Day two of the 2016 Restaurant Loss Prevention and Security Association (RLPSA) annual conference at the La Cantera Hill Resort in San Antonio, Texas began with a workshop on effective communications with John Vautier, President of Vautier Communications. The session, “How to Speak as Well as You Think” discussed the importance of what it is that we do and how well we talk about it. Our communication skills help us to create change, move information, and lead others, and effective communication is affected by what we see and hear. However, message interpretation is largely a product of facial expression and body language, the volume of our voice, inflection, and the pace of our speech. Therefore it’s important to organize what we say, understand who our listeners are, and what our objectives will be.
This was followed by a panel discussion on “How are you measuring your value?” which discussed multiple topics on how to effectively consult our business partners, helping with new store openings and other business planning proposals, and other methods and practices to help keep the business prepared and functional. The discussion also underscored the importance of “what gets measured gets done” and the role of audits and training.
Following lunch was a session with solution providers that asked, What problems to you solve? How do you solve them? and Who do you solve them for? Offering attendees an opportunity to discuss various industry solutions and how they can apply to their business model. This was followed by a presentation on “Un-smelling the skunk,” a discussion with Laura Nirider, Appellate Attorney & Co-Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, Northwestern School of Law and Steven Drizin, Appellate Attorney & Legal Director, Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth. This reviewed the process to false confessions and how misclassification, coercion, and contamination errors can lead to this result during the interview process. An important message coming out of the session was to always be aware of how your interview is progressing, what information you are sharing, and how that affects a potential response from the subject.
The afternoon also featured a series of Breakout session covering a wide range of topics to include how to avoid background check litigation, innovative approaches to identifying assessing, and managing risks, a safety session focused on falls and related risks, and a telephone interviewing session with Wayne Hoover of Wicklander-Zulawski.
Following a busy day of events, participants took part in a networking event that featured music, conversation, and Texas hold ‘em, and more — a perfect way to round out an evening in San Antonio.