1st Qtr 2024 President's Message: Jarod Hamm
I hope this article finds everyone doing well and recovered from the holidays and ready to go again in 2024!! Crazy to think that this is already my last article as the current president. Time flies when we’re having fun!!
As some of you know, I am still going through my phone list and membership list to reach out to past and current members that we haven’t seen in a while!! It has been fun getting to catch up with some of you that I have not talked to in quite some time. I hope that you all will help me in reaching out to members that you know of as well to help build our membership to support our industry. Please take time out of your schedule, to make a phone call. That phone call might possibly be the next little push that person needs to make them want to come and join and be a part of our wonderful association.
I know we talked last year about late nights during the convention and we are working on adjusting time schedules to help with that! Instead of a “President’s Welcoming Party” on Thursday evening, we will have a social hour to congregate, intermingle and catch up, and then we will let the KIDS HAVE SOME FUN! Children on stage was a tremendous hit last year! I love family and nothing makes me happier than encouraging and sparking even the tiniest bit of interest of this industry into our kiddos. I want to encourage any child that is interested to come “auction” an item or two! We will close the evening after the children’s auction with our ANNUAL FUN AUCTION to raise funds for our association! IT IS A GREAT TIME, AND I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO ATTEND!
COMPETITION TIME! I’m not making any promises to an early night on Friday night! Even with an earlier start time, I am hoping that we have so many contestants that we still run late!! It’s just one weekend a year that we all get to spend together, so I hope we can all pull together, push through another late night and give these contestants the attention they deserve!! So many contestants come from all areas of the state and from all different disciplines of our industry, and I hope you will be there right alongside the rest of us to give them plenty of encouragement and support!!
We have many longtime sponsors at our convention and we are certainly grateful for each and every one of them!! Please help promote our industry, and allow us to recognize and promote your brand! If you would like to be a sponsor at the upcoming event, please feel free to reach out to Stacy or myself!
Jayme Moore presented an idea last year of adding an “All Around” award to our contest. We find this to be a great idea, and we will provide more information on this award soon! Scott Swenson also pitched an idea of a “support page” on our social media site to give auctioneers a place amongst the group to reach out to peers when looking for help in any area of our industry (whether that be needing an auctioneer to fill in, needing someone to come clerk for you, or for seeking advice from fellow peers). Stacy has already started working on this, and I will have more to share on this topic at the convention!
Americas Auction Academy just had their first class of the year, and they are scheduled to have another class before convention time. We hope to have numerous first-time attendees at the convention this year. I encourage you all to make them feel welcome, encourage them to return, and show them the advantages they have with endless networking opportunities amongst their peers. We were all in their shoes at one point, so let’s help promote their eagerness and welcome them into our extended family!
In closing I cannot express how much I’m looking forward to attending the convention in June!! It has been quite the privilege to serve as your president. Having the opportunity to serve with this board and former board members has truly been an honor!! The TAA is in great hands for years to come!! As always, if there is anything I can do for you, or if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me anytime! I look forward to seeing each of you June 13-16th in Frisco!!
4th Qtr 2023 President's Message: Jarod Hamm
As we round out the end of another year and prepare for the holidays, I hope that you and your families are doing great and ready to enjoy some deserved downtime!
I am already looking forward to another great convention and contest, and your TAA board is still hard at it to ensure that we continue to improve our efforts in promoting our industry.
We try to make changes, year in and year out, to keep our association ahead of the curve. If you have any questions or concerns or topics that need to be addressed, please feel free to reach out to me and we can discuss those issues and bring those issues to the attention of the board. Your concerns are important!
Please expect a phone call from myself if you have not attended the convention in current years past. My goal is to continue growing our membership and making sure the TAA continues to hold a family atmosphere. I have had many mentors in my life and I’m grateful for them all, so please help me in reaching out to someone that is new or hasn’t attended our convention as an effort to help them in their ventures. I have spoken to a few past members on the phone in hopes of their return, but with your help we can reach many more!! Please continue to encourage potential and existing members to stay active in the TAA!
I spoke with one of last year’s contestants recently and he had taken a few years off prior to returning in 2023. All he could talk about is how the atmosphere of the convention lit a fire under him while mingling with members and peers and people that are passionate about our profession. It is my hope that we can all experience this same feeling in years to come!
The scholarship committee is looking to revamp the scholarship criteria, and we will be posting that information in our next newsletter as well. Please be on the lookout! If you have a senior or someone of eligibility, please encourage them to pursue applying for TAA scholarships including endowment scholarships!!
As always, if there is anything I can do for you or you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. And from my family to yours, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Sincerely,
Jarod Hamm
TAA President
3rd Qtr 2023 President's Message: Jarod Hamm
I hope this message finds everyone doing well and having an exceptional year! The board met on September 10thand is already hard at it planning the 2024 convention in Frisco, Texas!
We are going to work on starting the preliminary round of the contest a little earlier to try and ensure that we are finished earlier as well. I’ll be honest with you though, I hope we have enough competitors to carry us just as late as years past! As I said at convention, this is a great problem to have!
