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Sunday education
Shape Your Knowledge
Sessions offered under each education track shown below can be mixed-and-matched to suit your education goals. You may decide to stick with one learning track, or participate in the sessions that interest you across all four.
Learn & Lead
Equip yourself with the knowledge and skills that will make you a more effective leader.
The FUNdamentals of Meaningful Leadership
The FUNdamentals of Meaningful Leadership
8:30 – 9:45 AM
Key Takeaways
- Learn about the human desire to feel fulfilled and how this can be achieved at work.
- Discover how to use the concept of Fundamism to maximize fulfillment, change perspective, and achieve team goals.
Summary
Companies around the world are challenged right now in how to attract and retain great talent. As our workforce and markets evolve, one thing remains constant – an overwhelming human desire to feel fulfilled. This session will show how the concept of Fundamism can help rental leaders and teams maximize fulfillment, change perspective, and achieve their goals.
Speaker
Paul Long
Leading with Intention and Emotional Leadership
Leading with Intention and Emotional Leadership
10:00 – 11:15 AM
Key Takeaways
- Learn strategies for developing resilience, adaptability, and self-awareness.
- Discover tools for engaging and retaining top talent in the rental industry.
Summary
Every successful rental leader must develop EQ, or emotional intelligence, to inspire confidence, communicate effectively, and collaborate with others in the workplace. This session will share strategies for getting the most out of your rental team while achieving your own personal and leadership goals.
Speaker
Monica Guzman
ARA Industry Awards Lunch
Made for Leaders: Moving in a Direction of Mutual Respect
Made for Leaders: Moving in a Direction of Mutual Respect
1:15 – 2:30 PM
Key Takeaways
- Reimagine leadership as an adaptive process that engages every rental team member.
- Create an enduring culture that grows committed and effective rental teams.
- Strengthen core leadership skills such as communication, vision, and delegating work.
Summary
Your role as a leader is to have everyone on your team feel valued, respected, and engaged – but how do you accomplish this? This session will help you develop personality flexibility so you can adapt instead of making your team flex to you. You will learn how to give feedback in the most effective way and motivate your team by unleashing their natural gifts.
Speaker
Merrick Rosenberg
Story-Driven Leadership
Story-Driven Leadership
2:45 – 4:00 PM
Key Takeaways
- Learn about the importance of emotional connections at work and how to create stronger rental teams.
- Discover how to use the power of story to create team buy-in.
Summary
Leadership is not about telling people what to do but inspiring them to want to do it. True leaders create fans who buy into your vision. This session will show you how to connect deeply with your team members using strategic storytelling and humor.
Speaker
Kelly Swanson
Connect & Collaborate
Learn useful tips for connecting with others and getting the most out of your teams.
Generational Issues: Stop Acting Your Age!
Generational Issues: Stop Acting Your Age!
8:30 – 9:45 AM
Key Takeaways
- Understand the disconnect between rental team members from different generations.
- Discover practical strategies to address and eliminate the disconnect between generations.
- Inspire a healthier, more robust work ethic and attitude in all rental employees.
Summary
Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z… how can you possibly satisfy the needs of each generation in the workplace? Using humor, this session will teach you a simpler way to understand, recognize, and resolve every generational issue facing today’s workforce. You will learn how to inspire a healthier, more robust work ethic and attitude toward change in all your employees.
Speaker
Matt Havens
Empowering No Fail Trust and Psychological Safety
Empowering No Fail Trust and Psychological Safety
10:00 – 11:15 AM
Key Takeaways
- Learn about the power of the “No Fail Trust™” methodology.
- Strengthen your rental workplace by fostering mutual trust, responsibility, and productivity.
Summary
As a rental leader, how do you foster an environment of mutual trust, responsibility, and productivity? This session features a fourth-generation military member and US Air Force pilot who will explain his proven methodology of “No Fail Trust™”.
Speaker
Jason Harris
ARA Industry Awards Lunch
Stories, Not Statistics: Where Authenticity & High-Performance Teams Converge
Stories, Not Statistics: Where Authenticity & High-Performance Teams Converge
1:15 – 2:30 PM
Key Takeaways
- Discover the #1 mindset shift needed to improve engagement levels among all rental team members.
- Learn the intentional, practical process for breaking down walls and bridging gaps among team members.
- Gain clarity on the limitless opportunities a “Stories, Not Statistics” approach will provide your rental team.
Summary
As a rental leader, do you ever feel a gap between you and your team? This session will discuss how to make a deep connection with employees through “stories, not statistics”. This proven leadership strategy will radically and authentically improve leader/employee relationships, create empowerment, and lead to high-performance accountability.
Speaker
Alyson Van Hooser
The Secrets of Social Media Success
The Secrets of Social Media Success
2:45 – 4:00 PM
Key Takeaways
- Learn how to reach the right people—anyone, of any age—with social media.
- Discover how to become #1 in your local rental market no matter what!
- Where to invest your time and money in social media, both now and in the future.
Summary
Social media is an undeniable force in modern life, but how can you harness the power to bring customers to your door? In this high-energy and entertaining session, you will learn the lessons from a 7-year study of hundreds of top performing companies who used social media to successfully drive key organizational achievements, regardless of their size, budget, or training. You will learn how to reach the right prospects and become #1 in your local market.
Speaker
Brian Carter
Empower & Engage
Step into your authentic self to discover your own unique talents in order to help you better engage audiences.
Smart Strategies to Keep Your Top Talent from Becoming Someone Else’s
Smart Strategies to Keep Your Top Talent from Becoming Someone Else’s
8:30 – 9:45 AM
Key Takeaways
- Explore the biggest drivers of job satisfaction and discuss strategies for implementation.
