NET Conference, R & D
NET Conference Key for Key Accounts
Calling it “a good, solid investment” of both resources and time, Touchstone Energy® COO Jim Bausell urged co-ops to attend the 2012 New and Emerging Technologies Conference.
Wal-Mart is among the corporate giants that have been to the NET Conference. (Photo By: Wal-Mart)
“The NET really is very much tuned in to key account managers. It’s your community; it’s your conference,” Bausell told a Nov. 30 NET preview webinar. He stressed the NET provides an opportunity for networking with businesses.
“Not just the business [members] that you serve right now, but having the opportunity to understand some of the strategies and tactics that are being deployed by key accounts and large businesses nationwide.”
Underscoring how important that is, Bausell noted that the nation’s electric co-ops get 43 percent of their revenue from 10 percent of the members. “That’s a significant amount of commercial and industrial load revenue.”
NET 2012 will take place Jan. 30 – Feb. 2 in Fort Myers, Fla. Bausell said the NET affords co-ops the chance to meet with representatives from a range of Fortune 500 companies.
“Maybe you’re not going to have an immediate opportunity to serve them,” he said. “But you’re going to learn some important business tactics that may be deployed by other businesses that you do serve.”
Among the issues that will be discussed at NET 2012 is the impact of smart grid on business members, as well as the technology trends that Bausell said “could expand or disrupt the business model of our commercial and industrial businesses.”
General session speakers include NRECA CEO Glenn English speaking on the co-op industry and the current political situation. And Richard Soppe of Center Rock Drilling will talk about the role his small Pennsylvania firm played in freeing 33 men trapped by the 2010 cave-in of a mine in Chile.
For more information, including registration, click here to visit the NET 2012 website.
Tags: NET Conference, R&D, Touchstone Energy