It is good to once again be able to report on the solid state of the industry. There were two recent strong data points provided at both the World Captive Forum and at the CICA 2023 International Conference: Accelerating Captive Innovation.

First of all, the numbers. Both conferences had strong attendance, both up from 2022 levels, together with a full exhibit hall. Then secondly the content. As in 2022, almost all presenters were upbeat about their own captive, or, in the case of service providers, their pipeline of new and expanding clients. And then lastly, the “chatter.” A standard opening question of mine is, “how’s business” and this was almost invariably met with a plaintive request for more resources in terms of staff, because there is so much business to take on.

So how does this inform the VCIA as we develop our services to members?  Some of the hotels for our own conference in August of this year are already approaching capacity, and this is before we even open registration in May! So, we are working with our partners in the Burlington lodging industry to secure additional rooms and even additional hotels to meet the expected high demand in a small marketplace. Then, addressing some of the workforce issues that I’ve heard, we are about to announce some strong new initiatives that will hopefully pay dividends in expanding the available workforce for the captive industry, especially in Vermont.

Lastly, it only remains for me to recognize March 17^th, Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh, go athas sé lúcháir orainn go léir!

P.S. Spring is just 3 days away!