NPTC Reopens Annual Conference for 2021

NPTC is pleased to announce the reopening of its annual conference, last held in spring 2019.

The NPTC 2021 Annual Education Management Conference and Exhibition will be presented June 13-15 at the Cincinnati Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel and Duke Energy Convention Center.
This highly sought-after event, canceled in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, is the largest annual gathering of private fleet professionals in the industry, typically attracting over 1,250 total attendees. These include hundreds of representatives of fleet companies from a wide range of industries and markets.

By the time of this meeting, the COVID crisis will have gone on more than a year. It has disrupted and realigned ways of doing business, making it more difficult and costlier to run a successful trucking operation while upholding superior customer service. But during these times of unprecedented market upheaval, private fleets deliver a differentiated quality of service.

Their premium class of drivers go “above and beyond” to exceed customer expectations. They provide a huge edge in handling fluctuating freight volumes and delivering essential products safely and on time. As a result, private fleet “stock” is rising in the eyes of upper management and customers.

Having navigated through the COVID-shaped environment, fleet managers are now looking ahead for new insights and forward-thinking solutions. For NPTC members, the choice resource for continuous improvement is other fleet practitioners and suppliers they meet face-to-face at the Council’s annual conference. These contacts form an invaluable network of lasting importance.

A hallmark of NPTC is security of information shared in a culture of mutual trust and confidence found nowhere else in the industry. Conference attendees experience first-hand the safe sharing of best practices with peers while taking away many new ideas and insights of critical value.

Highlighting the content of 22 workshops and 12 breakfast roundtable discussions are the following topics and take-away answers to questions:

• Impact of COVID-19: What are the evolving best practices in response to the pandemic that have positively affected the fleet?
• Fleet Justification: What comparative data costing analysis and other benchmarking techniques are managers using to make the case for private fleets?
• Keeping Drivers: What factors most influence a driver’s decision to stay with one company? What is the “secret sauce” that works best to keep drivers?
• Greater Use of Third-Party Service Providers (3PPs): Fleets are relying more on 3PPs to provide a wider range of management services and support work previously handled by full-time employees. What “best practices” criteria are used in selecting and managing 3PPs?
• Technology and Data Management: What best and newest technology is being used to manage data and KPIs that demand management attention and follow up?
• Equipment and Maintenance: What state of market equipment and maintenance protocols are fleets using? Why is equipment trending to more leasing, less ownership? How and why is technology innovation affecting tighter trade cycles?

A centerpiece feature of the conference is the exhibition and trade show. Over 160 of the industry’s top-tier supplier/vendors have exhibit booths in the Exhibition Hall. More than 150 separate fleet companies with nearly 400 representatives typically attend. These fleets operate at or near world-class standards; lead the industry in the use of safety technology and equipment; and are o f significant size with an average of 318 tractors, 300 drivers, 293 straight trucks and 950 trailers.

Over three days, some 60 expert fleet practitioners will serve as speakers and moderators at the workshops and roundtable discussions. These presenters showcase the latest and best pre-vailing new ideas in the industry.

Reward and recognition ceremonies highlight “stars” of the industry. The CTP Class of 2021 graduation ceremony welcomes over 40 new Certified Transportation Professionals. Seven Professional Leadership awards honoring industry leaders of the year are presented. Driver Hall of Fame winners and companies receiving Fleet Safety Awards are held up as the year’s best drivers and safest fleets.

Our slogan “You Must Be Present To Win” captures the importance of “being there” in person to meet and greet people you need to know professionally and to share networking best practices. Welcome back!