tour. IMI hopes toreplicate the success of previous years and more specificallylast year, where attendance was closed at 32 participants.The 2-day tour visits top marinas and boatyards from West18Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale. Sites currently committedto this educational program include Aquamarina, HiddenHarbour, The Port Condominium/Vertical Yachts,Lauderdale Marine Center and Pier 66. The goal of thetour is to visit an eclectic group of facilities, giving theattendee the most diverse experience possible. The touris being hosted by Tim Timpson, MarineResource, LLC,CMM. Tim is also a veteran in the marine industry withvast experiences in directoperations to consultingon large marinaconstruction projectsglobally, many of whichfocus on Tim’s specialty,Drystack Storage systems.Tim is a longtime facultymember of IMI and morespecifically participates inthe Intermediate Marina Management School, focusing onEmergency Management. The tour concludes each day witha round table discussion, facilitated by Mr. Timpson, wherethe participants discuss their observations and completeSWOT analyses (strengths, weaknesses, observationsand threats) on each facility visited. These analyses area very valuable part of the learning experience in thisprogram and have been proven to be tangible referencesfor the participants as they return to their own facilities.Finally, the last training opportunities on the fall calendarare the Intermediate and Advanced Marina ManagementSchools (IMM and AMM), being held at the RenaissanceHotel in Ft. Lauderdale from November 15 – November 19,2009 and December 6 – December 11, 2009, respectively.These courses are prerequisites to obtaining the highlycoveted CMM certificate.Don’t miss your opportunity to participate in IMI’sprograms to gain valuable experience and long- termrelationships through networking opportunities and toinvest in yourself. IMI strives to provide new, exciting andapplicable training to all marina professionals and the staffthat support them. We welcome your thoughts on currenttraining interests. To share you needs for continuededucation and thoughts on topics for training please emailimitraining@marinaassociation.org.For more information or to register for IMI’s trainingprograms, please visit www.marinaassociation.org.