Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:00:11 Good morning, LinkedIn community. Welcome to another riveting episode of coffee with Jim and James out of the Jim and James I'm, Jim he's James, and we couldn't be more excited to have the special guest with us long time friend. But before we introduce them, I'll just give you a little hint as to what today's going to bring. Now, if that, if that hat doesn't scream, Texas crocodile Dundee, no, Texas. We'll get rid of the hat. Let me introduce my cohost, the, a yang to my yang, the Starsky to my Hutch. Yes, my, uh, they're always dated, but that's okay. Darryl understands them anyways, Mr. James Cross, James, how are you? This fine and beautiful morning. Great. Excited to have dinner alone for those who don't know Mr. Darrell cherry, he is the president of the Texas gas association and a long conference. So Daryl, welcome to the show. Welcome Daryl.
Speaker 2 00:01:12 Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here. I think it's a real honor that I get to be between the two ferns. Oh, I mean, uh, coffee with Jay Jimmy. We've been called a lot worse, but anyway, I'm, I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to have the opportunity to, but the Texas gas association out and in front of all of y'all some LinkedIn membership, uh, I think it's, uh, we've got a lot to, a lot of things to be proud of at the association and a lot of things that, uh, a lot of people don't know thinks about. So we're, we're proud to be here. Thank y'all very much.
Speaker 1 00:01:51 Absolutely. Thank you. Yep. And Daryl let's, let's dive into it. The, uh, one of the biggest events that we at the TGA hold every year is the O and M conference and that's upcoming, uh, very shortly. So would you give us a little details of the ONM conference and, uh, tell our viewers a little bit about that. And some of the excitement that is surrounding that event,
Speaker 2 00:02:15 The a O and M conference is coming up September 22nd through 24th, uh, like many things, uh, there that you, that that's going on around us now, it is going to be virtual. Uh, we don't want to have that, uh, that situation where we, in fact, a hundred thousand people, uh, because that's our normal attendance at the ONM conference. We had to have to have it out on the streets for most part, but we're, uh, we're, we're, we're being thrown into this, uh, virtual, uh, world and we're finding our way along. Uh, the virtual world is sort of one of those situations where, uh, it's an old dog new tricks and, uh, I'm, uh, muddling my way through zoom, trying to find out a way to put this on the best we can and so far so good. It looks like it's going to be really exciting.
Speaker 2 00:03:14 That's some really good speakers. We've got folks from the railroad commission. Uh, we have folks from APGA, uh, we have several good, uh, round tables. You can find all of that, uh, on the, uh, the TGA website, which is Texas gas.com. Uh, if you'll look tomorrow, it will be there. It's not there right now, but it'll be there tomorrow. And, uh, when you, when you commit to these sorts of things, it actually moves it up on your to-do list. So, uh, take a look, take a look at some of that and see what we have in store. The conferences here is complimentary for all the attendees it's, uh, being, being underwritten by some of our larger operators. And it's also being sponsored by some of our associate members so that we were able to monetize the, uh, the, uh, conference as well. I guess we could need to call it a meeting rather than a conference, but we're able to monetize it for us, which was really good, uh, because our, uh, ONM conferences, our second largest, uh, fundraiser during the year. So without it, our balance sheet was going to look even worse than it does today. Uh, but, uh, with, uh, with the gratitude, with the, uh, help from all of our, uh, our folks, we're going to have some money because the only other way to balance the balance sheet is to reduce expenses. And I'm not a real fan of that at this point.
Speaker 3 00:04:58 Understood the same with me. Well, I've been to that one. Um, you know, obviously in person, never virtual, but I'm excited to attend that one as well, but O and M is a big deal. Um, I know a lot of folks rely on that to, um, to sneak in some training each year and also to be able to fellowship and, um, you know, spend time with the associate members as well to really get their sampling of the industry each year. So although virtual I'm excited and I'm excited that it's at no cost, uh, to those that want to attend. I think that's going to be awesome as far as reach goes down. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:05:38 James, when you first suggested that I thought you were totally insane and it can, for those of you that knows James, thank him for the, uh, complimentary attendance, uh, right. Uh, I thought he had lost his mind, particularly until I found out a way to, that we were able to monetize it.
Speaker 3 00:06:00 It's not about, well, you're not the only one that's for sure thinks I'm crazy is what I mean.