We have already spoken with several potential speakers/judges, and we plan on confirming these as early as possible. I am also pleased to tell you that we put a convention planning committee in place to hopefully give our membership an idea of when and where we will be having our annual conventions for three to five years out.
The board also received many compliments on the kids selling at the fun auction. The auction contest committee is also gathering a plan to not only keep these children on stage, but to hopefully grow their interests and give these kids something to look forward to every year as well!
Lots of great things are already taking place within the board, and we plan to continue this trend! We have reached out to a few potential new sponsors and I encourage any of you that know of someone interested in a sponsorship to reach out to them or me to follow up. We have had numerous sponsorships throughout the years and would love to continue to recognize them throughout the convention, and to offer opportunities to network and promote their business within our industry!
As some of you know I have been reaching out to members that I haven’t seen in a while, or don’t see on a regular basis, to try and draw them back into the association. This association has been around for numerous years. I don’t know everyone, and I sure don’t want to miss anyone. Please reach out to someone you haven’t seen in a while and invite them back, or reach out to me and I will be sure to reach out to them as well! I truly enjoy mingling with our auction family at convention time! I sincerely hope you will plan to join us June 13-16, 2024 in Frisco, Texas for another GREAT TAA convention!
Sincerely,
Jarod Hamm
TAA President
2nd Qtr 2023 President's Message: Jarod Hamm
As I reflect on this past convention, I cannot help but think about the time I spent mingling with other auctioneers that I am proud to call friends and family! I hope you all feel the same way. We had a great attendance, great contest, great speakers, and lots of great networking opportunities. As I mentioned at the banquet, I would like for each single one of us to reach out to an inactive member, or a potential new member, and persuade them to join us in 2024. Let’s slowly start building our membership back up and show others how as an association we can help each other to grow professionally as a team.
I know you’ve all heard me talk about mentors and what they mean to me. Honestly….my most memorable mentors (several who are members today) have merely led by example. We can all strive to be mentors to help build great auctioneers and a great association. The board is already strategizing topics and speakers for next year’s convention. If you have anything you would like to see implemented, please feel free to reach out to one of us to hopefully work some of those items into the lineup.
If you attended the conference this year, THANK YOU! And if you were unable to attend, please know that we missed you and we sure hope you will be able to join us again next year. It’s not too early to start planning, so please mark your calendar for June 13th-16th, 2024 in Frisco, Texas. It is sure to be a great time and I look forward to seeing you there.
Sincerely,
Jarod Hamm, TAA President
1st Qtr 2023 President Update: Troy Robinett
Our Dream
Each and every year as the Texas Lone Star Open (TLSO) Bid Calling Contest approaches, I’m amazed at the support it receives from fellow members of the TAA, past grand champions of the TLSO and auctioneers from around the country. That support is shown through financial sponsorships, moral support, entering or attending the contest and bidding on items. It warms my heart to see auctioneers come together to help showcase to the public the power of the live auction method of marketing.
I stood on the stage at the Fort Worth Stock Show waiting for 4:30 p.m.to strike on my phone to welcome the standing room only crowd and open the contest--I did get a little choked up. Because at 4:29 p.m. I looked at my phone and saw a message from a family member that was watching on SLA-TV that simply read “Dream”. I looked up from that message, surveyed the crowd and saw many of my auctioneer idols in attendance. These included many of the men and women who I work with on a weekly and yearly basis that I hold in such high regard. It hit me hard, that this contest is not only my dream but the dream of so many like me. A dream for auctioneers to have the ability to showcase the art form that is “bid calling”. A dream for the thousands and thousands of hours we have put into our craft to be on display for the public to see and to be compensated for, also. A dream that will inspire the next generation of auctioneers to step up on that stage and show to the world what they can do. In that moment, I realized this is not my dream…..but it’s OUR DREAM.
From the bottom of my heart I want to thank each and every one of you that helped make the TLSO a success. YOU are the reason why the TLSO is the gold standard for open bid calling contests in the United States. We will not rest on what we have done the last six year. “ Our Dream” is just getting started! Congratulations to Trey Galloway for being named the 2023 TLSO Grand Champion Auctioneer. I know that you will service as a great ambassador for the TLSO and the live auction method of marketing.
We look forward to seeing y’all back at the 2024 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo for the 7th annual TLSO.
Sincerely,
Troy Robinett
TAA President
TLSO Co-Founder
1st Qtr 2022 President Update: Angie Meier
Greetings TAA Family,
I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season with family and friends and that your 2022 New Year is off to a fantastic start!
We have had a lot of amazing things happen within our association since our last newsletter.
As you all know, due to Covid and hospital restrictions, our annual Christmas Auction at Scottish Rite Hospital was cancelled. We all look forward to this time each year and hope that we will be able to return in 2022.
However, we did something super special this holiday season. We held our first annual “TAA Family Christmas Gathering” in Belton, at the Summer’s Mill Conference & Retreat Center. Our goal for this event, was to bring our TAA family together for a laid-back weekend full of FAMILY FUN and fellowship, and that is just what we did!
