The RV Technical Institute (RVTI) attended a Forest River Owner’s Group rally at the Elkhart County Fair Grounds last week. The event had approximately 800 attendees from the group, as well as suppliers, Forest River employees, and local support groups.
Some school counselors, who were interested in implementing RVTI’s training program into their schools, also attended the rally, as per the News & Insights report of the RV Industry Association.
RVTI’s participation is part of its ongoing Year of Recruitment initiative, aiming to recruit and train 1,000 new technicians from outside the RV industry by the end of the year.
The Institute’s team recognizes that attendance at this event, as well as other owners’ group rallies in the future, is an excellent way to reach and inform interested segments of the industry.
“Our outreach efforts at the rally came back to us tenfold,” said Tracy Anglemeyer, the Institute’s Director of Recruitment.
“The Forest River Owner’s Group understood the need for more technicians in the industry, and they were willing to help us. All the different segments of the industry who were at the rally, such as the owners, suppliers, and Forest River support groups, came forward wanting to help. Everyone knew someone else who could somehow benefit from our program.”
The weeklong event also featured four seminars hosted by RVTI Director of Education Bill Stewart. One focused on plumbing, another covered RV electrical systems, and the other two addressed general RV basics.
RVTI Executive Director Curt Hemmeler also spoke at a rally dinner on Wednesday night, providing a quick snapshot of the institute’s recent work, including the graduation of an all-female RV technician class and ongoing technician recruitment initiatives.