The Electronic Security & Technology Association (ESTA) 2022 Annual Meeting may be in the rearview mirror, but attendees will have the rest of the year to apply the wealth of information and ideas they garnered from the four-day networking event held in Atlanta in May.  

Around 30 owners and executives from electronic security companies across the country convened for the annual meeting, which included one full day of financial benchmarking led by Michael Barnes Associates and three days of presentations, roundtable discussions and best practices brainstorming among the members.  

The educational tracks were broken into categories of financial benchmarking, business development, marketing, sales and revenue, new services and RMR, operations management, and vertical markets. The tracks encouraged attendees to share experiences, challenges, brainstorm solutions and explore opportunities to take their companies to the next level.   

The agenda included a keynote address by Michael Barnes on the State of the Security Alarm Industry, educational sessions and roundtables, peer-based networking and goal-setting for the coming year.  

ESTA 2022 Annual Meeting also featured presentations by security veteran Gordon Rogers on “The Discipline of Market Leaders,” sales guru Jack Conard on sales training techniques, plus a Q&A session with ESTA legal counsel Bryan Lawrence of Buchanan Ingersoll.

Key roundtable discussions focused on best practices in residential and commercial security, how to survive the supply chain bottleneck, how to hire and retain new generation employees, how to adjust rates and salaries based on inflation, how to drive performance with your sales team, and new ways to grow RMR.

The meeting concluded with a banquet dinner, entertainment, and awards ceremony for outstanding ESTA contributions.

In a press release, long-time ESTA member John Butler, CEO of Butler-Durrell Security, said, “I consider ESTA to be the best group in our industry. The ideas we come back with are invaluable and for 2022 we have 38 new ideas that we’re beginning to implement.”

ESTA has operated since 1974 with a mission to provide a unique sharing, networking and brainstorming platform specifically for smaller-to-midsize security companies. The group’s next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 5-6 for operations personnel. 

For more information, go to estassociation.org or email karen.mackey.esta@gmail.com.