Restoration Journeys: “What a fantastic time and great workshop in San Juan Puerto Rico” (As told by Larry Cooper, Meetings and Events):

“Well, we can not only imagine spending time with other industry experts, business owners and managers, having time to network, relax, and build business relationships and friendships, but now we can also Remember it and apply the valuable insight and information to further build our restoration business practices. Along with classroom time, the 70-plus attendees enjoyed networking and time to break away from their businesses and rejuvenate. “The workshop was held in San Juan Puerto Rico, at the El San Juan Hotel and Casino. Many of our attendees traveled to the El Yunque Rainforest and toured the La Marquesa Canopy. They kayaked in the Bioluminescent Bay, all went Snorkeling all day on a private sail boat together, and enjoyed Old San Juan. We broke bread and watched the Olympics together. Some sang others national anthems following hockey games. What a great time.

“This workshop features the top presenters and leaders in the restoration industry. Barry Costa opened the program with a strong presentation called Dealing with the Second Loss, “The Emotional Loss”. He set the tone and the level for the entire program to follow. I followed with a full presentation on File Management and Documentation Set up on Restoration Jobs and Site Inspections. Later I introduced the new forms package and made it available to the audience. This presentation followed the IICRC S500 and S520 Standards Administration Chapters and I walked everyone through the full process of opening a file to the final completion and payment.

“Daniel Bernazzani, PhD Candidate, presented a discussion on Preliminary Determinations followed by Monitoring and Data in the 21st Century. The following day Dan presented findings from two studies to the group that have not been seen by the industry as of yet. The presentation called Healthy Homes, Contamination is on the Rise was very eye opening regarding mold and bacteria growth and timelines. Stephanie Beattie followed with programs on the Insurance industry and restoration industry trends. Stephanie followed the next day with a presentation on the The Restoration Dream. Tryna Cooper presented Mind, Body and Soul to the group on the roof top of the hotel in the mornings. It was a great was to start the days.

“The final session of the program was an open discussion lead by Barry Costa. He used questions from the groups list of topics. Barry challenged the group who spent 3 hours discussing important industry treads, issues and shared information and knowledge from their experiences, this from people from all over North America and Puerto Rico. “This Journey was one of the most successful meetings and events we have held. The instructors were very good, the level of education was outstanding, the attendees were engaged and had a great time and had lots of networking time and we all became one team. I have done many Journeys and will hold many more in the future, but this one event raised the bar!”