- Drive the creation of productivity-enhancing ideas and culture.
- Assess how to connect with rental employees from both a personal and professional standpoint during trying times.
Summary
Let’s face it – this is a tough market to find and retain good employees, and you certainly don’t want your top talent to become someone else’s. This session will use lessons from the construction and distribution industries to help you discover the five contributing factors that lead to employee engagement, how to drive the creation of productivity-enhancing ideas, and the best management tools to encourage an employee’s emotional connection to your company.
Speaker
Lisa Ryan
The Power of Using “Yes, And!” Innovation to Stay Competitive in the Rental Industry
The Power of Using “Yes, And!” Innovation to Stay Competitive in the Rental Industry
10:00 – 11:15 AM
Key Takeaways
- Learn how to identify true goals and create a large list of ideas, potential solutions, and implementable actions.
- Discover how to experiment with your ideas to see what works and how to make adjustments to keep innovating at work.
Summary
In a world that is changing faster and faster, innovation and creativity become keys to staying competitive. This session uses humor and interaction to show you how to use the power of “Yes, And!” to tap into your creativity, unleash innovation, and become a game changer in your company and rental industry.
Speaker
Avish Parashar
ARA Industry Awards Lunch
Supporting the Invisible Needs of Your Workforce
Supporting the Invisible Needs of Your Workforce
1:15 – 2:30 PM
Key Takeaways
- Participants will be inspired to confront their own blind spots and their own level of commitment to this work.
- Participants will understand the connection between personal and organizational transformation.
- Participants will have examples of what allyship looks like in practice.
Summary
For the past 15 years, Joe Gerstandt has been helping organizations of all shapes and sizes find new clarity around how to be more inclusive in order to get the most out of your work team. But he did not take a very direct route into this work, in fact there was a time in his life when he likely would have rolled his eyes at what he now does for a living.
The discomforting experience of becoming aware of and addressing his own privilege, denial, bias, and bigotry still informs his work today. This is a story of how one person’s heart, mind, and behavior changed and what we might learn from it. From his story of growing up on a family farm in rural Iowa, serving in the United States Marine Corps, personal and professional successes and setbacks, and just being in the world with other human beings, Joe distills insights applicable toward leadership, behavior change, culture change, enlisting more allies in this work, and more effectively creating inclusive spaces and places.
Speaker
Joe Gerstandt
Hunting Discomfort: How to Be Resilient and Built for Breakthrough Growth
Hunting Discomfort: How to Be Resilient and Built for Breakthrough Growth
2:45 – 4:00 PM
Key Takeaways
- Learn how to handle discomfort to act faster and more effectively with less stress.
- Understand from case studies and best practices how to prepare yourself, your rental team, and your culture for the unknown and unexpected.
- Discover key practices to create immediate breakthrough results.
Summary
In an ever-changing world, we can easily become overwhelmed by rapid change and challenges. This session reframes discomfort as a necessary and inspiring path to growth. It uses case studies, cutting-edge research, and best practices to equip you with ways to build your capacity to deal with discomfort and prepare yourself and your team for breakthrough growth.
Speaker
Sterling Hawkins
Plan & Strategize
Get the tools and techniques to build an effective strategy that will drive the growth you’ve been after.
Recognizing Fake IDs
Recognizing Fake IDs
8:30 – 9:45 AM
Key Takeaways
- Learn the common security features used by all state IDs.
- Practice how to identify valid and fraudulent driver’s licenses to protect your rental business.
Summary
Theft is an increasingly serious issue in the rental industry. In this session, you will learn from a seasoned detective and ID expert on how to identify valid and fraudulent driver’s licenses using the naked eye and various types of technology.
Speaker
Glen Garrity
Consumer Behavior in a World of Memes, Gifs, and Trends
Consumer Behavior in a World of Memes, Gifs, and Trends
10:00 – 11:15 AM
Key Takeaways
- Learn how customers in the rental industry continue to evolve in the digital world.
- Discover how to embrace the digital world and leverage it to strengthen your rental brand.
Summary
The digital world is empowering consumers like never before to consume online content, ask questions, and make informed decisions. In response, companies must be more nimble, flexible, and relevant. In this session, a former Google executive will explore how customers in the rental industry continue to evolve and the steps you need to take to keep up.
Speaker
Steve Lerch
ARA Industry Awards Lunch
Believe in Safety
Believe in Safety
1:15 – 2:30 PM
Key Takeaways
- Develop a safety-first mindset for yourself and your rental company.
- Learn how to create strong safety habits that lead to good decisions on the job.
Summary
Everyone has decisions to make about safety, and many of them happen in an instant. If you have the wrong safety habits, you make it much easier to make the wrong decision, which can have an effect that is impossible to undo. In this session, you will hear a life-changing story from an accident survivor. This story will give you a concrete example of why it’s so important to be a safety advocate for your company.
Speaker
Brandon Schroeder
Financial Decision Making
Financial Decision Making
2:45 – 4:00 PM
Key Takeaways
- Learn how to properly value a rental company in preparation for buying, selling, or transferring ownership.
- Understand the need for a comprehensive tax and cash flow analysis of the transaction.
- Discover pitfalls and mistakes to avoid in post-closing.
Summary
Buying, selling, or transferring a business can be a very complex, timely, and costly process. In this session, you will learn from an engaging expert who has experience as an attorney, CPA, real estate broker, title insurance agent, and an MBA.
Speaker
Roman Basi
