Locksmith Ledger is excited to host our second webcast on Jan. 25 at 3 p.m. ET, focusing on the results of our annual State of the Industry report where we asked locksmiths for their thoughts on key topics around their business, including market and product areas where they are seeing the most growth, their financial outlook, as well as technologies and trends they are most excited or concerned about.
This roundtable discussion will feature Mary May, executive director, ALOA, Mark Dawson, owner, Dawson Security Group, and Lee Odess, CEO, Access Control Executive Brief, who will delve into our findings, looking at current trends in the locking and access control world, such as the continued move to electronic access, the rise of smart locks and mobile access, consolidation among lock manufacturers, finding the next generation of locksmiths, training opportunities in 2024, plus an open Q&A period at the end for attendees to pick their brains.
This incredibly experienced panel will provide great insight from varied security perspectives, as they each play such integral roles within the security and locksmithing industries. In my discussion with May in our January issue, for example, she discusses some challenges she sees in her role as the executive director of the ALOA Security Professionals Association, where she has held various roles for the past 40 years.
“You know a lot of our members who have been with us a long time, they learned from their fathers and grandfathers. We don't have that today,” she says. “The younger people are not, as you know, following suit as their parents or grandparents once did, so one of the challenges that we really do have is reaching the next generation of locksmiths. [ALOA is] working on connecting with some of those career centers in the high schools and colleges and trade schools, things like that. We just need to find another way to recruit people into the industry, period.”
Yes, May is right. And as she mentions in the interview, ALOA is focused on supporting the locksmith community in this area, launching a Mentorship and an Apprentice program to help guide the locksmiths of tomorrow on their path. Recruitment and training is one of the topics we will address during the webcast, in addition to other areas of concern today, such as consolidation among lock manufacturers, which locksmiths noted in our report creates fewer options for them when looking for products.
“With all the mergers and all the buyouts, it is really affecting our association and probably some of the small businesses as well,” says May. “It really affects them when they have fewer suppliers to go to or, you know, this kind of becomes a monopoly on different products that locksmiths need day in and day out.”
Tune in next week to hear this talented panel talk about the most pressing topics in the locksmithing world today!
Paul Ragusa