We kicked off Saturday morning with breakfast and an awesome scavenger hunt with the kids. After the hunt we had a great lunch with our guest speaker (and Lobbyist) Todd Kercheval, updating us on the current affairs of TDLR. We then built gingerbread houses with the kids, had a surprise visit from Santa Claus, two Cornhole Tournaments (one for the adults and one for the children) , an amazing dinner, and wrapped the night up with our FIRST ANNUAL CHILDREN’S AUCTION! Oh my, that was something to behold! The children were so excited to be on stage and be auctioneers! The future is bright for our association; I cannot wait until next year’s gathering! Thank you to all the board members and volunteers that worked so hard to make this weekend a complete success.
Another amazing event held by the TAA was the 2022 Texas Lone Star Open (TLSO) at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Jan. 30, 2022. We had 25 contestants from all over the United States join us in Fort Worth to compete for $10,000 in Prize Money, a Custom Jeff Smith Trophy Saddle (Donated By Tony Langdon Auction Properties) and the title of 2022 TLSO Champion. It was an amazing competition with so much talent showing up and giving it their all. This year the event was broadcast on the Cowboy Channel Plus App. Congratulations to all the contestants for entering and to our five finalist – Jarod Hamm, Kyle Dykes, Sixto Paiz, Trey Galloway, and Cody Shelley. A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Cody Shelley for winning this year’s competition! We look forward to everyone joining us next year, for another amazing event.
I hope to see you all in Frisco at the Embassy Suites June 16-18 for our 65th Annual Convention, Contest and TAA Fellowship and FUN!
CHEERS!
4th Qtr 2021 President Update: Angie Meier
Hello TAA Members and Families,
This is such a magical time of year. It is a season of giving, thankfulness, a reflection of ourselves and the close of 2021. I hope that each of you had a great Thanksgiving with your families and friends. This past year has been super eventful for the Meier Clan. Our oldest daughter (Loralyn) will be moving back home to Texas from VA. She just accepted a position at Tarleton State University and will begin this new chapter in Jan 2022. Our Oldest Son (Rody) is in his Senior Year at UNT and will graduate with his marketing degree in 2022. Our middle Daughter (Riley) graduated High School in May with her associates and is in her Junior Year at Tarleton, studying marketing. And our youngest son (Levi) is in his Junior Year in high school and will be attending the World Wide College of Auctioneering the summer of 2022. I am so proud of the young adults Craig, and I are raising and excited for what the future holds for them.
Unfortunately, due to Covid Restrictions, a tradition the TAA has had for years, was cancelled again. Our current Champion Scotty Gibbs, the 2021-22 Board of Directors and friends are unable to go to Scottish Rite this year for our annual Children’s Auction, but our mission of giving back is still the same and a donation on behalf of the TAA will be made.
With the spirit of the season, the TAA is holding our Inaugural Auction Family Christmas Gathering Dec. 11th at Summer’s Mill in Belton, TX. We are planning lots of family fun activities for the day, pictures with Santa, Crafts for the kids, Wreath making class for the ladies and a holiday fun auction and scavenger hunt. We also will have a PAC update during lunch from Todd Kercheval and any questions will be answered. I am super excited for us to come together in fellowship and hope that this tradition will last for years to come. (I will have a full recap of the event in the next newsletter but want to thank each of you who came out to Belton to support your TAA family.)
It is hard to believe that 2021 is about to an end and 2022 is right around the corner, and that means it’s TIME FOR THE TLSO! Is there a better way to launch into the new year, than with an amazing auctioneer competition?! I would like to invite each of you to polish up those boots and your auction chant! Please make plans to enter or attend the Texas Lone Star Open, January 30,2022. This awesome event will be held with the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo! $10,000 and a Custom Jeff Smith Trophy Saddle will be awarded to the champion, as well as lifelong friendships and memories made. If competition isn’t your thing, coming out and supporting your fellow TAA members means the world to the competitors. We hope to see you all there! Let’s make this the biggest and best TLSO to date.
May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.
-Unknown
I wish you all safe travels this holiday season, a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
2018 TAA President Travis Kaddaz
TAA Members,
We have had an amazing year and, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed to that success.
2017 has been a great year for the Texas Auctioneers Association especially regarding education, marketing/PR and financial strength which I am very confident we will continue. We have been involved in many public activities such Auctioneer Day at the Capital, Scottish Rite Children’s Auction, and the Texas Lonstar Open all of which promotes Texas auctioneers and helps create public awareness of the auction method of marketing.
The present success of the TAA would not have been possible without the leadership of our outgoing President Lance Swigert and this team. Job well done! He and the board deserve a big applause for all their contributions. It will be difficult to match the success of this year.
I sincerely accept this important role as your President and together with the strong support of the new board and you the membership, 2018 will be another great year! We have some big plans for this year that we will be rolling out. We will continue to Promote, Protect and Educate for the Texas Auctioneer and the auction method of marketing.
Before I end, I would like to share a quote from Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
With this I would like to wish everyone a blessed and prosperous year.
Thank you - Travis Kaddatz, President
Texas Auctioneers Association