Speaker 1 00:06:08 I, I think it's really exciting because we have viewers now that are tuning into this said, you know, maybe from much other States around the world, even that may be interested in this and what with it being complimentary, maybe they can pop in and sit in for an afternoon or morning or two days or all three days. It doesn't really make any difference, but I really, I'm really excited to see what the numbers will end up to be, um, with the conference, because I think opening up this way will give people a lot of, um, insight into the TGA. And, you know, for future, you know, you might get people traveling from around the country to our own M conference every year. Um, as a result of this, I'm, I'm excited for, I think the, I think good things are gonna have, uh, have happened from this. And, uh, I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 3 00:06:57 So Daryl let's build on that a little bit too. We were flexing a little bit and going virtual on ONM. Um, what about the rest of 2020? Are there other events, is there anything else that TGA is doing to try to stay in front of its members and the industry
Speaker 2 00:07:14 We, uh, we talked about and our board meeting, uh, last week, uh, how we can move forward. And one of the things that we've talked about is, uh, doing our round tables, virtually a little bit different, uh, format that we've used before, maybe a couple of hours a day for two days, uh, the, uh, putting it on complimentary for the attendees with, uh, some sponsorships, I think, uh, is a good basis to begin with, uh, make sure that the sponsors get plenty of face time, uh, during the, uh, during the, the, uh, round tables. And one of the things that we've done, which I'm pretty excited about is we've moved a damage prevention from a subcommittee to a full committee, because I think that's really, really important for the industry damage prevention is, is one of those things that as safe as we are, and we are an incredibly safe industry considering, uh, every time we do have an have an incident or our accident, it makes all of the media. So, uh, moving that up to an area where that we can show that we are looking at that constantly, I think, is going to be a feather in our cap and give the damage prevention folks a great opportunity to get their message out even more than they have in the past.
Speaker 3 00:08:48 I just heard about that as well after the board meeting. And I think that's a fantastic change. Um, we're, we're passionate
Speaker 1 00:08:56 About damage prevention and WM. Uh, there he is. He's back. We just lost you. You're back you're back. You're good.
Speaker 2 00:09:07 Yeah, it was, it was nice and pleasing there for a second.
Speaker 1 00:09:10 Well, what I was going to say was I just heard about the damage prevention, uh, committee, uh, from Coleman then after the board meeting, I'm APIC. That's awesome. Um, we're passionate about damage prevention here at VW lab. Uh, we, we remind people all the time. Our vision is to make the world a safer place to work, and we believe that starts with damage prevention. So, uh, we're very active in that space and we're excited to see that change for sure,
Speaker 2 00:09:40 You know, every day that we can bring our, uh, our people home safely, uh, to see their families and children, their pets is a good day for us. And that's certainly true for, uh, the, uh, free world out there. The folks that are not in the industry that we depend on for our existence, it's, uh, absolutely important that everybody goes home safe
Speaker 1 00:10:06 There. Let me ask you a question myself, be the next board of directors member for the Texas gas association. And I've been a member since you and I were young. We had full heads of hair and we were about 40 pounds a year lighter now, but we were about 40 pounds lighter. Um, the TGA has come a long way, and I know that it is because of the operators and associates and everybody that's involved with it. You mentioned earlier that you were a little concerned this year being virtual and, you know, a little concerned about the revenue stream because we're, we're funded by our members. Basically what we bring in is what we get, um, how bad of your concerns been. If we can dive a little bit more than that, but more poorly. I just want to then transition to over all the good things that we do, like this damage prevention, you know, how many operators come to our conferences to learn things that can make their teams or their subcontractors better and safer. So kind of two, two paths to go down, but I thought those would be both, both interesting for, for our viewers today.
Speaker 2 00:11:12 You know, one of the things that we actually, we have a video on our website that, uh, AWN was gracious enough to provide for the association. And one of the things we talk about in that is that the O and M meeting has a great opportunity to learn from others, but one of the singularly best things that happens at the ONM meeting are the sidebars that take place, where people go out in the halls, talk about the things that, uh, they have in common, uh, the problems that they have, the solutions they have. One of the things that I always preach is for crying out loud. Don't that somebody go down a daddy. And if you found something that doesn't work, share that with everybody, don't let them go down the same dead end. If you've got something that works excellently, that's a great, that's a great thing to share as well, but letting them spend time and effort going down a dead end is, is, is so counterproductive.
