Last week our Managing Director Charlotte Waters and Business Development Manager Joe Ferrett travelled to San Diego to exhibit at the ACPC Conference in San Diego.
What is the ACPC Conference?
The Air Carriers Purchasing Conference (ACPC) was founded in 1956 by individuals working for Regional Airlines. The conference was set up to allow people to have meetings and discussions about the problems and issues facing smaller airlines. Overtime, larger airlines were invited, and many cities began hosting these conferences.
Our Experience
On Friday we flew out from London Heathrow and arrived in San Diego to begin our 4-day networking trip; Charlotte felt great to be returning to an ACPC event, and Joe was excited for his first ACPC experience.
On Saturday morning, the jetlag had us up early. We met for breakfast, and then went to collect our conference badges that we would wear with pride. At 9:00am it was then time to head to the roundtable registration desk, which put us in a good position to select the airlines that we desired to have meetings with. Once this was complete, we were then able to spend the rest of the day getting our bearings, networking with colleagues in the industry, and checking out San Diego.
Sunday gave us the opportunity to showcase our company and products to all attendees at the Aviation Networking Forum (ANF). After setting the booth up in the morning, we then headed to a meeting that had been arranged with an airline. We then had a quick spot of lunch, and at 12:45pm we arrived back to booth 505 at the ANF, and began to connect with other exhibitors, airlines and attendees until 6pm. We were thrilled to see how busy it was and to have many great conversations, and we even managed to hand out all our merchandise which was a bonus. In the evening we attended the ACPC buffet dinner and entertainment which provided us with plenty more networking opportunities. It was an incredibly busy day, and we were both extremely tired by the end of it. Surely a good night sleep ahead? Jetlag continued to have other ideas.
Monday and Tuesday then provided the various opportunities to have 1:1 meetings with our selected airlines during the Airline Roundtable Sessions, which we found to be very productive and enjoyable. This was a great opportunity to have 10 minutes of uninterrupted facetime, allowing us to build relationships with new and existing business partners. We also had further networking opportunities during these days before we then headed to the airport and flew home on Tuesday evening.
Overall, the event was vibrant, fun filled and busy, with unique opportunity that isn’t always available at other events. We would like to thank all the volunteers who helped make the show as successful as it was, and a special thanks to Shawn Wilson (Supplier Chair) who was always present with a beaming smile and loveable personality, along with Stephanie Cootsona (Airline Chair) who helped to organise a strong airline presence, with over 50 airlines attending.
We can’t wait to see what the next ACPC brings, meanwhile, the next stop for LJS will be the MRO Europe in our hometown. London’s Calling!
