Between a trip to the Hoover Dam, seafood feasts, and a plethora of Ocean’s Eleven jokes, our team at J&J Access and Security spent a phenomenal week in Las Vegas at the Associated Locksmiths of America (ALOA) 2024 Convention and Security Expo! This annual event brought together around 1,400 locksmiths from all over the world for a chance to network, hone their skills, learn new tricks of the trade, and join a group of like-minded security professionals. But seeing as though we were in Las Vegas, it only made sense to mix business with a good time! Keep reading to get the inside scoop on our latest adventure!
Classes taken; skills learned.
While in Vegas, our team of eight participated in courses covering a wide array of security systems, including:
In addition to the classes we took, some of our team members had their first experience taking the Certified Locksmith Exam, which provides a standard of knowledge and technical proficiency by which locksmiths can be recognized. While the test can be difficult, and nerves were high, our guys certainly felt a new sense of vigor for our industry after all was said and done.
While Jon and Justin took some classes and bolstered their locksmithing proficiency, they spent more of their time on the floor visiting some of the vendors we don’t see on a regular basis. The opportunity to network, talk about the industry with sales representatives, and discuss what we do here at J&J is extremely beneficial for both our team and our clients at home. (Don’t expect Jon and Justin to be out of the classroom for too long though. In fact, Jon was auditing some classes at the convention so he could improve upon them when he and Justin begin teaching next year!)
Benefits for Our Team and Our Clients
After each day at the convention, we got together for dinner to share what we learned throughout the day, and now that we’re back in the QC, we still find that we’re sharing some of those tidbits we missed at mealtime. The convention was a truly remarkable experience, and while we wish everyone could have participated, someone still had to maintain the shop and keep our clients happy!
With that being said, we are incredibly excited to bring all we learned with us back to the Quad Cities. We have new certifications for cutting-edge security systems under our belt (some of which weren’t available in the QC until now!), new products to test, and a wealth of knowledge to share with our clients and colleagues. This conference gave us the opportunity to “lock” in, broaden our horizons, and become better locksmiths for our community. We’re not an insular company. We take pride in continuing education for our employees, keeping up with what’s happening in the world, and being good at what we do. However, there’s always room to improve, so, until next year, ALOA!
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1. Leave it to the Experts: Car Key/Fob Reprogramming