Speaker 2 00:12:19 And that's the one of, I think one of the great things we get, and that's one of the things that I've really I've really wrestled with in this virtual reality that we're in right now is how we get five or seven people together to talk just amongst themselves without having presentations or things like that. And I think we're coming to some, some thoughts on that, and I think it would be great for us to have a, a minor zoom meeting where four or five people come together and talk about, you know, what, why did you send everybody home last while were you able to send everybody home safely last week? Uh, what worked for you? What didn't work for you if you had an accident, what while, while was to be learned from that accident? Uh, and we've been very fortunate to have people share that kind of information in the past.
Speaker 3 00:13:19 Well, they're all, I have a very special question for you that we've actually been wrapping a lot of our shows where you didn't get the opportunity to prep for it. So wait, wait, we lost them again. All the question
Speaker 2 00:13:35 Is perfect. I can answer that.
Speaker 3 00:13:39 I think he's back and again. Oh, that's all right. You know, this, this is a product of where we live today. We are in different locations, multiple States working on I'm ready for this broadband with, but anyways, James, you're back with us sound you're back. Well, this is a product of my son playing Fortnite. I can promise you that, but the real question for you there all is, do you love what you do?
Speaker 2 00:14:07 I absolutely do. Uh, I've been doing this since 2004. Uh, I was a salesman at the time I'd been in the association for a long time. Uh, and I realized the good that can come from the association, the good that came to me, uh, from being there. And we had, we had a few issues at the time that, uh, were problematic and I thought that it would be a good opportunity. And, and, uh, I thought that it would be fun to try and as it worked out, we've done really well. To be honest, if with, if this, uh, uh, pandemic and shut down had of happened in 2004, we would have already been gone. Uh, I worked for nothing practically at the time I signed on, I signed down for a 30, 30 hour week, which ended up being about 60 or 70. And none of that's a complaint because I, uh, I love what I do.
Speaker 2 00:15:09 And I love being where I am. I admitted to frequently, uh, to, to folks. Uh, but, uh, it, it's fun. I've enjoyed watching the association grow. I've enjoyed watching, uh, all of our membership grow just to another, another little pitch for the association. Our, our operators represent over 99% of all the majors in the state of Texas. So, uh, for, uh, any associates watching this, if you want to do business in Texas, we're a good place to do it because, uh, uh, we've got a lot of the membership. We don't have 99% of the operators out there, but we've got a heck of a lot of them. So come on and see us. And we'll, uh, we'll show you how to make this work for, for us and for you.
Speaker 1 00:16:05 That's all right. Let me, let me wrap this up. I, uh, have a few things to say, first of all, to Darryl and James we're long time friends, all of us we've been together for years at transmission round table, distribution, safety round table O and M. Um, you know, we slap each other's back. We give each other hugs, you know, we're there to carry boxes to help each other. And, um, I tell you, I miss you Daryl and, uh, miss everybody. And we're gonna miss everybody at the ONM live. We'll be back. But I think there's a lot of things. Again, we can learn from this virtual world that we're going through and we're going to make it the best that we can. And so I'm excited for that, but I do want to encourage all of our viewers today to please please go to the website, click on register.
Speaker 1 00:16:50 It's complimentary, even if you pop in for an hour or two hours, a segment, James and I are going to host the happy hour virtual happy hour. The first night, Tuesday night, the 22nd at 4:05 PM central standard time. That is a shameless plug, but it's going to be a lot of fun, but really just coming to enjoy it. Uh, you might, I would say you will probably learn something from it. And, um, it's a great organization, even, uh, other associations, uh, other state associations are going to attend to, um, which is great. There's a lot of camaraderie in our world. And so it'll be fun seeing people from the other States nearby attending our conference. So with that, I want to say again, special. Thank you to Mr. Darrell cherry. It has been a pleasure having you on James as always my friend and brother I couldn't do without you. You're the one that picks me up every day. I appreciate you. Like there's no end and all of our viewers out there, God bless you. And God bless her industry. Everybody please stay safe. And we look forward to seeing you next week on another episode of coffee with Jim and James until then everybody take care.
Speaker 3 00:17:58 Thank you. Thank you, Daryl. <inaudible>.
