By Michele Lim:
I walked into my first IPMI conference not entirely sure what to expect. Being a newbie to the parking industry, I had been a bit tongue-in-cheek when I touted to my friends that I’d be going to this conference “IPMI is huge in the parking industry, trust me guys.”
But I walked out with a notebook full of ideas, a handful of new connections, and a genuine question: does the parking industry have some kind of anti-ageing secret?
More on that in a moment.
The soundbite I loved the most was from one of the sessions I went to: “parking is never about the cars, it’s about the people” – getting people where they need to go, reliably and safely.
Before IPMI, I may have been the slightest bit anti-parking/driving. Having lived in Sydney, San Francisco and New York, I’ve always been a big supporter of public transport, but the session with Julie Dixon reminded me that the reality that for many people, reliable public transport simply isn’t an option, so a parking space isn’t a convenience, it’s a lifeline.
Everyone I met at the conference worked on a different aspect of parking or mobility, each trying to make their piece of the puzzle fit the wider panoramic view of giving people the ability to move conveniently and safely.
Which brings me back to my anti-ageing theory. I met person after person who had been working in parking for 10, 15, even 20+ years — and each was but a baby-faced cherub! I found that most people were either IPMI conference veterans on their 6th, 7th conference or beyond, or this was their first conference like me. Whether it was their first conference or their seventh, there was a shared energy in the conference hall and the speaker sessions. This is a community that genuinely wanted to learn and share best practices with each other – we really are parking nerds, and proud of it!
For a first timer, that was the best possible introduction. I’m already looking forward to the next one!
Michele Lim is the Founding Product Marketing Manager for Upciti. Michele can be reached at michele.lim@upciti.com.
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