PRESIDENTIAL PERSPECTIVE Keeping Our Association Strong time. I am especially saddened by how many industry leaders we lost, and I know some have lost precious family members as well. My heart goes out to those of you in that category. You are in my prayers. I would like to share how things are I going with the association amid the pan- demic as well as some of the decisions that have been made to keep us in a strong position long aſter this mess is over! We took a big financial hit by not being able to hold our regular annual events. How- ever, because of the hard work of the staff and board, we were able to offset quite a bit of our losses by cutting operating costs, reducing overhead and coming up with some new revenue streams such as web-based classes and our new podcast. Some of the cost-cutting measures are temporary, while some others will be per- manent. For example, Keynotes had to go digital for most of the second half of 2020, but as you can see, we are now back to our printed edition! We plan to have both the digital and printed versions go- ing forward. Obviously, the pandemic still lingers, and no one knows for certain what will happen. If we are forced into a position where we cannot hold our events again, WWW.ALOA.ORG hope everyone is having a good start to the new year. 2020 presented us all with many chal- lenges and I’m sure that we will feel the effects for quite some we will continue to take appropriate mea- sures, as necessary, to protect our organi- zation. I do not like to even think about that, but we must stay vigilant to assure that we stay in the strongest possible po- sition for our members. To that end, we have evaluated every aspect of how we operate the association, and it was an eye-opening exercise. We have found ways to be more efficient and effective, from a better and more cost-ef- fective phone service to creative online classes and meetings and more. Like many businesses, we’ve had to make significant reductions to our staff while striving to continue delivering service and respon- siveness to our membership. Many of you running businesses are all too familiar with trying to do more with less. One thing that became painfully ob- vious during our evaluations is that, de- spite our best efforts, our building has been grossly under-utilized. Located in an expensive warehouse district that sits on a riverbed, the building will require ongoing repairs and upkeep because it is sinking. Several years back, we invested around $100k to level it and prevent it from sinking further. Despite that, it has begun to sink again (common in this area). The good news is that a real estate firm has evaluated it and believes we can sell the building for a decent profit as it is, since the location and the land itself are among the strongest selling points. The board and staff have decided it’s prudent to list it for sale in January. We have been looking in other areas around Dallas but will not seri- ously consider purchasing until we have a contract on our current property. If we find a buyer, we have put together a well-thought-out plan for the sale and acquisition of another property better suited to our needs. As our requirements and the industry change, it’s appropriate to reevaluate our space needs. The conse- quences of the pandemic and the future uncertainty demand that we explore and capture every opportunity to avoid un- necessary costs. The goal is to end up with a property better suited for us that is less expensive when it comes to taxes, utilities, insurance, etc. Aſter purchase, we should have money leſt from the sale. It is a sound business decision and will continue to put our association in the strongest possible position. Respectfully, Jim Wiedman, CML President ALOA Security Professionals Association, Inc. [email protected] JANUARY 2021 KEYNOTES 5
